I meet several people with dreams and a desire of shifting their focus from their current position to Entrepreneurship. It’s a whopping 87% of employees who desire to move out of their jobs on their own. Most office corners you overhear the conversation, about how bright ideas people have to start their own business. This fever has gained momentum in the past couple of years, thanks to democratization of Capital and fading fear of failure. The bug of entrepreneurship is equally strong , irrespective of large city or a small town or rural cluster. It has bitten everyone in similar proportions. There are resources such as articles, websites, apps and various experts helping people start. So much so, there is a fledgling industry of motivation to start your own.
If one were to think about the motives of starting up, it’s embedded in how we think as a society. There are stories of heroics of the successful people about how they began. There is a positive social bias to be your own, because of the heroes the society so deeply respects and worships. Most employees have an urge to start their own venture at some point of life, thanks to the success stories and the heroes of the new economy they follow.
The second one is about Economic drive. I meet a lot of people, who want to start their own to make it big. Their primary motive is to unlock the potential of an untapped opportunity. They get their adrenaline from headlines of trade and economic newspapers. They would constantly focus on every vector from the perspective of demand and supply gap, Now. This class is purely driven by short term profits. Think of them and you will find plenty of them trading in items which have a fancy in current environment. It is no wonder to find many manufacturing PPE Suits and Sanitizer in current situations. Their aim in life is to make a margin in everything possible they can lay their hands on. These are the people who are solving a current problem of the economy and certainly not interested in anything beyond current opportunity and margins.
There are third set of people, who are very rare to find. They are generally termed as strugglers or innovators at heart. They have gone through something unique in their life which became the trigger of starting to solve a particular problem. Think about OYO, his founder had to sleep under staircases and he thought of starting a venture that would ensure every traveler has a home of his budget to stay. Think of Mr Honda, who collected the scrap to build an automobile business after the perils of World war in Japan. Similarly NIKE though is purely a trading Company selling shoes, but if you dig deep and understand the story, it is about the pain of an athlete who wanted to improve on timing, comfort and reduce the chances of injury.
The personal journey and experiences play an important role in ways we think about solving a problem. If you are solving an economic problem for yourself, your drive may restrict yourself to be a trader. Nothing wrong about it. The point is your eternal fire defines the size and value you build as an Entrepreneur. This is purely driven by how you have experienced life and some problems that you have lived through. Once you find that core, it becomes clearer to understand not just the size of the market, but also your own strengths and limitations. It helps to build a solution which is contextually economical for you to address.
At the end of the day, it is all about energy and not necessarily capital. Ask yourself as an entrepreneur, do you have energy to solve a problem. No matter how big or small the problem is, if it is your problem, it has a market to address. Ask yourself, are you doing justice in solving something worth or is it the urge of making a quick buck or following a Hero you worship. This is the best way to find three answers in one go, is it worth starting something, is it effective and whether it is the right time to start. Your success depends on the experience of pain and suffering you undertake to solve.
Views expressed are personal – Ram Yadav