Entrepreneurship is one of the most important aspects of American society. As Americans, many of us often dream of changing the world with a revolutionary product and getting rich while doing it. Fulfillment and profit is, to many of us, the true American dream.
Entrepreneurship is so important to Americans, its idolization is often ingrained in children. Whether it’s learning about the impact of Carnegie and Rockefeller in school, or watching Spongbob and Patrick trying to become “rich entrepreneurs” by selling chocolate bars, we attempt to teach the importance of business at an early age.
But, amid the success stories and the unthinkable profit margins, it’s easy to forget what goes into becoming the next Zuckerberg.
But what exactly is an entrepreneur, and what does it take to actually become one?
What is an Entrepreneur?
Being an entrepreneur is about uniquely and efficiently playing a role and/or filling a need. Entrepreneurship is about providing people with services or products that make their life better. At its heart, being an entrepreneur is about making the world a better place with one small idea that can evolve into something spectacular.
For Jeff Bezos, it was streamlining the process of shopping so you can do it from home.
For Henry Ford, it was creating and revolutionizing a machine that would help people travel.
For Facebook, it was reinventing the way people connect and interact with each other. For Ryan Deiss, it was enabling other entrepreneurs to change the world by helping them reach a wider audience.
So what does it actually take to become an entrepreneur?
For a lot of people, discovering that simple idea can be really easy (who doesn’t have an invention or service idea that will change the world in their back pocket?). However, turning it into something tangible can be really hard. A great idea doesn’t necessarily guarantee success. One really important aspect of entrepreneurship to consider is the one thing that oftentimes scares people out of it: risk.
Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy. If it was, everybody would do it. In a sense, starting your own business is a gamble, and those that catch a lucky break are the people that we inevitably idolize. There is no guarantee you’re going to get rich. There’s not even guarantee you’re going to break even. Starting a business is, by nature, a risky game to play.
But the thing is, as an entrepreneur, you can stack the odds in your favor.
It undoubtedly takes some luck to become a successful businessperson. However, it primarily takes hard work and creativity to rise above the competition. Those who put in the work required are the ones who will likely become successful. Everyone has a chance to get lucky, but only a handful of people are actually willing to put in the work.
So, what does it take to become a successful entrepreneur?
Coming up with an original and unique idea is a great place to start, but it’s only half the battle. Coming up with a creative business plan is crucial to sustained success. Figuring out how to find consumers is an absolute necessity. You’ll also have to make important partnerships, create a brand, and figure out who you are actually selling to. Finally, you’ll have to put everything together to fill a need better than anyone else.
So, what does all of that really mean?
It takes a team to become a successful entrepreneur.
An amazing work ethic and incredible levels of creativity and ingenuity are great things to have when starting a business, and those skills will definitely make you a fantastic leader. But there are typically too many moving parts for one person to handle by themselves. It likely won’t matter if you’re the smartest person in your field or the best salesman alive; successful entrepreneurship takes a fully comprehensive team. And what fun is success with no one to share it with?
There are numerous ways to go about assembling a team, and hiring employees will likely become a must down the road. But assembling your dream team can be as simple as connecting with other like-minded entrepreneurs and businesses that want the same thing that you do: success.
Take DigitalMarketer for example. Like I said before, our entire focus as a business is enabling other entrepreneurs to change the world by helping them reach a wider audience. For us, the need we fill is providing assistance with one of the most important aspects of business today: marketing. We do this through things like our Certified Partner Program, which allows entrepreneurs to learn the keys to successful marketing for small businesses, as well as gives them access to top-of-the-line tools and systems to take their marketing to the next level. We thrive on helping other ambitious people accomplish their goals.
We’re always looking for entrepreneurs to team up with because we believe that entrepreneurs are more successful when they work together.
Starting a business isn’t easy. Whether you have an idea that you need help getting off the ground or you’re like us and want to help others accomplish the goals they need to be successful, it’s undoubtedly going to be a slow process at first. Almost all estimates show that it takes two to three years for businesses to become profitable.
So, the final key to becoming an entrepreneur is patience.
And yes, we know how hard it can be to be patient. No one likes taking things slow, especially when they think their idea is one in a million.
But good businesses, like good houses, are built with a solid base. It’s not necessarily fun to build a foundation, but you’ll surely fail without it.
It’s also all the more reason why it’s important to have a team.
And so we release you into the world of entrepreneurship. The best advice we could give you is to trust your gut and focus on what’s going to grow your business. After all, the Chia Pet song came to fruition in a bar, and we all know how that turned out!
