Key facets one must contemplate and understand while one creates a blue print before taking a call in the career!
The trend of becoming an entrepreneur is growing at it’s peak and there are various reasons, one of the core reasons is the value proposition not matching with ones own values and beliefs leaving one to do things that hold no meaning and significance that end up in a state which is lack of interest and no learning, it turns out be quite a frustrating space which cannot be articulated in simple words.
Another key reason is, awareness and the need for freedom has grown multi fold. People around are quite known to the fact that the work regimes are moving faster towards a polyamorous nature of work, where your competence can be served to multiple clients/Org’s at the same time just like a carpenter or a plumber would offer…any specialist can offer like a Coach, a consultant…all you need is a certain degree of any such competence that can help the client grow.
Q. But is that so easy?
Q. Can anyone take the role of becoming an entrepreneur so easily?
Q. Are there no challenges (visible and hidden) in such a transition?
Above are some of the key questions that has been haunting people from decades who wish to take such critical decisions w.r.t any such career move. Afterall, we all have responsibilities to discharge everyday and all that needs money!
We want freedom when we wish to be an entrepreneur, RIGHT?
But we end up becoming a prisoner of meeting our own expectations of earning some amount of decent money that creates such a freedom for us, freedom eventually is not just about having free time or no reporting on your head (not needed to be controlled or governed), it is also from chasing everyday routine to be financially secured enough to meet the ends!
Most of us, we end up in a trap, a trap of false hope that comes quite immediately like within less than a year or a two and then begins a formidable walk, something which only puts us into deeper contemplation and everyday fear. It negatively and deeply impacts our everyday decisions and in some cases, it starts impacting our mental, emotional and physical health as well.
How to define such entrepreneurship and what should be your projected model of doing business is quite an important enabler to be look upon intensively before making any such decision, it needs a deeper dive into basic questions to arrive at a more clear way forward and I am just attempting to bring some clarity about it through my own meandering experience and learnings that helped me sustain for more than 7 years now, now, I can see some sustainable growth on outcomes.
- DISCOVER and KNOW your strength well and LEVERAGE it, most people CHASE the TREND : The first and the foremost step is to contemplate this step very comprehensively, most of us gets attracted to the shiny objects faster and believe that a particular model seems great, it must be great but the key question is, is great for me too? I meet many people every month and upon asking why they wish to become a coach (I help people becoming coaches as a professional coach), they tell me that they want to help others, which is quite a great intent. I further seek on how do they define such help etc…and finally after a few questions, it all boils down to the most critical questions that they eventually arrive at : What can be my earnings and how much time will it take for me to have it? Do people hire coaches at all? It makes me contemplate whether the intent with which the conversation started was real of was only a superficial one, the core need is to help oneself. In such cases, walk will become extremely difficult, hence, do more thinking around before contemplating before trying to be ON YOUR OWN!
- Discover and explore your deeper VALUES and BELIEFS are: As Simon Sinek says, people don’t buy what you sell, they buy what you believe in! In individual service delivery streams like coaching/consulting et…there is nothing called as a product, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT! Your clients shall be buying YOU first and the decision to buy YOU shall be based upon what your values and beliefs are, what defines you and what you truly stand for? It takes time to build positioning on these values and beliefs and it can be quite a long walk which will be overwhelming and tiring on the way and hence most miss the key point that, one doesn’t need direction but one must have enough thirst to be an entrepreneur. Just wanting to be financially rich in the fastest possible way should not be the objective/goal at all…there is no fastest way except going the slowest. People who get hired are more aligned on their values, beliefs and principles Vs who have jazzy products!
- Keep your offerings and propositions ultra simple and basic: Always remember LESS is MORE, too much offering leads to confusion. As Simon says more around this by sharing a story of a she sales man, his mantra was 2 not 3….3 offers leads to no buying decision but 2 has a higher success rate of closer….sometimes, we end up creating a lot more mess by offering a vast range….human mind cannot take decisions under complex environment and choices…Trust yourself and contain any need to sell more as well, don’t sell more, instead help more!
- Don’t chase money, follow the purpose, the meaning: A mango tree is known by the fruit, but the fruit is the last thing that grows on it. Always remember, greatness takes time and so the great results. Money is an outcome like a Mango, it shall be the last thing that will show up, stop chasing it from the beginning. Focus more PURPOSE, the MOTIVE, the WHY of your being in the stream of entrepreneurship. As I mentioned in point number 1 as well, build on your intent as that intent will grow in a compounding manner, money is just transactional…purpose leaves people to keep coming back as the attachment to it is long term and eventually, your story board over a certain period of time will attract more as nobody is interested in knowing what revenue you make, people are more interested in knowing what you truly stand for and that build a connect and a much higher trust…trust once is built gets money!
As per Harsh Mariwala (founder Marico) “You are not here to do business as an entrepreneur, entrepreneurs are change makers”….focus long term and be clear as to what change you wish to create through your presence and contribution.
I am an executive and life coach, accredited as Master Certified Coach by ICF, US. I am founder of Butterfly Coaching Academy when I help people becoming great world class coaches and also offer coaching services to my clients. I can be contacted for any consultation that may help you reflect on your desires of becoming an entrepreneur as you shall be reflecting on the above article. You may drop me a DM here on LinkedIn or drop a message/enquiry on the website www.butterflycoachingacademy.com.
Happy to help and serve!