The 6 Myths about Entrepreneurship

You must have heard this a million times. He inherited it from his great-grandfather. It runs in the family. Entrepreneurs are born. It runs in their blood and so it goes on and on. So the very first myth is that entrepreneurs are born, not made. It says that some people are born with a special gene called the entrepreneurial gene. Do you believe that? It is because of this gene that entrepreneurs succeed. Let me tell you that this is not true. What you really need are real skills such as finance, sales, marketing and design thinking. These skills are not found in genes. They are found in books, courses and colleges. You can learn them. Do you know that Steve Jobs once said, great things in business are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people. The second myth about entrepreneurship is that individuals start companies. This is actually false. All famous entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Narayan Murthy, Bill Gates all had partners or co-founders. Teams start companies. They bring a variety of strengths and skills and work together. In fact, bigger teams have more chances of success. Are you a great student? Do you always get excellent marks? I am coming to the third myth that entrepreneurs are excellent at academics and are the smartest people in the class. Well, are they? Certainly not. Most entrepreneurs were not at the top of their class. Of course, they are smart, but the difference is that they tend to focus and do extremely well only in the subject of their interest. They may not do so well in the rest. They may even fail. What makes them successful entrepreneurs is not their grades, but their focus and dedication in their chosen subject. Just because some famous names have charisma does not mean all entrepreneurs have it or that it is an important trait. This is the fourth myth. It says that all entrepreneurs are charismatic and that is why they are successful. You must agree that famous entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Bono all have charisma. But do you know, all these people were also known for their vision, systematic thinking, strong analytic skills and above all, ambition, a combination of humility and ambition. Do you like to gamble? Do you like taking risks or are you careful and smart? The fifth myth about entrepreneurship is that entrepreneurs love risk. The opposite is true. Successful entrepreneurs don't enjoy gambling and risking everything. They are intelligent, so why would they? Why would they be in a place where the chances of success are minimum? So what they do is take calculated risks where they are certain the result will be good. Be disciplined. Your parents and teachers would have told you this a million times and you never liked it. The sixth myth about entrepreneurs is about discipline. People think that they have no discipline. They do as they please, whenever they please. No way, not a true statement at all. Successful entrepreneurs are extremely disciplined. They have no choice, seriously no choice because they have few resources, no reputation and very little time to succeed. And they have to compete with established companies to bring about change. You think that is easy? That is why they need to be really disciplined. Disciplined like a soldier but with the spirit of a pirate.