These entrepreneurship development notes are taken directly from billionaires! When starting a new company, these five profitable business ideas from Elon Musk, Kevin O’Leary, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, and Mark Cuban are gems highlighting the importance of entrepreneurship development:
Work For Yourself
“I don’t like to work for people,” said O’Leary in a speech to Notre Dame Business School. “There’s nothing wrong with it, but if you want to control your own destiny, you work for yourself. That’s how it works. I’m trying to inspire those of you who are on the topping point, take the chance you’re young. Go for it. There’s nothing better than being able to wake up in the morning 10 or 20 years from now and do whatever you like. It’s about freedom. That’s what matters. I’m not saying being an employee is bad, but believe me, being an entrepreneur is better.”
We agree with Mr. Wonderful! There’s no question being an entrepreneur is 10 times harder than being an employee. That’s why entrepreneurship development is not for everyone and that’s ok.
However, for those of you who are thinking about taking a dive into starting your own business, maybe even grow it into a full-time venture to replace your job, the Founder and CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos has an invaluable tip.
Choose A Business You’re Passionate About
“Never chase the hot thing, whatever it is,” said Bezos in an interview at the AWS Invent 2012 Conference. “That’s like trying to catch the wave and you’ll never catch it. You need to position yourself and wait for the wave, and the way you do that is you pick something you’re passionate about. That’s the number one piece of advice that I give that wants to start a company or start a bigger endeavour inside a big company. Make sure it’s something you’re interested in, something you’re passionate about.”
“Missionaries build better products,” Bezos continued. “I would take a missionary over a mercenary every day. Mercenaries want to flip the company and get rich, missionaries wants to develop a great product or service. In one of those paradoxes, it’s usually the missionaries who end up making more of the money anyway.”
So pick a business that you’re passionate about, centred on creating meaningful value for other people, otherwise you’ll be way more likely to quit when things get tough.
Train Yourself to Have a High Pain Threshold
Another entrepreneurship development process comes from one of my personal favourite entrepreneurs Elon Musk – the man behind Tesla Motors and Space X – who advises training yourself to have a high pain threshold.
“There’s a friend of mine who has a good saying that, ‘starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss,’” said Musk. “That’s generally what happens, because when you first start a company there’s lots of optimism and things are great, so happiness at first is high. Then you encounter all sorts of issues and happiness will steadily decline, and you’ll go through a whole world of hurt. And then eventually if you do succeed, and in most cases you will not succeed – you will finally get back to happiness. “
It’s important to be mentally prepared for a lot of failure and pain down the line. Anyone that tells you otherwise is either lying or doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
That’s why we encourage things like taking cold showers, train Muay Thai, do affirmations, fasting… constantly getting out of your comfort zone trains you deal with the inevitable pain that comes from running a company. Here’s one video we took this to the extreme, cold breathing using the Wim Hof Method in -39C!
Learn How To Make Deals
You might not necessarily think of yourself as a dealmaker or salesman but these skills are so important with respect to entrepreneurship development, especially in the beginning. At the end of the day it’s really your ability to make deals and honour them that determines your successes, failures and reputation.
Serial Entrepreneur and Author Tim Ferris offers one unique way to do that.
“You want to get very good at crafting deals and persuading and negotiating, and the easiest way to do that is to observe someone who is doing that regularly whether it’s on the phone or otherwise,” said Ferris on the Ask Gary Vee Show. “So I would suggest that you look for opportunities to learn from other people who are already good at deal-making and negotiating, because you will use that in everything whether you’re buying, selling or anything in between.”
There are tonnes of great free resources available on YouTube that can teach how to improve your skills as a dealmaker; from Tim Ferris to Gary Vee, Dan Lok, Grant Cardone and Jordan Belfort. You name it. Learn how to make deals that benefit everyone involved.
Delight Your Customers
Arguably the most successful owner/investor of our era – Warren Buffet – says the greatest entrepreneurship development process is to focus on delighting your customers.
“Well tomorrow morning, when you look in the mirror after you’ve gotten up, just write ‘delight my customers,’” said Buffet in an interview with Bloomberg. “Not satisfy my customer, delight my customer. Any business that has delighted customers has a sales force out there that you don’t have to pay, you don’t see them, but they’re talking to people all the time. Whenever I bought my last car a few years ago, I don’t remember how much I paid but I remember the experience I had. I either went out of there feeling really good about the person who dealt with me or I felt, ‘next time I’m going to go someplace else.’ So your customer is going to get devote, they’re going to get to talk and you want them out there as salesman for you. And they will be if you delight them ”
Delighting your customers is a great way to develop your reputation and grow your business.
Start With Consistent Effort, Not By Taking On A Business Loan
Billionaire and Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban goes so far as call anyone a moron if they consider taking out a loan to start a business!
“If you’re starting a business and you take out a loan, you’re a moron,” said Cuban in an interview with Bloomberg. “There are so many uncertainties involved with starting a business, yet the one certainty you’ll have to have is paying back your loan. And the bank doesn’t care about your business or whoever you borrow from, so it’s just a complete conflict.”
“Ninety-nine per cent of small businesses you can start with next to no capital, it’s more about effort,” he continued. “Small businesses don’t fail because of lack of capital. They fail for lack of brains, lack of effort; most people just aren’t willing to put in the time to work smart. They go for it in a lot of cases but they just don’t recognize how much work’s involved. If you start a business, you better know your industry and your company better than anyone in the whole world because you’re competing.”
It’s crazy how many new entrepreneurs are told to get loans to start their businesses. Don’t do it if it’s something you can avoid. It can take months or even years before earning any revenue as a business owner. That’s why it’s great to start your business in addition to your full-time job, then you can quit your job once you’ve made enough sales to justify that transition.
Get used to working for free in the beginning, that’s just the way it has to be before you’re able to take the next step.
As a bonus, here is a video of 50 successful entrepreneurs sharing priceless advice on the importance of entrepreneurship development.