(ThyBlackMan.com) Lots of people want to be entrepreneurs: around two-thirds of people, in fact. But only a very small chunk of those people, around 3 percent, ever bite the bullet and do it. The reasons for this are many. The first is that there’s a big difference between what people want to happen in their lives and what they actually do to make it happen. It’s far easier to sit around twiddling one’s thumbs than it is to actually set up a business.
The second big reason has to do with self-worth. There are vast swathes of people out there who simply don’t think that they’re worthy of the moniker of “entrepreneur” and believe that they’ll forever be employees of one company or another.
The combined forces of low self-esteem and procrastination mean that most people never even make the first move towards starting their own business. But if you’re one of the rare few who has, take a look at this advice from some of the greatest entrepreneurs on the planet.
Challenge Yourself
Why does Richard Branson keep getting up every morning and going to work? After all, he’s got enough money to live off for a thousand years, probably more. It turns out that he love a challenge. Challenge, he says, is what motivates him to keep pushing new horizons (if you’ll excuse the pun). He treats life as a lifelong university education, one in which he is able to learn more about the world every day.
Have A Vision Of Who You Want To Be
According to the CEO of Tumblr, David Karp, people need a vision of who they want to be and how they’re going to get there, whether that means taking business management degrees or starting a lemonade stand. Karp says that so long as you have a desire for something to happen, you’ll be able to create it. He says that your vision should remain clear at all times.
Find The Best People
Finding the best people for a business is never easy. In fact, it’s the number one challenge for most entrepreneurs. It’s even more challenging in some cases than getting venture capital funding. Reid Hoffman says that they best way to solve this problem is to hang out with the type of people you want to employ. He says that people tend to be an average of their five closest friends. If they’re hanging around with people who spend all day watching sports and playing video games, then they’ll watch sports and play video games all day too.
Take Action
There’s a lot of wisdom behind the Nike slogan, “Just Do It,” according to Walt Disney, one of the most famous names in film of all time. The easiest way to get started, he used to say, was to quit talking and get on with the job.
Do The Time
Success doesn’t come immediately. Steve Jobs, for instance, was decades in the making. Jobs reminded his fans in 2008 that if they wanted to be successful in business, they’d have to “do the time.” Good things come to those who wait.
Staff Writer; Steve Wall