What is entrepreneurship, what it means to me and why did I step into it?
An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. The process of setting up a business is known as entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs play a key role in any economy, using the skills and initiative necessary to anticipate needs and bring new ideas to market. Entrepreneurship that proves to be successful in taking on the risks of creating a startup is rewarded with profits and growth opportunities.
- extracted from Investopedia
Coming from a simple family with 2 parents working as a full-time corporate employee and a tuition teacher, I had no idea what the life of a full-time entrepreneur looked like. When I was in high school or university, my mum was always adventurous in trying business ventures (tuition center, property sales agent, e-commerce, digital marketing, etc.) on the side even when she was committed to her taxing engineering job. My parents were not wealthy, but they worked hard to make a family of 5 to live comfortably and send my brothers and me to reputable universities for tertiary education. Thankfully, unlike other cases I have seen among my peers, my parents never interfered with our career choices despite the financial pressure. Therefore here I am with such ease in expressing my true feelings, plus I have full freedom in deciding what to do without worrying about what my parents would say or think.
Since I was around 18 years old, I had simple goals — to retire my parents earlier, increase my capacity to care for them, and build my family shortly. Subconsciously I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and the goal is straightforward, to make more money, which aligns with my simple goals mentioned earlier.
My mum has always told me that to build a successful business, we must always think of solving others’ problems. I knew I had to work first to gain work experience because before solving others’ problems, I had to solve mine — graduating with zero savings and having no business experience.
Upon degree graduation, I successfully landed a medical sales job. I worked with an entrepreneurial mindset, to adapt as soon as possible, to start solving the company’s and customers’ problems, and most importantly, to embrace growth. The complex and competitive business landscape deeply humbled me, so the idea of starting a business was being put aside due to a lack of experience and resources. At that point in time, I was just focused on personal growth.
Until I came across a book, <John 10:10 Life Wheel> gifted by one of my role models since young, where I discovered my life purpose. Following the author’s guidance, I wrote down my mission statement in 2022.
Plus, if you have read the famous book by Stephen Covey — <7 Habits of Highly Effective People>, Habit 2 — begin with the end in mind also played a part in influencing me to work towards my end goal.
All of a sudden, everything aligned. My mum’s advice on starting a business should revolve around solving problems, and my mission statement included uplifting others. That was why I started building a social media account to share nutrition knowledge, hoping to guide the audience in navigating food and nutrition choices in a country like Malaysia (obesogenic urban development, long work hours, and culture that promotes food indulgence across all social settings, etc.).
Shortly after, I networked with my mentor who as an engineering graduate, chose to build his team in the wellness industry upon graduation. Without hesitation, I followed his steps into leveraging the platform (I may elaborate on the platform in future writings) to work towards my goals. Having mentorship throughout this journey gave me more confidence as I now have the clarity of how I could build a profitable business while also providing values to the community that align with my mission statement. In March 2024, I decided to take a leap of faith, to be a full-time entrepreneur.
Yes, I still worry about the risks I bear as an entrepreneur, but the fear of not doing what my heart tells me to scares me even more! Plus, I have no excuses at all because my family is my strongest pillar of support ❤
After all, entrepreneurship is all about the process of creating value for a community, the monetary reward will come sooner or later. As long as you choose the process, the reward will choose you!
Let me know what you think about entrepreneurship!
