When is the right time to take up Entrepreneurship?
Often, towards the journey to Entrepreneurship we stumble upon the question, “Is this the right time to start my entrepreneurial dream?”
“It’s not the right time yet!” By telling yourself this, you kill your dreams from coming to fruition. Life is too uncertain to wait around for the “right time.”
Though statistics for 2017–2018 have been stable for Global Entrepreneurship, a lot of start-ups and entrepreneurs are still failing to sustain their presence in the market and in the field of innovation. Ever wonder why?
Well, here’s a view, I am sure we are aware of the new age innovation master who is said to have “taken over NASA” with his inventive vision and hard work - Elon Musk!
A self-made billionaire entrepreneur, who began his expedition with just a thought of using his intelligence to better humanity, Elon decided to become an entrepreneur at a very tender age of 17, was that a right time you say? May be not, but he made it the right time. Was his journey to fame easy? In simple words, NO! If you know Elon, he is a very determined visionary and believes that before success he was destined to fail. Musk has a quite wacky and weird take on Failure, rather than the stereotypical notion about failure. Musk says, “Failing is an option here. If you aren’t failing that means you are not innovating enough.” He put all his hard-earned fortune in to SpaceX knowing that there may not be any return, but believed that success was a possibility and just went for it. That’s a risk-taking entrepreneur!
(Want to know more about the Space X journey and hear what the new age entrepreneur has to say? Click Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSv63RaZeuo)
As mentioned before, Musk was not always the successful man that he is now. He had to go through many lows, failures and problems, but he did not let that deter him from the primary goal of trying out new areas. “If something is important enough you should try, even if the probable outcome is failure.”
He’s an opinionated leader and has the ability to make people believe his vision.
Vision is one of the strongest traits of an entrepreneur and to believe in the vision takes a lot of patience and will. One of such example is Elon’s SpaceX venture.
Most of us are aware about the disruptive innovation, that Musk did with SpaceX. What many of us fail to see is the number of times Mr. Musk failed before he actually succeeded. This proves, Mr. Musk isn’t the “typical” Entrepreneurs. He envisions the unachievable and makes it achievable.
Before Falcon 1 hit the space successfully, Musk had 3 failed attempts that almost drained his own personal fortune. He had ploughed in enough money into SpaceX for its first three launches. However, each of them failed. They just managed to scrape through enough money for a fourth launch.
This successful launch won a $1.6 billion contract from NASA for 12 resupply flights to the station. He was definitely afraid of failure, however, he created a plan to address possible failure. “People should certainly ignore fear if it’s irrational. Even if it’s rational and the stake is worth it, it’s still worth proceeding,” he said. Create a contingency plan for each problem you can control.
Elon Musk is not just spearheading two very successful companies; he is also fostering an ecosystem where innovation along with collaboration can function. And that is the true hallmark of an entrepreneur.
On one occasion while being visited at his Tesla factory by students of Draper University, he was asked by one of the students, “As an established entrepreneur, what is the number one tip you have for all the young entrepreneurs waiting to startup? “Here’s his reply. “I think it’s very difficult to start companies, it’s quite painful. A friend of mine has a good phrase for doing a startup: it’s like eating glass and staring into the abyss. If you are wired to do it, then only do it, not otherwise. So, think of it this way — if you need inspiring words, DON’T DO IT!”
That seems like a discouraging response to such an important question, right?
Think again! If you take a closer look, you will see there is a whole lot more to this answer than meets the eye. Most of us are not ready for Entrepreneurship or are rather interested in just the idea of being an entrepreneur rather than actually be willing to put in the work to become one.”
To site another and a probably overlooked example is PayPal. Musk, during his initial years of becoming an innovative genius, he foresaw the demand of internet and e-money transfers and that’s how PayPal came into existence. He sold PayPal to eBay for a whopping $1.5 billion dollar and began his next journey : a vision to take humanity to Mars, and he stuck to it. . Can you imagine that?
Wonder how did he make all of these possible? Here’s the answer, the real dynamics of entrepreneurship involve a lot of failures, risk-taking, tireless effort and a will to commit to years of work before you see any success.
Yes, we all love the idea of being our own boss. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, most people are not wired to adopt this mentality or lifestyle and will only become very unhappy with their lives if they choose to pursue this path.
Elon Musk is a man perseverance. Perseverance is the essence of Trial and Error. Without it, mindset and passion are worthless. It is the one trait that will keep you going when everything around you says you should quit.
WOP.company has two mantras for Start-ups and Entrepreneurs. Fail Fast and Fail Forward! Failing helps you understand what won’t work and give you a new direction to work on the same thing. Result? Your necessity becomes the foundation of new innovation. In the startup world, a failure is considered a tremendous learning opportunity, at the least; a feather in the cap of the Founder, at best. We fetishise failure. We normalise it. One of our core product WOP-PI (Product Innovation) is modelled keeping in mind what Elon Musk says about failure. We’d quote again as Musk said, “Failing is an option here. If you aren’t failing that means you are not innovating enough.”
So, if you are an Entrepreneur exploring new ideas, if your ideas need resources to materialise and if you want a hassle-free approach to monitor your digital product : WOP.company is your destination. We are the Perfect Soulmate of your Startup mission.
