5 Mistakes I Made As An Entrepreneur

1. My idea is cool..super cool

An idea is a child birthed in the mind.

It’s only natural that one feels attached and emotional about theirs. We might find the need to protect it from the vices of the world and get illogically attached to it. While it’s important to be passionate about the idea, it’s important not to expect the world to share the sentiment. The idea will go through rejection, appreciation, will get beaten down, and will get glorified. It’s important to find the space between being passionate and impersonal, and set it free for valuation.

After all, like your own child, your idea should survive in the world.

2. Team, Mentors, Consultants et al

If the idea is like a child, the team you build it with is family. The real stakeholders are the ones who take ownership of raising the idea into reality. So it’s important to identify these stakeholders and make them family. They are the ones who are likely to see you through all your ups and downs, and shoulder responsibilities with you.

Mentors and consultants bring in fresh thinking with varying levels of involvement in execution. But it’s not prudent to expect passion or magic from them.

Invest toward a family to take you through.

3. Purpose of existence and operation

The new-age business, especially the ones post the internet boom, are all about the quick road to the top, raising money and making news. While this is a model you could consider for your own business, there is a traditional approach that has existed for much longer. A model where the customer is more important than the investor. A model where a vendor who delivers quality is more important than the one who churns out a product/service at a pace that’s unreal to deliver quality. A model where the team is more than a bragging head count.

Be clear on what kind of a business you want to start and grow.

4. Comparing with other businesses

Making Maternity Wear or Women Intimate Wear did not stop me from comparing myself to Jobs of Apple or to Zuckerberg of Facebook. These larger than life success stories are just that. Stories. While you could learn a lot from them, the context of your operation could be entirely different and this difference has to be respected.

So, do compare. But compare while respecting your own challenges.

5. Define ‘your’ success

Success in business is traditionally measured by valuation. And valuation in this context is synonymous to monetary performance. While this remains the holy grail of performance, there are other questions you could ask yourself to define smaller successes. How happy are your customers? How happy is your team? Are you happy at the end of the day? Are you ready to wake up the next morning and get back to doing exactly what you did yesterday?

If the answers to the above questions are mostly yes, then do enjoy your success.

Being an entrepreneur is glorified. Only a few realise that it can get tough. Tough, because one cannot walk away easily from what he/she started. There is an emotional investment that has gone into it. While each one of us who have chosen this path, navigate our challenges and learn from our mistakes, let us celebrate our courage to question the status quo.

Cheers !

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