Dos and Don’ts for Entrepreneurs

Young entrepreneurs go through many ups and downs. It has its own perils and advantages. As young entrepreneurs ourselves, we truly believe that the advantages surpass the disadvantages. We have made many risky decisions in our lives like true entrepreneurs need to. We left a company wherein we received a hefty paycheck every month, to start a life of no stability and certainty. But it was that adrenaline rush of an entrepreneur to create something new that we craved for, and not the certainty. We love the land of the unknown, and of new discoveries. Taking risks, making mistakes and finally getting it right are what shapes our lives.

Here is a list of dos and don’ts for young start-up owners:

Do’s

1. Learn from your own mistakes: We remember how conflicted our minds were about leaving the comforts of a hefty paycheck and coming back to India, to chase our true dream. It all seemed very immature and naïve at that time. We were hesitant. When we started our company, we made a lot of mistakes and we still do. We soon realized that the most important thing about mistakes is what you learn from them. So instead of fearing them, we should learn to embrace them. The only advantage for a young blood to commit such teething mistakes is that they dodge it in time if it ever arises again.
   1. Be confident and take risks: With the risk of sounding clichéd, take risks. As young entrepreneurs, we have a lot of runways to implement new strategies, innovative ideas, and challenge the status quo. A lot of times these strategies might not work out but if they do, one home run is all it takes to take you from zero to one.
   1. Network/meet new people: We try to follow this, and slowly, we are becoming better and meet as many new people as possible. What we mean is not with the intention of gaining, but learning from them and their experiences. Chances are that you don’t know everything. An added advantage of connecting with new people is their network becomes a part of your network and you never know, one person’s contact can impact your venture in a big way. It’s a small world and one dot connects another.
   1. lways be open to feedback: Feedback is like a medicine. It tastes bad but if you use it, it cures. We say this because when you give your day and night to something it’s hard to hear anything negative about it. In your pursuit of perfection, it’s important to get and implement feedback from a fresh pair of eyes. You are not building this business just for yourself.

Don’ts

1. Don’t care about what people think: The last thing you can care about is what people think. Don’t beat yourself up if some aunty and uncle think you need to be working in some multinational company. They are not chasing your dreams, you are! The only person’s support you need is yourself and your family. People who don’t want to understand will never understand your vision. We live in a world where other people’s opinions matter but if you are true to yourself and your vision, the same people are going to boast about being associated with you.
2. Don’t become complacent: Don’t be afraid to try new ideas and jump on opportunities. Explore different ways you can spread awareness about your product. Chances are this won’t be your last rodeo, if you fail this time you will come out smarter and better than you were before going in.
3. Don’t be impatient: In this age of instant gratification, we often forget that nothing great was made in a day. It took people endless hours of labor, endless sleepless nights, and endless rejections to make their product amazing. Most of the times you won’t get it right in the first go or your genius strategy won’t garner the attention you expect, but hang in there and keep learning and becoming better.
4. Don’t get obsessed with perfecting your product: Many entrepreneurs keep recapitulating about the product because they might not be satisfied with the design of the product, or its usability and functioning etc. But the truth is that we, entrepreneurs are never satisfied. Launching the product on time is important before it gets too late. It’s better to make mistakes and correct them with the feedback of 100 people, and not by blasting your brain just by yourself.

This Content has originally written by  Ashish Gurnani and Aashray Thatai  and published on July 27, 2017. No Copyright/IPR breach is intended.

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