THE MOTIVATIONS EACH ENTREPRENEUR SHOULD HAVE

This week, I have been inconsistent in writing but I apologize.  The daily struggle of balancing my day job was nearly suffocating me but I have put that right now. Today, I would love to share a lesson I learned during the week, the motivation every entrepreneur should have. i was moved when I encountered a situation where I asked my self  “WHY am I doing this?”.

 

Love what you do

 

First off I begin by quoting a tweet by Brooke Griffin(Follow her on twitter: @BrookeGriffin_) , an Entrepreneur who believes in the power of excelling at doing what you love.

 

If you want something, if you Truly Want Something, You’ll Find a Way to Make it Happen. Be Dedicated & Passionate.

The path of entrepreneurship is a cold and lonely. Turbulent waters are bound to flow in even when your just starting out. The only way your going to survive the sea of death of your business is love what what you do. Money shouldn’t be the only motivation driving you into business because as we all know, you can never have enough money. So don’t make money be at the forefront of what your doing. Yes, it is important to make money in business, its what pays the bills, let it come naturally.

Loving what you do will be only thing that keeps you going. It is what makes you get up very early in the morning despite sleeping late or after making nothing the previous day. Loving what you do is what will enhance creativity and innovation because you will always want to do it in a way that satisfies you and want to make it better.

 

Aspire to be the best

 

I was reading The Dip, a masterpiece written by marketing guru, Seth Godin. In this book Seth elaborates that everything worth having has a dip(cost) .  Imagine, an athlete wanted to win an Olympic gold medal, he would strive to be the best at his discipline by training hard and that would involve intensive training and perseverance. This would cost the athlete time and money. This according Seth Godin creates a scarcity at the top.

 

The lesson he tries to elaborate is that before you set out on the journey of entrepreneurship, plan and think carefully about the resources you need and sacrifices you will need to make.

 

He goes on by emphasizing that in case you provide a product or service to society, distinguish yourself such that anyone who buys from you or hires you, values as the best. in turn, this makes you a scarcity as opposed to just a commodity. Everyone will want to buy from you because your the best.

The lesson I learned is that if you aspire to start a business and don’t envision becoming the best at what you hope to do, do the smart thing and quit now! Save your potential customers from the dread of high priced substandard commodities.

 

 

 

 

 

The power of being an innovator and not a follower

Starting a business may seem an easy idea, even sound glamorous. Once you start, you soon realize that the ‘easy idea’ is not that easy after all. Many young entrepreneurs fall into the trap of copying other ideas and this leads to the failure of their business. Why? Well it wasn’t their idea in the first place so to keep it sustainable and fresh would always prove to be a problem.

I understand the thought process of why reinvent the wheel? If something works, follow it. This is great for systems but does not apply to taking another idea and building your business model based on this philosophy. Africa is rich in many ways and the spirit of entrepreneurship is fairly new to us. We’re on the tipping point of great resources, ideas, people and opportunities.

Nothing worth it in life ever comes easy and the life of an entrepreneur is far from glamorous. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t all doom and gloom, I would not trade it for anything but you need to be prepared to work. The work starts from the genesis, your idea. Emphasis on ‘your’. Why is there a need for this service or product? Workshop the idea yourself before getting out the parking lot, then take it further once you believe in it 100%.

This is vital on your journey of being an entrepreneur, you will most certainly come across many people that won’t buy into your idea and if you don’t believe in your idea, this will be a tough obstacle to overcome. You need to be confident that no matter what, your idea is worth giving it your all. The power of being an innovator and not a follower is that it identifies you as a strong and confidant person. Entrepreneurship teaches you many personal lessons in life and these build your character. I like to call it the university of life! Why rob yourself of these valuable lessons by merely copying an idea that will only teach you the opposite of what you can learn about yourself from the start? Nothing good ever comes from copying. Yes I know, almost every idea is out there, except yours! You can do it and you have everything on the inside of you to get there.

Make the first step and keep going. One day at a time. I’d rather live my life knowing I did my best and as authentically as possible. I would never want to live my life based on somebody else’s dream. I was created to be an individual and so everything I do reflects who I am. How about you?

Entrepreneurial thinking is about recognizing opportunities in the marketplace and understanding how and when to capitalize on them. Becoming an entrepreneur is not necessarily an inherent trait. It takes time to train yourself to use your talents and experience to see opportunities where others do not.~ Jonathan R. Aspatore

Cyril Naicker
Creative Director
Cape Town In Vogue
Twitter: @cyrilnaicker