If You Want To Become An Entrepreneur, Be With Entrepreneurs
February 14, 2008 by akemi
So you want to become an entrepreneur. Question: How many successful entrepreneurs do you know?
Not someone you know in the news, not someone you just know as customer, someone who can tell you what it really is to be an entrepreneur – friends or family members who are successful entrepreneurs.
Aaron at Today is that Day has a thought-provoking article titled Are You Building a Winning Team or Running a Daycare Center? He points out how our environment, including the people we associate with, affects our mind and feeling, and to some extent determines the course of our life. He says:
You need to ask yourself if your surroundings are conductive to actually attaining those goals. Do you work, live, or play in an environment or with a group of people who are constantly building you up and believing in your greatness, or do your surroundings serve instead to remind you of what you don’t want to have in your life?
He goes on to check if your circle of friends are aligned to such goals as fitness, relationship, and financial success. Now let me add to it that becoming a successful entrepreneur is no exception to this rule.
This is a requirement of becoming an entrepreneur: Be with successful entrepreneurs.
Surround yourself with successful entrepreneurs who can tell you what it is like to be an entrepreneur and who will trust your potential as they have trusted theirs themselves. Spend as much time as possible with them. Learn how to think as an entrepreneur.
I know this is difficult. You are probably employed as professional now, so you spend majority of your time with other employees. And let me remind you – no matter how high up someone is in the corporate ladder, an employee is an employee. They have employee mindset. I used to work for a president of a sizable company (who managed three locations in the US). He was very knowledgeable of the business, he had strong leadership, and yet he was an employee. He made a great president, working for the parent company, but he is not an entrepreneur. (In some companies, president may be working for the board – same thing, he is a high-end employee, not entrepreneur.) Your challenge is how to associate with real entrepreneurs and learn the mindset of entrepreneur while you may be working as employee.
You are very lucky if someone in your family is an entrepreneur. In my case, my father was an entrepreneur. He started his business when I was six, so I grew up watching what it is like. In a sense, I started working at age six. It was time before the answering machine, so I took calls when he was out making sales calls. He never paid me, but I earned some tips. . . (Wouldn’t you be impressed with a six-year-old girl speaking with highest degree of politeness answering calls and taking their name and number? Or doing the basic shipping and receiving, counting the number of packages before signing off the paperwork? Oh, this was back in Japan. I know, in the US, kids are not even allowed to be themselves without adults. . .) I also watched how he deals with his customers and venders. He didn’t teach me anything (because I was a girl, not a boy – I know, I wish he had better attitude), but still I learned. I also figured why he has more time and money, and more flexibility of spending his time and money, than other kids’ fathers. . .
What are your options if nobody in your close circle of friends and family are entrepreneurs?
You need to seek them out. Seek them in social clubs and professional associations. Hire a mentor or coach. (There is a difference between a mentor and a coach. A mentor is someone who has been successful in specific area of your interest. The strength of a mentor is their specific knowledge and experiences. The potential drawback is they would tend to draw you to the direction they believe to be right, which may or may not fit your personal aspirations and personality. On the other hand, a coach is your detached thinking partner. Most coaches have a niche, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are the big shot in that field. The strength of a coach is their professional communication skills supported by the ability to remain caring yet detached and objective. Coaches are trained to be client-centered.)
I also encourage you to check this blog often because – in addition to me, myself, who is an entrepreneur 
– I will be writing about and interviewing successful entrepreneurs I know.
You need to change the way you think, feel, and act to become a successful entrepreneur.
It is a fundamental shift from that of employee. And you can’t just learn it intellectually like your learn how to write business plans. You need to learn experientially.
And please introduce yourself by leaving comment!
Whether you are just dreaming of having your business, or quite serious about going independent, or maybe already launched your business, please introduce yourself. Let’s build an online community of aspiring entrepreneurs.
If you like this post, please check the Interview with Successful Entrepreneurs.
Thanks to Aaron for including this post in Doing It Differently Carnival.
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I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Jason Rakowski
Jason,
Thank you for your encouragement!
Akemi,
Thanks for the link love, and for sharing this great advice with people interested in entrepreneurship. I especially like that you offered up advice about what people can do if they don’t already have entrepreneurs in their circle.
Advice about what we need is much effective when we are taught how to get something if we don’t already have access to it.
I found your site blogsearch.google.com. After going through the content of this site and ideas provided by it I’m looking forward to start my business and to become a serious entrepreneur.
Aaron,
You are welcome. I love your blog!
Trevor,
Thank you,
I have found the material you have posted on your site to be really helpful. I always looking for great blogs or sites like this to keep my fresh and thinking in the right direction. Thank you so much for sharing.
http://www.jobzillia.com
Hello Akemi. I found your site (well, specifically the previous one, Gratitude Magic) through Steve Pavlina’s forum. Just introducing myself. I’m not an entrepreneur yet but I certainly want to be (having a hard time deciding on a path, which for many is the biggest obstacle), and reading this post in particular made me realize how important it is for me to associate with people who are. So thank you for sharing that, also wanted to say I greatly enjoy what I’ve read of your other posts too!
Hey Gabe,
Welcome! You are my local too. (Don’t we love this warm weather!)
Yes to Me is very new, but I have lots of plans including interviews and guest blogs. So stay tuned!
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I really enjoyed this site. Thank you for your information.
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I came here from “self made chick”’s weblog. I am on my way to becoming an entrepreneur after my graduation in April. I really enjoyed this post and will be looking forward to learning more from you. I definitely know what you mean about the female/Asian stuff, since my boyfriend is Chinese and I have a lot of Asian friends who talk about these issues with me.
All the best, Nathalie
P.S. Once I make it big, you can definitely interview me.
Nathalie,
Welcome, and thank you for your kind words.
It will be my pleasure to interview you. And as you read in my interview, you don’t have to be BIG — make it profitable on a sustainable basis, and be sure you are expressing yourself through your business in one way or the other.
Good luck, and I definitely love to hear more from you.
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i’m 15 year old and wanted to become an entrepreneur , but i have no idea what to do , can i have some advice …?
and i hope i’m not too young for becoming an entrepreneur… am i?
Dickson,
Age doesn’t determine whether you are too young or too old to do anything. Your maturity and determination do, and you are the one to decide on them.
but what can i start to do , to become an entrepreneur?
P.S : thanks for the advice
i liked interior designing but i don’t think there is much to expand this career , what can i do ? look for something else i like?
by the way , does high education affect one’s future? i mean , someone with a higher education level he stands a better chance? e.g: bill gates studied in Havard , which was the best university in the world … and he became such a successful entrepreneur (richest man)
for your information , my country’s education was so exam-oriented , and i don’t really like to study subjects like history , geography . but people say , you won’t get a job unless you are you are highly educated . i hate this . but what can i do about it ? throw my studies a part ? i can’t do that !
” If You Want To Become An Entrepreneur, Be With Entrepreneurs ”
i’m a 15 year old kid … my parents aren’t entrepreneurs , not my relatives and i don’t even know a single entrepreneur … will entrepreneurs want to be with me ? how can i seek for them and learn something from them?
i’ve read something you have written and knew you were an entrepreneur , may i ask , what do you work as an entrepreneur are you? food ? build or sell houses ? eletronic devices? clothings ? engines ? any?
Dickson,
I put together all your comments together so that they don’t look like spam.
Bill Gates went to Harvard, but he didn’t complete his degree. Just letting you know.
And I work as spiritual consultant, Akashic Record Reader.
hmm , how can i find my own business at 15 year old ? my classmate , he sells pirated DVD’s in school , although it is not right but he sure is creative ! All i need is some inspiration .
Dickson,
I don’t quite agree that all you need is some inspiration or idea . . .
I’m writing a series on this topic, so hang tight.
by the way , does spiritual consultant has anything to do with vodoos?
Dickson,
No.
i think when u r not from business background meanse family its to hard too develope entrepreneur skills besides your suggesition of be with entrepreneur is too excelent
than you
and regards
commerce student
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