14 STRATEGIES EVERY ASPIRING ENTREPRENEUR NEED TO DEVELOP

Africa's Richest Man, Aliko Dangote

What are the skills required of every aspiring and young entrepreneur in the world where unemployment is gradually phasing out? In a society where education hardly rewards those who passed through it with a good, well –paying job, what are the strategies every aspiring entrepreneur need to cultivate?

Entrepreneurship is a practical concept where the entrepreneur, businessperson or starter   identifies an opportunity, acts on it and converts it into a money-yielding venture, nurturing the business till it becomes a large empire. The business history of all successful companies, business corporations and conglomerates indicates a common line of skills possessed by the founders. Emeka Agbo Blog, in their quest to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship while alleviating the rate of unemployment and youths dependency, clearly expound the skills and strategies successful entrepreneurs employ in building their businesses. If you are an aspiring or a young entrepreneur, you need to cultivate the following expertise.

  

• ·        Be Sensitive to Opportunities

 

This is the very first skill every aspiring entrepreneur needs to develop- the ability to detect opportunities. Founders of successful companies today were and remain sensitive to opportunities that come their way. This remarkable ability gives them an edge over others. And most importantly, they do not wait for opportunities, they embark on a journey to search for it, and sometimes they create the opportunity themselves.

• ·        Don’t Just Identify - Act on Those Opportunities

 

Results are not gotten at the identification stage. Entrepreneurs get their upshots when they act. Entrepreneurship process does not just start with pinpointing an opportunity. In fact, even non entrepreneurs can still develop skill no 1, but acting on those opportunities to produce results separates an entrepreneur from non-entrepreneurs. You must act on opportunities to produce your desired results!

    

•     Know How Long to Persist and When to Quit 

Is quitting actually in the negative connotation? The answer is an emphatic NO for an entrepreneur.  Quitting can be considered to be positive at one point and negative at another point. Entrepreneurs tend to be more reluctant to quit a project because they have envisioned the outcome right before they embark on it. If they are getting the wrong results, it could only be they have not done it the right way. The most important thing is that entrepreneurs know when best to quit. They are ever persistent and when it’s the right time to press the Quit button, they would certainly do. If you desire to be an entrepreneur, persistency should be your watchword while you know the right time to quit.

 

• ·        Be Passionate about your Ideas

 

Passion is the burning desire of every entrepreneur that makes their ideas come to reality. Passion is the fuel that propels every entrepreneur to success. Entrepreneurs are very fanatical about their ideas and therefore are driven to the point of its realization despite whatever challenges that might come their way. If you are not zealous about your idea, there is every possibility you will fall off the track on your journey to success.

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• ·        Be Conscious of Goal Accomplishments

Entrepreneurs are excellent goal getters. They set goals; and never fail to accomplish their goals.  They must always have targets on the short, medium and long term basis. Entrepreneurs understand the need for the different goal strategies. The long term goals are a compounded sum of both the short and medium term goals. The essence of setting up your short term goals is to enable you meet up with your overall targets for the year or any designed period you set, and then examine your success from time to time through the short term goals.  If you really want to become an entrepreneur, you must set goals and check your progress from time to time through the accomplishments of the short term targets.

• ·        You must Have Inner Motivations

 

Just like passion, entrepreneurs have motivations that flow from within. This motivation constantly energizes and empowers them to work. Even when their friends, family members, colleagues or non-human factors tend to discourage them, they feel motivated from inside and therefore never lose sight of where they are going. Have and maintain inner motivations; they keep you moving especially at the point of startups when you have limited resources at your disposal to work with.

• ·        You Must Take Calculated Risks

 

Entrepreneurs are not gamblers. They do not stumble or surge into investments haphazardly. They study and make proper analysis of any investment they want to embark on, and understand all the risks involved and possibly minimize them before flying into the investment. Meanwhile, they are not afraid of losing should the investment yield negative results and they are never discouraged if the outcome does not favor them. If you desire to become an entrepreneur, you do not have to take risks, instead you take calculated risks! That’s the difference between entrepreneurs and gamblers.

• ·        Be Empathic about the Needs of the People in Your Environment

 

Entrepreneurs succeed because they identify people’s needs and problems and desire to solve them. This theory is what has created the wealth of every successful person in the world all over. It doesn’t matter the class, race or religion of people whose needs or problems you are solving. So long as you constantly provide solutions to them, you have your business continually growing beyond limits.

• ·        Be  Conscious of Time

 

“Time is money” is a very important axiom every aspiring entrepreneur must absolutely digest and understand. If you are aiming to become an entrepreneur, you must understand the value of your time. Money is a proportionate function of time. Don’t waste your time on things that would not grow your business idea, otherwise you will sit down someday only to start counting your losses.

• ·        Think outside the Box

 

Entrepreneurs never run out of ideas. They think outside the box and bring ideas into reality. They know the right solution to every problem and must always confront problems as challenges-without complaining. In other words, they solve problems, they do not compound problems. Every aspiring entrepreneur must develop the ability to think outside the box whenever the need arises. Your ability to bring solutions to problems that do not seem to have solutions sets you apart from your competitors.

• ·        You must be Innovative

 

Innovation keeps every entrepreneur relevant. If you aren’t innovative enough in your field, there is every tendency that your competitors will overtake and crush you. Being innovative is not just important, it is absolutely obligatory. Your ability to add a strikingly positive difference to your products and/or services keeps you outstanding amidst your counterparts in the same field.

• ·        Build and Maintain your Self-Confidence

 

The need for confidence in the life of every aspiring entrepreneur cannot be over-emphasized.   Confidence is one of the important elements that sell you to your clients. You must be as confident as possible to inspire success towards your way. Confidence gives you the illusion of positivity- and which actually creates the progressive results you need. Confidence is what keeps you ahead of others and make you win the contracts against your rivals. Confidence does not entail arrogance; it signifies superiority, belief in yourself and in your capability, the self-assurance of your abilities.  Confidence is quite intimidating to your competitors and makes them give way for you even before you arrive. Develop that feeling of superiority and watch how successful your journey to the world of entrepreneurship would be.

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• ·        Hunt for and Act on Information

 

Information is a very valuable resource every entrepreneur should not just hunt for but act on. The difference between a successful man and a failure is the degree of information both had. And fortunately, the internet is filled with an unending library of knowledge. This is where I always emphasize the importance of reading. If you are aspiring to become an entrepreneur, constant use of the internet to acquire valuable and timely information in your area of expertise shall make you exceptional in your sector. A large amount of information at your disposal means enormous volume of knowledge that would be useful to your business. 

• ·        Be Self-Disciplined
  
  
  

The bridge that connects your goal and its accomplishment remains discipline. It is very necessary every entrepreneur disciplines oneself  if one is to be successful. To be hard-working entails discipline. Results are not gotten at the planning stage. They are always gotten when you execute them. It takes discipline to turn plans into actions, to turn thoughts and ideas into realities. Only when you imbibe the attitude of discipline would you be able to execute your plans successfully as an entrepreneur.

Article Written By Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Eminent Agbo

A Motivational Speaker, a Content Writer, a Blogger and a Digital Media Marketer

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