What Entrepreneur Really Means?

18 Compelling Lessons Learned From Pursuing Entrepreneurship

From a small business owner to the founder of a large enterprise, starting a business is a journey that can take many different paths. Though preparation beforehand can involve books, mentors and industry conferences, there is no true way to know what challenges will appear, when and how they will impact the business.

This ambiguity can be a scary burden to bear in addition to the pressures entrepreneurs already face, but regardless of the outcome, any experience gained while handling these obstacles is well worth the trouble. Below, 18 Forbes Business Council members each share one lesson from their entrepreneurial journey they've learned over the years.

1. Prepare For Challenges

Coming to the U.S. from India as a student, I landed with only $100 in my pocket and washed dishes in the cafeteria to pay tuition. When founding our company in 1998, things did not magically fall into place. As we struggled to build the business, we lived in a tiny, one-bedroom apartment with three children. Entrepreneurship often means struggle and sacrifice, but it's well worth it in the end. - Raj Sardana, Innova Solutions

2. Prioritize Looking Ahead

If you’re not innovating and looking five years ahead, you’re leaving millions on the table. Over the last 28 years as CEO and founder, I've prioritized future-proofing my mindset and my business. I do this not only because it’s generative for me but also because it’s how companies scale their reach and impact and how leaders become bigger humans for their teams. - Tracy Yates, Mindway

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?

3. Take Risks To Grow

Growth does not occur without risk. One can grow by making smart decisions and taking calculated risks, but growth does not just happen—it is an active process that requires engagement, thought, planning and strategy before execution. I often find myself thinking about the moment I decided to leave a group practice to start my own practice. I needed to take a calculated risk, and it paid off. - Christine S. Ghilain, Brain Health Neuropsychology & Brain Health Consulting

4. Trust Your Intuition

Trust your gut and ignore the doubtful audience in your head. This imaginary crowd, fueled by insecurities, often surfaces as you set out to build a new company. I experienced this firsthand when I began Tractor. The influence of these doubts made every challenge appear overwhelming. Squash the negative thoughts. Pay more attention to the passion in your heart than the hesitancy in your head. - Kevin Sherman, Tractor Beverage Company

5. Find Your Passion

I started my journey in 2014 working as an account executive for a nationwide home health organization. I expanded my knowledge by working with other reputable organizations. I never thought eight years later I would have created something great. Find your passion, put it into action and grow! - Prince Villaneuva, OPO Health

6. Be Empowered By Your Purpose

I struggled with working for others because I never saw openly LGTBQ+ Asian males in leadership positions. Because of this, I felt that I could be that person. I want to be a leader who inspires others to not be bound by expectation but to be empowered by purpose. My purpose is helping others, which is why I love recruiting. - Alston Chiang, Acacia Consulting

7. Follow The Golden Rule

It's important to always be able to pass the "red face" test, meaning you won't be embarrassed by your actions if you run into that person in the future. In other words, follow the golden rule and treat people the way you'd want to be treated yourself. - Paul Schaut, TextNow

8. Focus On Supporting Your Stakeholders

I noticed early on that if I made others look good, good things would happen to me. Over the years, I developed a mantra that my team hears from me often: Everyone wants to be the hero of their own story. Whether it's your customers or team, your product or service needs to fit into each person's individual narrative and help prop them up. - Brandon Carlson, Lean TECHniques, Inc.

9. Be Adaptable

I have faced challenges that have tested my resilience and forced me to make strategic pivots. These experiences underscore the significance of adaptability in entrepreneurship. It’s not just the initial vision but the ability to evolve and respond to unexpected challenges that truly shape success. The essence of an entrepreneur lies in navigating the unforeseen with agility and learning every step of the way. - Justen Arnold, Flexx Mobility & Performance LLC

10. Expect To Put In The Work

Be ready to work hard and for a very long time. Successful entrepreneurship is created through the dedication and discipline you put into it combined with the ability to attract talent and let them grow under your guidance. - Jonathan Tjoa Algreen, 1 People

11. Find Your Support System

My story is about my wife’s support. At one point when everything seemed lost, I was devastated and told my wife I was a failure and would soon have to sell our home and move us into government-subsidized housing. Elena unflinchingly said she’d move with me and bring our kids. Her unconditional support helped me address my biggest fear: Failure. That set me free to push forward to where I am today. - Mikhail Papovsky, Massaro Consulting

12. Be Proactive

One compelling lesson in my experiences as an entrepreneur is to be proactive. After our first major yes from a big brand we had been pitching for months, I realized they decided to proceed with us because they saw our deliberate attention to detail and readiness to meet their needs. Anticipate clients’ questions, needs or value, then prepare answers, structure, products or services to offer them. - Lola Olukuewu, High IQ Designs

13. See Challenges As Opportunities

As an entrepreneur and mediator, I often recount pivoting from a turbulent divorce to a successful partnership with my ex-husband in running our award-winning restaurant. The pivotal lesson? Adversity can be alchemized into opportunity. This shared goal fostered respect and a thriving business, which is a narrative that underscores the transformative power of perspective and common ground. - Lajuanda Williams-Griffin, ResolveIt ADR Services, Inc.

14. Prioritize Fit In Partnerships

I learned that partnerships with big corporations often fail due to vast cultural differences. While initially alluring, these large entities proved challenging for a startup like mine. This experience taught me to wisely choose clients similar in size and pace, ensuring a better fit and more successful collaborations. It's a lesson in selecting battles that align with our capabilities. - Maximilian Kramer, Kramer & Matt GmbH

15. Make One Decision To Start

It's important to remember that one simple decision is all that's needed to get started. This moment of decision can change everything. Anything you want to pursue in life comes down to this: One simple decision and taking action. This is key to growth. - Angela Delmedico, Elev8 Consulting Group

16. Avoid Giving Up

My No. 1 lesson by far is never give up. My business was so negative in terms of bottom line that it was hours from bankruptcy. The more thought we gave it and the harder we worked, the more opportunity presented itself. There is always a way, and I mean always. - Mikhail Kadymov, Alpha Center / Alpha Energy

17. Leverage Tenacity And Adaptability For Success

One story I often share is our initial struggle to gain traction with Journey. It taught me the importance of resilience. We faced setbacks, but we persevered by refining our approach until we found success. The lesson is tenacity and adaptability are keys to entrepreneurial achievement. By constantly refining our product, we've been able to succeed. - Stephen Sokoler, Journey

18. Be Open To Embracing Change

I learned early in my coaching career not to underestimate online presence. I initially stuck to in-person sessions but then realized the power of going digital to reach a global audience. This shift was a game-changer, teaching me the importance of embracing change, technology and staying adaptable to trends in entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age: Opportunities and Obstacles

In the ever-evolving landscape of the digital era, the entrepreneurial spirit has found new ground to flourish. In the past, business opportunities were reserved for those who found themselves in the right place, at the right time, with a lot of capital behind them. Nowadays, the marketplace of entrepreneurship has expanded to all those smart, conscientious, and brave venturers. This is not to say that these opportunities are without challenges.

In the modern world, those who are willing to search for these opportunities, and those with the grit to overcome the obstacles, now have a chance to pursue their entrepreneurial will to achieve. 

This article will map the contours of some of the challenges and opportunities modern entrepreneurs can expect to face. 

Opportunities

There are many opportunities out there in the modern landscape, however it can be difficult to find them. Articles like this, completing an AACSB MBA online, and your own personal studies are necessary to fully develop your perspective on the landscape. 

(1) Low Barrier to Entry

One of the most significant advantages of the digital age is the lowered barrier to entry for aspiring entrepreneurs. Gone are the days when starting a business required a physical storefront and substantial capital. In fact, many leaders in this space highlight the importance of starting small with very little upfront costs. Books like “The $100 Startup” by Chris Guillebeau, and “The Startup Owner's Manual” by Bob Dorf and Steve Blank emphasize how beginning with little allows for the flexibility you need to adapt to the ever-changing market.

Moreover, the ability to pivot without the risk of losing your own, or investors, money, is essential to finding a business model with product market fit. 

(2) Staying Lean

Building on the low barriers to entry is the principle of staying lean. This principle has been found at the intersection of digital entrepreneurship and startups. Entrepreneurs can now test their business ideas with minimal investment, quickly adapt to feedback, and pivot if necessary. This approach reduces financial risk and enables a more agile business model.

Reducing financial risk might seem like an obvious benefit, but delving into the very real nature of entrepreneurship and psychology, it plays a much bigger role than would be expected. Knowing that you, as a startup or business founder, have the space to try new things and make mistakes without risking the future of you and your family's well-being, allows you to do what is necessary to succeed. 

Specifically, what is necessary to succeed is an agile business model, with the flexibility to pivot when needed. Staying lean, not taking big loans, and running off the revenue being generated is a great way to embed this freedom in your venture.

(3) Data, Data, Data

In the realm of digital entrepreneurship, data reigns supreme. Access to real-time data analytics allows entrepreneurs to make informed decisions, understand consumer behavior, and tailor their products or services to meet specific market needs. 

It is worth double-clicking on what this means. You, as a business or startup founder, have a hypothesis, an educated guess, about what problems your potential customers are enduring. You then craft a business model to alleviate that problem, thus producing value. But how do you know you have a good understanding of the problem at hand? The answer is simple, you don’t… unless you have access to the mind of the potential customer. 

The digital world has given you unprecedented access to the minds of potential customers in the form of data. Demographic data, feedback surveys, reviews, and social media outreach programs, all allow you to better understand the problem you are trying to solve. Without this data, you are at best solving a problem that you think the customer has, which may be completely different to the one they actually have. 

(4) Innovate and Iterate

The fast-paced nature of the digital world requires continuous innovation. This means that success is entirely tethered to what startup entrepreneurs call feedback loops. The feedback loop follows three stages: (1) Get a product in the hands of a customer. 

(2) Receive feedback from that customer about the product. 

(3) Alter the product according to the feedback you received. Repeat this process until you reach product market fit.

Modern startup accelerators like Y Combinator, predict the success of a startup based on how quickly the startup team can get through these loops. This is because, the faster you complete a loop, the faster you can iterate, and the faster you can iterate, the faster you can innovate. Fast innovation is the key to entrepreneurial success. 

Austin Distel on Unsplash Obstacles

The entrepreneurial path is not an easy one. There are plenty of challenges to overcome along the way. Be rest assured, however, that all entrepreneurs have faced these challenges.

(1) Information Overload

While the abundance of information available online is beneficial, it can also be overwhelming. Entrepreneurs face the challenge of sifting through vast amounts of data to find what is relevant to their business. Moreover, distinguishing what is good information from what is not so good information can also be a challenge.

Firstly, to overcome the ‘too much information problem’, try narrowing the questions you are asking. For example, instead of Google search for “good business ideas”, search for “how to commercialize my expertise in medieval European history”. Now instead of getting a million opinions that mean nothing to you, you get a few very specialized ideas.  

Secondly, collecting information from a few reputable sources that you trust is a good way to ensure the quality of information you are receiving. Moreover, reading books is a good way to expand your mind if you struggle to generate ideas. 

(2) Cybersecurity

As businesses move online, cybersecurity becomes a paramount concern. The threat of data breaches, hacking, and cyber-attacks looms large, especially for small businesses with limited resources for robust security measures.

For business and startup founders, understanding that cybersecurity risks loom large on the horizon, should be at the front of mind when hiring technically capable people. Incorporating this in your cost structure early on in the venture is important to not be caught off guard by costs down the road.

Dan Nelson on Unsplash (3) Rapidly Changing Market Conditions

The digital market is characterized by its rapid evolution. What is trending today might become obsolete tomorrow. This, however, is an opportunity in disguise. If you can position yourself to adapt to the changing market conditions, you will have a huge competitive advantage over those more stagnant businesses in the market.

Entrepreneurship in the digital age is a journey filled with exciting opportunities and daunting obstacles. Ensuring the information you are consuming is of quality and relevance,Dan Nelson on Unsplash (3) Rapidly Changing Market Conditions

The digital market is characterized by its rapid evolution. What is trending today might become obsolete tomorrow. This, however, is an opportunity in disguise. If you can position yourself to adapt to the changing market conditions, you will have a huge competitive advantage over those more stagnant businesses in the market.

Conclusion

Entrepreneurship in the digital age is a journey filled with exciting opportunities and daunting obstacles. Ensuring the information you are consuming is of quality and relevance, and using that information to drive business decisions, will ensure that you overcome challenges and capitalize on opportunities.

(Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)