The title of entrepreneur is often misunderstood. Although the majority of the world wants to believe that owning a business or working on an idea means you are an entrepreneur, the reality is that entrepreneurship is so much more than just these two things. It is about the ability to innovate by helping society progress.
That title could take a decade to be earned by those who follow through to the very end and see their change come to life. But every one of them started with a simple idea. For those who aspire to become real entrepreneurs, the path from idea to entrepreneurship is one that requires a bit of self-analysis and self-awareness. Not all ideas are worth pursuing, and not all individuals are ready to take on the task of innovation.
To identify the perfect crossroad between an idea and the right idea is the place where vision meets the visionary, or the place where the idea meets execution.
1. Identify your skills and allow your talents to manifest themselves.
Everybody wants money. But many fail to realize that money is an extension of your skills, so the most important aspect of learning to make money starts by identifying what skillful attributes you possess. Make a list of your talents, then add a small star next to each talent that you seem to excel at, even when just compared to your peers.
Take a look at those skills labeled with a star and you should see a pattern; that’s where your aptitude lies. The goal of this exercise is to recognize what skills you excel in and capitalize on them. It is much more engaging to participate in businesses that leverage your real talents rather than random businesses that seem to have an upside to them.
Continue fostering such aptitudes until you eventually convert more of your skills into usable abilities for your business.
2. Tap into your confidence to create belief.
Confidence is a byproduct of repetition. The more you practice doing something, the more confident you become in the process needed to see it to the end. Starting a business requires this confidence, thus most individuals who have zero trust in the process fail to get started because it is an unknown realm.
When the level of confidence needed for the process is non-existent, self-assurance in your control and skills is the next best thing; it is needed for the vision to turn into execution. You have to believe in the idea, the process and the ability within yourself to bring your business project to life. Without confidence and self-assurance, belief doesn’t exist; and without belief, the chances of giving up are high.
3. Allow your love to evolve to a state of passion.
The last ingredient needed outside of your skills and confidence is the capacity to focus on ideas that you feel passionate about. Having passion will push you to pursue something you love and transform that urge into action.
You might love politics, but your desire to be involved in politics makes you passionate about it. You might love cars, but your need to be involved in a function like racing, mechanics, design, etc. makes you passionate about it. The goal is to identify topics of interest so that you can start manifesting some aspects of passion as you start your project. The closer a project is to your heart, the less discouraged you will become when results don’t go your way.
The perfect and powerful ideas are not the ones with the most monetary potential, but rather the ideas that are within your capacity to execute. Any idea that taps into your skills and focuses on solving a problem you feel passionate about only requires a hint of confidence to get started. And the best ideas are the ones that force you to level up and execute quickly.
This article was published in April 2017 and has been updated. Photo by @jeremiahortner