In the beginning we're all told to "start messy". Just get going, and more importantly stop waiting for the perfect moment because it's never going to come. For most of us this is the right advice for the beginning of our entrepreneurship journey. It certainly was for me! I was full of ideas, but the time and circumstances never seemed right. The more I held onto my ideas, the more I discouraged myself by comparing my then day zero to other people in their season of mastery. When I shared my ideas with others, I even felt more foolish because all they did was help me cement my feelings that I wasn't adequate for the task at hand. So, if you're in your idea phase, JUST DO IT! START MESSY! The moment you're in the game, you'll begin to feel the energy, move differently, and understand what's required to get things done. The experience of doing will get you started, and hopefully hooked. Entrepreneurship is a game where there are no rules, find your way.
After you've been in the game a while; you'll find your greatest value to the market, understand how to monetise it, and have a vision for where your business can go -- welcome to being a seasoned rookie. It's time to think like an entrepreneur! I don't know if everyone has this moment, but I did. There's a moment when you realise that you're not just playing the game because it's fun anymore, you're playing to WIN. I do believe that we rise to the level of our intention. If we're just side hustling we rise to the side hustle. If we're in it to dominate, we will rise to that level, because our awareness has shifted. We're now asking:
What does it take to serve with excellence?
How do I go the extra mile consistently?
What does my customer need in addition to my product or service?
How do I make my value understood by the target market?
What is my brand message/story?
Where am I headed?
Each question leads to another natural question. It becomes important to not just do it, but to create a plan that's ready for execution. Your plan isn't set in stone, it will change several times in response to market feedback but it's a guide. It reminds me of paper maps; I couldn't read them to save my life but just understanding the general direction and place markers was the way we prevented getting lost. You may be asking, then what's the point of creating a detailed plan? The plan will prevent us from making random business decisions. There's a lot of noise in these entrepreneur streets, and we're getting slaughtered like turkeys at Thanksgiving (sorry to be so graphic) because of distractions. Follow your laid out plan for a certain period (at least 90 days) and then evaluate from the data you've collected what's working and what's not. Drop the stuff that's not working like a sack of hot potatoes! Don't marry the plan, marry the results. Document the learning, reconfigure, and keep going with what's working and the opportunities you've observed in executing the 90 day plan. Repeat this process, with a focus on getting better every quarter.
Please don't lose your head when things don't work. To land on what will work we have to eliminate what isn't working. The advantage of being an entrepreneur is the freedom to have a trial and error approach to business. That's what gives entrepreneur's an edge over big corporations with massive budgets and rigid rules.
Overcoming obstacles is how we build our business acumen. You don't get to be Sir Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos by avoiding failure. Accept failure as part of the learning curve and not as your identity. Failure isn't a person. It's a single outcome in a string of learning experiences.
Proverbs 16: 3, "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."
How are you doing on your entrepreneurship journey?
P.S. Check out our FREE podcast, Reinventing Perspectives, where we talk to entrepreneurs from all over the globe to help YOU stay in faith and win at business. Please leave us a review so we can know how we're doing in serving you.
#ChristianEntrepreneurship #ChristianEntrepreneurshipTraining #HowToBeAChristianEntrepreneur #EntrepreneurshipInChristianPerspective #BusinessQuotes #ChristianEntrepreneurMindset #GettingStartedInBusiness #DevelopingBusinessIdeas #WomenInBusiness #Proverbs31Entrepreneur