Last Updated on 2024-10-11
Starting a business? Get tips from seasoned entrepreneurs who’ve seen, heard, and done it all. Read on!
Who doesn’t want to be their own boss? Entrepreneurship sounds like a dream; you make your own hours, you’re free to be creative, and you get all the profit. But what most people don’t see is that there’s a large amount of work cut out to make that dream a reality. In fact, it can be a nightmare.
Let’s look into the reality of a business dream. The ups and downs, the struggle and failures, the losses, and eventually, the gains. The journey to starting a business is rough. An entrepreneur story is not at all a fairytale. But it sure is worthwhile.
As Andrew Morgan of Marknology explains it, “Entrepreneurs are scared of all types of stuff and deal with more fear than most people. They just fear not trying at all.”
To understand how entrepreneurship works, let’s first define it.
Related Video: Why Do You Want to Start a Startup?
What is an entrepreneur?
According to Webster’s Dictionary, an entrepreneur is someone who “organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.” Simply put, it’s an individual who owns and runs a business. And this person takes full responsibility for the company.
The most common characteristics of an entrepreneur are someone innovative, creative, resourceful, and a risk-taker. Most successful founders share traits of passion, integrity, and discipline. Lastly, as a startup owner, you need to brave through storms; so, resilience is key.
Related Video: What is an Entrepreneur?
The Art of Starting a Business
When it comes to sharing your startup story, you have to start from the beginning. Entrepreneurs weren’t always entrepreneurs; they had their origin story. And you have to tell your once-upon-a-time tale too.
A powerful entrepreneur story is a strong selling point of a business. That’s why you need to be aware of your own. Kick things off by answering the question, why do you want to be an entrepreneur? You can take inspiration from other startup stories. Here are some of the reasons people start a business:
1. They’re ambitious and want to make a difference
Lauren Conaway saw that there was a disproportionate number of women in the tech field. To spark change in the otherwise male-dominated work industries throughout Kansas City, she started InnovateHerKC to provide inclusive support for women leaders and professionals.
The members aim to provide resources, mentorship, support, collaboration, and opportunities for women in business. The goal of InnovateHerKC is to cultivate a sphere of influence to deepen the impact of professional women in the Kansas City community.
2. They have a solution to a problem
The cannabis business has always been tricky. Because of the controversies surrounding it, cannabis products aren’t easy to buy and are even harder to sell. For the power couple, Heather and Kyle Steppe saw this as a challenge.
They founded KC Hemp Co to make CBD products more accessible. They want to educate people on the cannabis plant and how it works for natural healing. Initially, they put up a physical store, but when the Covid19 pandemic hit, they had to pivot by selling online.
Watch how the Steppe’s moved from brick and mortar to marketplace sales in Startup Hustle TV Episode 5. Today, their online shop is a patronized source for CBD products.
3. They can do something better in an industry
When it comes to building a house, it usually takes a good number of people to collaborate. The Perkins Brothers, though, prefer to do most of the work. As contractors, they don’t subcontract the work. Instead, they follow a very hands-on approach in construction to ensure quality and build.
They’ve turned down several projects to stay within their area and keep a close eye on things. The way they do business has stirred and intrigued people, and they now have nearly 300,000 subscribers on their Youtube channel.
4. They’re industry experts wanting to branch out
Mixtape the Game started as a product design challenge. Its CEO, Joel Johnson, took inspiration from Cards Against Humanity and decided to create his deck of cards that was music-based. After licensing the card and creating an app version, it’s become one of the most popular card games. They sold over 100,000 decks.
Similarly, Stackify founder Matt Watson created Stackify’s software to address the tech problems he encountered as a Chief Technology Officer. The development tool turned out to be more helpful than he thought, and he ended up making it a successful business. Now, Netreo is acquiring Stackify.
5. They need money
Business Bros Hernan Sias wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had to grind early. “The only thing I knew about money growing up is that we didn’t have any,” he bluntly shares.
This drove him to come up with a side hustle to get by. He and his brother started their first informal business called PC Cruisers out of necessity. They needed money to pay their mortgage. They successfully acquired customers doing PC repair services.
Unfortunately, as young, misguided entrepreneurs, they eventually encountered problems and were forced to shut it down.
“That was the first time I ended up going broke. But I knew what I wanted to do going forward – entrepreneurship,” said Sias. Now, Sias is empowering people to build wealth and helping out aspiring entrepreneurs through their Business Bros podcast.
Learn more about Business
Starting a business is hard. Making it successful is even harder. You’ll have to jump through a lot of hoops before you can truly make it as an entrepreneur. That’s why you have to be teachable, constantly striving to learn from others.
Want to hear more entrepreneur stories? Get tips and advice from seasoned business owners!
Startup Hustle TV features top startup owners as they share secrets to their trade. The show is hosted and created by Matt DeCoursey, Full Scale’s founder. Check it out!
Matt Watson is a serial tech entrepreneur who has started four companies and had a nine-figure exit. He was the founder and CTO of VinSolutions, the #1 CRM software used in today’s automotive industry. He has over twenty years of experience working as a tech CTO and building cutting-edge SaaS solutions.
As the CEO of Full Scale, he has helped over 100 tech companies build their software services and development teams. Full Scale specializes in helping tech companies grow by augmenting their in-house teams with software development talent from the Philippines.
Matt hosts Startup Hustle, a top podcast about entrepreneurship with over 6 million downloads. He has a wealth of knowledge about startups and business from his personal experience and from interviewing hundreds of other entrepreneurs.
