No one seems to know who coined the term “Wantrepreneur,” but one thing’s for sure, it’s become quite popular recently. Online dictionaries define the word as: “Someone who thinks about being an entrepreneur or starting a business but never gets started.” At NEURS we use the term “aspiring entrepreneur” to identify this growing market.
There are so many aspects of entrepreneurship that it’s easy to get caught up and never actually get going. Fear of failure, lack of connections, lack of capital, no game plan in place. Sadly these challenges deter even the best of us. Could this be you? Whatever the excuse for procrastination, taking on the risk of becoming an entrepreneur is far less hazardous than spending the rest of your life building someone else’s dream. If you want to evolve from a wantrepreneur to an entrepreneur take a look at these action steps.
Get started already!
Wantrepreneurs simply talk about ideas, where as entrepreneurs act upon them. Here’s what happens: we mentally prioritize our “to-do” lists; we start with the easy tasks first, putting off difficult tasks till the end, yet these challenges are usually the most important aspects of getting started. As you go along, more things are added to the list leaving you with nothing to show for yourself except busy work. Does this sound familiar? Here’s how to combat this common error.
Create Sub- Projects
Vitalize your long term goals. Identify the tasks necessary to make these goals a reality. Realistically prioritize your tasks and then break them down into mini-projects. This will eliminate the desire to procrastinate by allowing you to focus on the immediate tasks at hand. As you check them off it will give you an enormous sense of accomplishment which will keep you moving forward.
Connect with the right people
Engage online with people in your niche market and develop personal relationships with them. The most important part of this process is keeping a contact list. These individuals can later become customers, employees; investors or even just people who can help spread the word about your business. Use as many online platforms as possible to make these connections. For example, NEURS.com offers the ability to connect with providers of services like web designers, business coaches, marketing experts, manufacturers and thousands of individuals who can become potential business partners. Facebook and Twitter are great platforms to use for connecting with like minded prospects that can help promote your business on social networks.
Realize you cannot Fail
Understanding and embracing failure is a key quality of all successful entrepreneurs. Thomas Edison was quoted “I have not failed; I have been successful in identifying over 1,000 ways in which it won’t work, thus I am closer to figuring out how it will work.” If you adapt this perspective you will realize that it is impossible to fail. In fact, this would mean that each time you fail you actually increase your chances of success and will develop a significantly better business or product.
So the question remains. Are you a Wantrepreneur or Entrepreneur?
The choice is yours.
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Resource: We curated this article by: Lauren Giraldo – Online Content Manager, NEURS because we felt that it provided a very insightful take on a topic that has been growing in interest for quite some time. If you want to know more about NEURS click here.
* Disclosure: As a Founding Member of NEURS, we have a financial interest in promoting the website.