If you have ever spent more than an hour with me you may have noticed that I am in some way or another telling you to start a business. I have seen how it has benefited me and I want to share the enjoyment with everyone. I see it as the solution to the many of the our problems as individuals and as a society. I do realize that not everyone is made to start their own business but having the mindset of an entrepreneur is something that will benefit everyone.
We have taught ourselves that work is to be endured and that we have to design our lives around our work. How many times have you had to stay after work and miss dinner or work on weekends because of someone else’s mistakes? If you are thinking like an entrepreneur your first priority is to support your needs. They then build their business to fill those needs. Those needs can run the gamut between wanting to retire early to wanting to have a business they can do from home so they can be around their family. No matter what it is the business is there to serve you not you it.
The next benefit is that you get to control your income. Have you ever been working somewhere and someone left the job; then you are handed their work and you do not get paid more for doing twice the work? If you have the entrepreneur mindset you will fully understand that you should be compensated for increased output. If you are doing more you should be paid more. If you are a lazy person then you would not like this though. If you are lazy and do less then you are paid less. From a business point of view it will be easy to identify the people that are not pulling their weight where in the typical corporate setting these people are able to hide you pick up their slack.
There are many skills you have but there are only a handful that you enjoy. Entrepreneurs know this and realize that if they try to do work they do not enjoy then they will fail and their business will go nowhere. The added benefit of this is that entrepreneurs are always doing work they enjoy so they do not feel like they are working, they are having fun. Imagine being excited to get up every day and go to work. Never again feeling beat down from doing things you despise and always energized.
Every entrepreneur understands that they must keep learning so they can get better at their business. All of us have had those classes in school that we thought were pointless but we also had those classes we loved. This is in the same vein as loving your work; because you love your work so much you will love learning how to do your work better. You will begin to make leaps and bounds compared to your competitors. If you are not a business owner learning about the work you are doing will keep you competitive in the market. If you keep learning you will begin go be considered an expert in your field and your income will increase and you will always have work and to top that it is work you love doing. If you love your work and are excited to do it every day then how can anyone be better than you at it?
In the typical large company there are many things that each one of us see a being unproductive or even stupid. You know there is a better way but if you mention it then you are considered a trouble maker or blown off. You eventually become numb to the problems and just go through the motions of your job and just doing enough to get by because of the problems that are keeping the business from excelling. As an entrepreneur you are expected to see the things that are wrong with a business and fix them. If there is anything that is not being done in the best method the entrepreneurial company is liable to fail. In an entrepreneurial company the entrepreneur expects people to point out the deficiencies and help to improve them. Because this helps the company the people are happy because they are listened to and their company gets to grow.
One of the main concepts taught to everyone starting a business is to have a business plan. This plan outlines exactly what the business does and how it makes money. Relating this concept to an employee the business plan would be about you. It concisely explains what you do well and how you benefit the company you work for. It explains the work you enjoy so much, love learning about, and are an expert in. If you are able to explain how you are so good at this work and how you can help a company make or save money they they will want you on their team especially if you are the best. This is most important, especially in this economy, if you stand out as the best at what you do and are able to make a company money or save a company money with your skill set then no matter what the economy you will have work.
We are all in sales no matter what job you do. An entrepreneur has to be in sales to make his business work. If you are able to sell your skill set described in the previous paragraph then you will always have work because everyone will see the value in what you do and how you can help them.
So no matter if you want to own your own business or work in a business having the entrepreneur mindset will benefit you and your career.