6 Ways to Nurture Your Inner Entrepreneur

6 Ways to Nurture Your Inner Entrepreneur The idea of owning and operating your own business appeals to you. You love the idea of taking an idea of your own creation and then working to turn that idea into a working business that allows you to earn money, and allows you to spend your days doing what you love. Unfortunately, you also have doubts. You dont know if you have enough risk tolerance to become an entrepreneur. You doubt your ability to come up with a great idea, and you are unsure that you can make it through the grueling processes of finding financing and developing a business plan. Youre definitely unsure of whether or not you can manage all of the different tasks you will be expected to take on once your business is launched. Does this mean that your dreams of becoming an entrepreneur are dead in the water? Of course they arent. It simply means that you have to find ways to nurture and develop your inner entrepreneur until you are ready turn a fantasy about owning a business into the real thing. 1. Learn About Other Successful Entrepreneurs One of the best ways to build on your natural entrepreneurial ability is to get some good advice and inspiration from some of the greats. When you learn about the successes, failures, and struggles of notable entrepreneurs you begin to gain an idea of the traits you need to develop to become a successful entrepreneur in your own right. You can also find encouragement if your own efforts arent becoming fruitful as quickly and as smoothly as you would like them to. There are many books that you can read to educate yourself on influential entrepreneurs. 2. Work at Being an Entrepreneur Where You Are You dont need to be the owner of a business to nurture entrepreneurial skills. In fact, launching a business of your own is a horrible way to develop these skills. It is way too risky to put financial investments, time, and other resources on the line in the hopes that you have developed the entrepreneurial chops to start a successful business. What you can do, however, is develop these skills before you try to start your own business. For example, you can... Volunteer to take on leadership roles at work, in school, or other organizations to which you belong Formulate ideas for beneficial projects at work, pitch them, and carry them through to completion Act as a mentor to those who are less experienced than you 3. Become the Party Planner in Your Social Circle There isnt anything entrepreneurial in throwing a small get together, but if you throw a big event, you will learn a lot about what it takes to own your own business. When you put on a major bash you must contact and negotiate with vendors, coordinate multiple schedules, get other people to pitch in, find and obtain funding to pay everybody involved, and then make sure that everybody is satisfied. 4. Start Keeping an Idea and Problem Journal Great entrepreneurs collect ideas and problems. Just like writers who keep a journal for writing down snippets of story ideas, you should begin keeping a journal of business and project ideas, along with problems that you identify that need solutions. At some point, it is very possible that you will come into your head that will eventually be developed into a full-fledged business concept. You will also find that the more you write your ideas down, the more new ideas you will have. 5. Learn to Find as Much Value in Failure as You do Success One thing that differentiates entrepreneurs from other people is their ability to embrace failure. To an entrepreneur, failure is an opportunity to learn something, and then use that knowledge to come up with a better solution. If you can change your attitude about failure involving small things, eventually you will be able to embrace even big failures and use them as a learning experience. You can start by making a commitment to analyze every failure, not to determine where you went wrong, but to determine what you did right, and what you learned. 6. Take on a Part Time Opportunity to Own Your Own Business If you have good interpersonal skills, you could try taking advantage of a work at home opportunity that will give you a bit of entrepreneurial experience. There are many well-known companies that are constantly hiring people who wish to operate their own home based business. You can sell and market products ranging from cosmetics to kitchen supplies. If you think these arent real businesses, think again. You have to develop a list of potential customers, sell your product, pay your supplier, and track the money you have earned for tax purposes.