Pursuing a startup had already become a trend among my peers when we were students five years ago. Coming from an engineering background, I met many people with their own startups. I can confidently say that I have never met a person who hasn’t entertained the thought of having a business or being an entrepreneur at some point in their life. The fact remains not everyone is naturally suited to be an entrepreneur.
Some people don’t pursue the idea because they know it’s an idle thought, not a serious one. Some don’t think of starting a business because of fear or obstacles. Many who do pursue usually shut down in the initial years. Only a handful manage to reach a point where the company is stable and earning a steady income. In most cases where the startup survives past the initial years, the person running the business is a natural and enterprising businessperson. They are entrepreneurial. It’s in their DNA.
An excellent example of a natural-born businessman is GaryVee, someone I look up to as an aspirational figure in the business world and beyond. Since childhood, he was inclined to run a business. He was enterprising, always looking for avenues to earn money and make a profit. He was and still is entrepreneurial, which is what makes him great. He is only getting better with time and age.
For anyone considering going into business, it is important to understand if they have a natural inclination toward business. That is not to say that those not inclined towards this can’t try their hand at running a business. We need to know about our tendencies, so we know potential challenges and strengths. Simply put, this is a call for self-awareness.
I don’t think I am naturally inclined to run my own business. I can learn and acquire the skills I need, but that wasn’t the thought I originally had as a student. Now, it’s a different story. Knowing this about myself, I can identify and plug the gaps in my understanding. I am more of a storyteller. The medium doesn’t matter to me when it comes to telling stories; I can adapt quickly. I learned to write well, speak well, sell products and ideas, and any other way I can leverage this natural tendency to make a career. I can even do business out of this if I want.
It’s an old-school idea of playing to your strength. I see many people pursuing data science, digital marketing, and artificial intelligence because of the demand in these domains. They are supposed to grow as industries of the future, so people flock to them in hopes of gainful employment and handsome pay. This becomes a problem if people don’t know whether or not they are naturally inclined toward the subject.
Eventually, there will come the point in our respective careers where we will face adversity. We might lose our jobs or our growth will be stalled. If we know our natural tendencies, we can navigate the situation significantly better than others. Not to mention that when we are pursuing something that comes to us naturally, we take a deeper interest in the subject and can work on it longer with greater success.
The dynamics of the business world are such that it is not always possible to have the right person doing the right thing. I believe that if each person takes a long, honest look within themselves, they will find the answers to the question of what they should be doing with their lives.
Simply pursuing the upcoming trend just because everyone else is doing it or for other material reasons may be good in the short run. However, in a career that has to last for 35-40 years, I think it’s worth putting in the time and effort to become more self-aware. Every career decision comes with bags of delights and miseries that we must bear, so thinking, in the long run, would be a wiser move for all of us.
Before you gain an understanding of anything, first strive to understand yourself. If you want to be an entrepreneur, go ahead; more power to you but first ask yourself, “Am I a naturally enterprising person?” and then work based on your heart’s answer. If you want to pursue any career path, ask yourself how naturally inclined you are and then work to plug the gap.