Entrepreneurs are a great asset to Mankind. Entrepreneurs commercialize their inventions and innovations to give us a better, richer life.
Entrepreneurship can be expressed either in a private or corporate setting. Many start businesses; others innovate within other people’s businesses. Everyone who works is an entrepreneur – they trade their skills, talent, and competencies for some compensation. Some choose to sell to one person or organization in an employment relationship; others chose to sell to many people or businesses as business owners. No stress which you choose, to be entrepreneurial is the goal.
Entrepreneurs who serve many businesses are better innovators than those who serve just one business. The entrepreneur who serves many business customers knows that he has top competition and so works hard to keep himself in top intellectual shape. He knows that the moment he is unable to solve his customers’ problems, he will be replaced and so what he does is study, study, study; he learns all he can about his customers’ problems and does all he can to solve them. That is what I call the entrepreneur mindset of learning. You learn because you want to remain relevant and surviving may well depend on it.
Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs in paid employment do not imbibe this mentality of continuous learning. Many have stable employment such as many Civil Servants that you may know and they know that they are not at risk of losing their jobs due to no performance. They do not see themselves as entrepreneurs who need to always sharpen their skills, and thus over time, they become complacent, relying on Consultants to do for them what they can easily do for themselves. The averseness to reading and learning is so bad that some do not even read the dossiers for meetings.
Learning keeps you intellectually healthy the same way food nourishes your body. Learning is the big path to success. So the main point for consideration is ‘how do you learn?’ What deliberate efforts do you make to learn? You already know that education is the key. Do you show it by your behaviour or do you just mouth it? When last did you read a book relevant to your profession? Do all you can to become competent at what you do, improve yourself now & don’t settle, don’t!
The answer to the question ‘how do you learn’ will determine how serious and committed you are to learning. I have hundreds of audiobooks on diverse topics which I listen to when I drive. I also listen to these when I exercise which is for an hour most mornings or evenings. I have a reminder to read the Bible daily; every month, I read a book relevant to my work, and quarterly, I research a new area of endeavor closely related to the areas I have mapped out for myself for self-development. I source for courses on Coursera and other open learning Platforms. The richest but most overlooked learning platform has recently become home for me: Youtube. There is absolutely nothing you won’t find there. Perhaps you can give these a try.
Do you think you can imbibe the entrepreneur mindset in learning? Begin by asking yourself and answering the question ‘how do I learn?’ & make a concerted effort to learn & learn & learn. The World needs you to emerge!
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Related Article: They say that ‘salary is the bribe they give you to forget your dreams’ & this has led many to leave their employment to pursue a business. What do you think? Please see my view at: https://welikrus.com/the-salary-debate/