Top Myths About Entrepreneurship: #2

Writing after SO long, phew! 
This is the second post in this series. 

MYTH #2: Entrepreneurs are unique!

Well, I don't like breaking your heart, but the truth cannot be changed. Yes, there was once a time when entrepreneurship was the 'road not taken', and when entrepreneurs were seen as people more adventurous than Bear Grylls. But those heydays are over, my friend. Today, if every second man is employed, every fourth man working in an IT company, then every third man must be running his own venture, or planning to turn his pastime activity (earlier meant to flaunt on his resume) into a full fledged start-up (to do away with the need to make a resume)... so say statistics from a survey conducted by the Standbored University. Okay, this one is a farce.

But yes, I do not really understand the hype around entrepreneurship. Isn't it merely a matter of personal choice? Whether I choose to serve a big company and get myself noticed, or go bottom-up—how and why should that be a criteria to decide how common or uncommon an individual I am? As a matter of fact, there are people who, due to various (although understandable) reasons, have to start out as entrepreneurs while they would have preferred a job (consider somebody with a weak academic background). Similarly, there do exist people who had all the zeal to become entrepreneurs but due to various (again, understandable) reasons had to get themselves stuck in a job (maybe they didn't get the support, or had too many responsibilities to take care of, and so on). How does that make one unique and the other not so unique? Aren't both of them working, in the end? 

It pains me to see wannabe entrepreneurs labeling their counterparts who work in other organizations as "less adventurous" or passionate than themselves. It pains me to see people turning towards entrepreneurship for all the wrong reasons—"no need to serve anybody, it'll make me look cool, I'll be the next Mark Zuckerberg, I'll instantly make millions"—and so on. It pains me to see people playing with their career and life just in a bid to appear different.

Don't be this

What, maybe, started out as a break away from the herd mentality, is now the latest herd mentality. There are people who sit down at least once every day and force their brain to think something new. Whether or not the idea is innovative enough, and with absolutely no sense of direction, no knowledge and no research, they swiftly jump to the conclusion, "I shalt be an entrepreneur!" And how do they go about it? Probably by copying others. Or worse, looking for other entrepreneurial people to work under them—like a newly appointed chef at a five-star hotel asking little cooks to prepare the entire meal that is his responsibility, only for him to take all the credit later. Such absurdity.

I do not want to sound like a pessimist. More so, I do not like to sound like a pessimist. But those are what my observations have been. So even though I am not "old enough" to be striking off (some) others—probably older or more experienced than me—as shallow or disillusioned, all that I wish to convey is a small message. And that small message is this:

1) Become an entrepreneur because you have an idea that you're passionate about, rather than making up ideas to become an entrepreneur
2) Love your idea, your venture, your product... not the name, fame, or money that they bring (or that you wish they bring). These won't last forever unless you do the former
3) Do not overestimate yourself. Everybody makes mistakes, you are no exception. And mistakes are bound to be more if you try to turn a blind eye towards them
4) Drop off your ego, if any. It doesn't help anywhere in life, and certainly not here
5) Do a bit of research into the various aspects of what goes into becoming a good entrepreneur. A little knowledge is dangerous, said someone wise
6) It might even be a good idea to first get some experience working for somebody else (after you are done with point number 4, that is). I personally feel that it gives one the scope to make mistakes to later learn from. However mean that might sound, it is better to learn driving on someone else's vehicle rather than messing up with our own, don't you agree?
7) And lastly, innovate. If there is anything more important than hard-work in this highly competitive space, it has to be this—innovation, originality.

Those are traits that, I think, make "genuine entrepreneurs". Correct me if I am wrong, inform me if I missed something, curse me if I overdid it. (In case you do the latter, just be a little easy with the brickbats, you wouldn't like to see them go to waste as I'll be left still undeterred. :P)

P.S: Hope I keep writing from now on. College's final year's fight for a "dream-job" leaves the mind so cluttered and unproductive most of the time... no, that doesn't mean I'll decide to become an entrepreneur, duh!