Who Is An Entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is someone who creates value in exchange for profit. And, for a person to qualify as an entrepreneur, they have to bear the risks associated with their business and also enjoy the profits from the business.
Entrepreneurship is an interesting field for many people. Most people want to go into entrepreneurship, but do not know how to venture into it. In this post, we will be sharing a step-by-step guide on how to become an entrepreneur. But before we delve into that, let’s look at the growth in the popularity of entrepreneurship.
See Also: Resources that will help you start, market and grow a sustainable business.
Why Entrepreneurship Is Gaining Popularity
Entrepreneurship has become somewhat of a buzzword in the past few years but it is for a good reason. More and more people are turning to entrepreneurship as an alternative to professional careers. The growth in entrepreneurship can be put down to a number of reasons. A few of them are:
Changing Mindset
With the growth in population and the resultant growth in the number of graduates churned out by higher institutions on a yearly basis, the former security of finding a job after graduating has become less and less guaranteed. As a result, more graduates are interested in entrepreneurship.
As more people continue to find success with entrepreneurship, many more people are picking interest in entrepreneurship as a viable alternative to professional careers. This change in mindset is making sure that entrepreneurship is becoming more popular worldwide.
Technology Boom
Another factor that has led to the growth and popularity of entrepreneurship is the technology boom in the past two decades. At the turn of the new millennium, many developing countries and least developed countries had access to mobile phones, and with the introduction of mobile phones came entrepreneurship opportunities that people took advantage of.
Additionally, as smartphones were introduced to more markets, globalisation began to happen at a very fast pace. Young people from all over the world could see what was happening on the other sides of the world. With this connectivity came the need for the exchange of information and with information came the knowledge for entrepreneurship. Digital marketing, information marketing, and data science are some of the fields that have blossomed due to the technology boom and connectivity.
A Growing Need For Independence
A growing need for independence among millennials and Generation Z is another driving force behind the growing popularity of entrepreneurship among young people. For them, they prefer to own and run their own businesses instead of working in a traditional 9-5 environment.
For people that can’t afford to start their own businesses among this group, the majority of them prefer to start out as solopreneurs and freelancers where they offer their expertise in exchange for payment.
See Also: How to transition from a solopreneur to an entrepreneur
Pursuit Of Self-Fulfilment
In these days and times, people want to have a sense of self-fulfilment. Many people now feel like working in a traditional 9-5 job for decades is not as purposeful as running your own business. To help them find self-fulfillment, they often turn to pursuing entrepreneurship.
Step-by-step Guide On How To Become An Entrepreneur
Find Your Industry or Niche
The first step towards becoming a successful entrepreneur is to find an industry or niche. The truth is that there are many sectors to choose from, and if you are not careful, you can suffer from information overload and become spoilt for choices. The best way to handle it is to understand your passion and what you are good at, then find a corresponding niche within which you can build a profitable business.
Another way to find a good niche is by researching properly to find out problems that exist around you, then building solutions to the problem.
See Also: 35 Profitable business ideas and step-by-step guides to start them In Nigeria
Research Your Market
After finding your industry and the niche that you want to play in, you have to take it a step further and properly understand how the market you want to operate in works. It is no secret that many entrepreneurs jump into business without fully understanding their market. Often than not, they end up flat on their backs, losing money and time in the process.
You don’t want to be in that position, so to be safe, make sure that you research a market properly before jumping in.
We already established that one of the best ways to find your niche is by identifying problems and proffering solutions to the problems. Taking it a step further by researching more and perfecting your product will deliver even more amazing results.
See Also: How To Do Market Research Before Starting A New Business
Determine If You Should Get An Education
So you understand your market and its unique need, but what if you are not qualified to serve the needs of the market? You need to determine if you need any form of training in building the perfect solutions and products for your target market.
It is important to note that education here does not necessarily mean going for a traditional business degree. You can opt for an online course, special training, or even interning at organisations where you will learn the nitty-gritty of doing business in your preferred niche.
Find Your Target Audience
Now that you have a niche, and you understand the market, you need to find your target audience. Identifying your target audience entails you identifying the segment of the market that you are building your solutions for. You might be catering to more than one segment of the market, so you want to make sure that you properly define each segment, and have a plan on how to get your product or service to them.
Test Your Idea
It is important that you test the viability of your idea before going to the market. By testing your ideas, you can gain valuable insights into your products and solutions. Also, you find out if you need to fine-tune the idea or abandon it altogether. Testing your idea saves you a lot of time, money and helps push you in the right direction.
Build Your Business Slowly
Many people make the mistake of thinking that success in entrepreneurship will come to them rapidly. While we are not ruling that out, it is an unreal expectation. The majority of entrepreneurs usually work hard for a long time before seeing any type of success.
If you want to become a successful entrepreneur that builds profitable ventures, you need to know that it takes laying one brick after the other to build a business. You need to grind slowly starting from making your first sale to scaling your business and expanding when the time is ripe.
You need to learn how to celebrate the small wins while keeping your bigger vision alive. That’s the most sustainable way of becoming a successful entrepreneur.
See Also: Business Strategies For 2021- Building In The Face Of Uncertainties
Network
Successful entrepreneurs all over the world will tell you that networking is very integral to running a successful business. If you want to become an entrepreneur, it is important that you take networking seriously. Ultimately, you can not consume all you produce so, you need people to patronise you. Networking is a proven strategy that you can employ to build your business.
When you network with people, chances are that you will find people who need your services. Also important is the fact that you will find people whose services you will need as you build your business.
See Also: Connecting Or Collecting – How Are You Building Your Network?
Market
If you want to become an entrepreneur, you must learn quickly that marketing is the fuel that drives the growth of most successful organisations. There is no getting around this one; if you need to grow, you need to market your products and solutions.
Whether you are marketing with content marketing strategies, social media marketing, and Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising; or if you are using a more traditional approach with billboards, TV ads, radio jingles, and others, the fact remains that you must market if you want to see steady and sustainable growth.
Thankfully, with the explosion of the internet and the attendant growth of digital marketing, marketing does not have to be as expensive as it used to be. So, you can start marketing with an affordable budget, and as you grow, you can increase your budget.
See Also: 8 Reasons Your Company Needs Content Marketing
Scale Your Business
What does it mean to scale your business? What does it mean when people say a business is scalable?
A business is referred to as “scalable” when the business can comfortably grow without being held back by the business structure or resources when there is a need for increased production. For example, your business is scalable if you can handle a 100% increase in demand without shutting down. Your business is also considered scalable if you don’t depend on a “special staff member” to operate properly.
In summary, you need to make sure that your business can handle increased demand. You also need to prove the business hypothesis and that it can operate properly if you replace anybody in the team.
See Also: 5 Steps To Effectively Scale Your Small Business
Raise Money
Now, this might not apply to everybody, but if you want to build a global brand that can compete favourably in the marketplace, you need to raise funds at some point. Ordinarily, if you have made your business scalable, it will be a lot easier for you to raise funds. You can raise money in different ways including crowdfunding, angel investments, venture capital funding, etc.
We cover funding opportunities for business here. So, follow the link to know which you can take advantage of.
Conclusion
This post covers a step-by-step guide on how to become an entrepreneur. And, if you follow the steps outlined religiously, you will be well on your way to becoming a successful entrepreneur. It is important to note that to become a successful entrepreneur, you need passion, grit, and intelligence.
Thinking of starting your own entrepreneurship journey? Here are 35 booming business ideas and step-by-step guides to start them. It’s a strategic and financial breakdown of the most lucrative businesses in Nigeria. Get it now and start building the business of your dream.
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