I'm always having ideas for businesses and products. Some of the products that I've created on paper I've seen succeed after other people idea years later. I'm a little ADHD, I suck at execution and I'm pretty good with the big picture. Both of my parents were entrepreneurs, but not very successful. I've been working at many jobs and I'm not happy, I only feel happy when I push projects that were initiated by myself and when I see some sort of "growth". Doing personal projects are core to my personality, but I always avoid moving forward because of the bad experience I've seen in my family. I've observed that successful entrepreneurs have some sort of psychopathy, so they usually don't feel pressured and they manage to get through obstacles easily because they can seduce and manipulate people (selling). My problem is that I'm a little the opposite, I care a lot about people and I get really stressed under pressure (that's why I think my parents failed). I feel happy when I see things changing (changing the world) and apparently this is one good trait of entrepreneurs, but sometimes I feel biased because in real life I see that people like Steve Jobs tend to be more successful.
To your point about psychopathy and manipulation, I don't think there is really much of a difference between entrepreneurs and corporate management. In both scenarios, a leader is tasked with casting a vision and getting a team of people to rally for the cause and hopefully successfully reach the goal(s).
When it comes to selling, you as an entrepreneur will always have to sell, and in the beginning you will have to be the best salesman. Eventually once you build the business up enough, people can handle the selling for you, whether to customers or building business relationships/partnerships. But out of the gate, you are the one who understands the vision, you created it, so you will have to sell. If you believe your idea/service/product has a true benefit to society, then you shouldn't feel like you are "selling" for any reason other than the good, and shouldn't have any reason to feel guilty. A lot of the time, people will come to you because they believe in your vision and what you are trying to do; customers, business partners, and team members included.
Overall, the game of entrepreneurship is mostly in your head. You really have to work on your thinking because to win at the game is not easy, and most of the time people lose because they knock themselves out. Read books, watch interviews of entrepreneurs, listen to podcasts ... there are tons of resources out their to fill your brain with the information it needs to be educated and headstrong, but most importantly APPLY what you learn. Work on your execution, just DO. You will inevitably start winning.
Answered 9 years ago
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