Ask a group of youngsters what they want to be when they grow up, and you will inevitably hear, “A teacher, maybe a doctor. Nurse! Ballerina! I want to be a fireman or an astronaut.” Perhaps a “professional footballer” or two will be thrown into the mix.
What you won’t often hear is “I want to start my own business”, and hardly ever “entrepreneur”.
In a world of diminishing work opportunities in some of the long-established professions, it is a wonder why there are not many more people turning to entrepreneurship as a career option.
British author Sir Ken Robinson and many others like him have questioned whether traditional schooling systems are killing the creative talents of children.
What is an entrepreneur?
“A person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit,” say the English Oxford Living Dictionaries.
This definition accommodates two types of small business owners; “lifestyle” and “mega” entrepreneurs.
Lifestyle entrepreneur
· An individual that creates a business with the purpose of altering their personal lifestyle;
· A lifestyle entrepreneur works for themselves, and provides work to a possible few, often family members;
· A guest house owner could be an example of a lifestyle entrepreneur.
Mega entrepreneur
· The mega entrepreneur starts a business with the aim to grow it exponentially, to replicate and scale his successful strategies to offer employment to a great number of people;
· The individual would look for other opportunities in the business’ supply and delivery chains;
· Where the lifestyle entrepreneur was a guest house owner, the mega entrepreneur could have started a hotel group.
Both enterprises needed a person with vision, purpose and the ability to give life to their mission.
Both entrepreneurs could have worked all their lives for someone else in the hospitality industry. Instead, both individuals evolved into entrepreneurs because they saw a need in the market.
What about you?
What do you want become one day, or even tomorrow? Whatever it is, you need to hone your skills to perform well in your job. Just think, it is possible you might be working for yourself one day.
What are you passionate about, that could satisfy a need in the community? This could be the essence of your entrepreneurial journey, becoming a job creator, rather than a job seeker.
The Springboard Academy hopes to stimulate hope in the hearts of South African citizens through its entrepreneurial development course starting on March 1, 2018.
"Click here to learn more about The Springboard Academy’s upcoming course on entrepreneurial thinking and skills." #Hopeforafuture
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