14A – Halfway Reflection

So you want to be an Entrepreneur

Reflecting on the past two months of this class and the semester in general, I have been pushed to my limits. Every day the little voice in my head is always reminding me of the easy route, "It's only one assignment its not going to affect your grade that bad" and "Just do it later". Being able to combat those thoughts and the negative words of others (during interviews) and simply grinding it out are a few skills I've built upon so far. During the early assignments of identifying opportunities and forming a belief, I felt like giving up. I have been conditioned to start solving a problem immediately when faced with one, but what the issues (needs) that are not well-defined or left open-ended? These assignments forced me to think from the perspective of a consumer and from my own experiences. The early weeks of this class lays the foundation for the rest of the class and hopefully your entrepreneurship endeavors as well; falling behind hinders your ability to build upon important concepts (and causes major stress). Here are three tips that I suggest you follow:

1) Schedule - Thinking ahead about future assignments and writing down what you hope to accomplish is one way to stay on track. The assignments and readings in this class can not be done the night before. Reviewing the assignment criteria as early as possible gives you time to connect your experiences and thoughts, producing better solutions.  Besides, if you schedule your assignments, you are less likely to push them off.

2) Rapidly test ideas - When you are identifying potential opportunities and creating your business concept, do not get attached to the first solution or potential need. That solution is probably your worst one and the need you have identified may not be as scalable as you first thought (after reflecting on your interviews). Rapidly testing ideas and keeping your mind open to new ideas will produce more elaborate and sustainable results. This process has greatly improved my tenaciousness. It took me many hours, trial runs, and interviews to narrow down on one concept, and there is still more refinement that needs to be done.

3) See it through - Once you have a plan to complete an assignment or a concept to pursue, see it through to the end. I guarantee that once you finish what needs to be done, you will have a sense of accomplishment and more importantly, you will have experience. Giving anything less than 100% effort does not and will not produce exceptional results or tenaciousness. The only thing that should remain constant is your willingness to learn and your drive to succeed.