Before You Build A Business, Build The Entrepreneur: Why Many People Never Start
One of the greatest tragedies in entrepreneurship is not failure. It is never starting. How many times have you seen someone implement an idea that you once thought about? You look at the business and say: "I had that idea." You see the product and say: "I thought about that years ago." You see the opportunity and say: "I wanted to do something similar."
The painful truth is that entrepreneurship is not about having the best ideas. It is about implementing ideas. Many people have brilliant ideas. Few implement them. Many dream. Few act. Many plan. Few launch. And that is why the number one reason for entrepreneurship failure is often not failure at all. It is failure to start.
"He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap."
— Ecclesiastes 11:4 (Amplified Bible)
The Waiting Trap
The Myth of Perfect Conditions
Understanding why waiting for favourable circumstances is the most destructive trap for aspiring entrepreneurs, and why progress must always precede certainty.
One of the most destructive beliefs affecting aspiring entrepreneurs is the belief that conditions must first become favourable. People wait for:
Progress Before Certainty
Yet the wisdom of Ecclesiastes challenges this way of thinking: «"He who observes the wind will not sow."» In other words, people who spend their lives studying the obstacles often never plant the seed. The environment will never be perfect. The economy will never be perfect. The timing will never be perfect. The conditions will never be perfect.
A vision that cannot start now will never materialise. The entrepreneur understands something powerful: «Progress begins before certainty arrives.»
Identifying The Barriers
The Real Obstacles
Recognizing the genuine psychological and financial barriers to starting, and discovering how these exact same obstacles actively deter your competition.
Michael E. Gordon identifies several common obstacles that stop people from pursuing entrepreneurship:
These obstacles are real. But here is something interesting. The same obstacles keeping you out are also keeping many of your competitors out.
Strategic Movement
The Corridor Principle
How taking the crucial first step unlocks new doors, revealing vital opportunities that remain invisible to those who choose to stand still.
One of my favourite entrepreneurship illustrations comes from what Brian Tracy calls the Corridor Principle. Researchers studying entrepreneurship graduates discovered something fascinating. The successful entrepreneurs were not necessarily smarter. They were not necessarily better funded. They were not necessarily more talented.
The Distinguishing Characteristic
They simply had one characteristic that distinguished them from the rest: «They launched without any guarantee of success.»
They started moving. As they moved, new doors opened. New opportunities emerged. New relationships developed. New ideas appeared. Many eventually succeeded in businesses completely different from the ones they originally intended to build.
The lesson is profound. You cannot discover many opportunities while standing still. Opportunities reveal themselves through movement. The corridor only reveals its doors to those who walk through it.
Execution Strategy
Ready. Shoot. Aim.
Overcoming the fatal disease of analysis paralysis through immediate action, continuous adjustment, and dynamic strategic execution.
Most people approach entrepreneurship this way:
And as a result, they never shoot. Successful entrepreneurs often operate differently:
This does not mean acting recklessly. It means preparing adequately and then taking action. It means avoiding what many people suffer from: Analysis Paralysis.
The entrepreneur understands that there are only two outcomes: Success. Or learning. Both are valuable.
Psychology & Education
Seeing The Start & The Ghosts of The Past
Confronting inherited limiting beliefs, the fear of failure, and shifting from theoretical learning to real-world experiential growth.
Sometimes the issue is not fear. Sometimes the issue is blindness. Many people genuinely do not know where to start. Years ago I wrote:
«"The reason why very few people are successful is because the many do not know how and where to start. This is because the starting points are not readily discernible by everyone. It's the eye that sees them that separates success and failure, greatness and mediocrity."
— Coach Tarie, The Wisdom Garden»
Entrepreneurship is often a matter of seeing what others cannot see. Seeing possibilities. Seeing opportunities. Seeing value where others see problems. The challenge is that many people have lost the ability to see.
This is where entrepreneurship becomes much deeper than business. Many people have inherited beliefs and assumptions that quietly suppress initiative.
These are some of what I describe as the Ghosts From The Past. They are not supernatural forces. They are inherited ways of thinking that influence how people see themselves and their possibilities.
Many brilliant people never start because they do not believe they are capable. Many people wait for permission. Many wait for someone to rescue them. Many wait for ideal conditions. Many wait for certainty. And while they wait, opportunities pass them by.
Another reason many people never start is because they have been conditioned by a learning system that teaches them to wait before acting.
Reverse Learning (The School System)
Most educational systems operate through what Joe Jutrisa calls Reverse Learning. You receive the lesson first. Then you have the experience.
Experiential Learning (Real Life)
Real life works differently. You act. You learn. You adjust. You improve. You grow.
This is how babies learn. This is how entrepreneurs learn. This is how innovation happens. Imagine if the inventor of the light bulb had waited for someone to teach him how to invent the light bulb. Who would have taught him?
Many people are waiting for a teacher before they start. Many are waiting for a course before they begin. Many are waiting for permission before they act. Yet most of life's greatest lessons are discovered on the journey.
The Continental Mandate
Africa Does Not Need More Waiting
A definitive call to action for the continent: transforming untapped potential into tangible value by building the entrepreneur before building the business.
Africa is not suffering from a shortage of people. Africa is not suffering from a shortage of ideas. Africa is not suffering from a shortage of potential. Africa is suffering from a shortage of people willing to act. People willing to create value. People willing to solve problems. People willing to move before certainty arrives. People willing to trust that new doors will open as they walk through the corridor.
At the School of Leadershift Success & Entrepreneurship (SoLSE), we believe entrepreneurship begins long before the business starts.
Before businesses are built, entrepreneurs must be awakened. Before enterprises are developed, people must be developed. Before opportunities are recognised, eyes must be opened to see them.
The greatest entrepreneurship challenge in Africa is not a lack of opportunities. It is that millions of people have never discovered the entrepreneur within them. That is why our mission is not merely to teach business. Our mission is to awaken entrepreneurs.
Because when the entrepreneur awakens: Ideas become action. Problems become opportunities. Potential becomes value. And dreams become enterprises.
The business is not the starting point. The entrepreneur is.
Ready to shift your mindset and build a true enterprise?
Register Today for Awakening The Entrepreneurship Spirit (12 Weeks Online Course) starting this 13th of June.
