Anyone who’s gone through grade school has had to do some sort of research project. Be it a science experiment with a hypothesis and eventual conclusion, an essay about a book, or researching a topic based on the teacher’s guidelines. When tackling any of these projects we start by looking into possible answers, apply them, and come to a solution.
Paper Grading
In grade school we do this research for a grade. For most of us we probably don’t remember 99% of the papers and science experiments concluded. We might remember the grade we received in a certain subject, but nothing more. That’s where entrepreneurship differs.
Hypothesis, Apply, Fail, Hypothesize Again
Entrepreneurship is about coming up with a hypothesis, applying the framework the entrepreneur believes to arrive at the solution, probably failing, and using the failure feedback to develop a new hypothesis. It’s no wonder so many startups/small businesses fail. They were designed to.
The people who are great at entrepreneurship are the ones who understand this concept. Failure isn’t something to pout about, failure is an opportunity to learn.
My Fears
I think the hardest part for an aspiring entrepreneur is dealing with failure. For me, it’s getting started. I want to be entrepreneur. I want to learn the struggle of self-employment and the many lessons to be learned from a research project and testing hypotheses. But getting started is hard.
It’s hard to find that first client. It’s hard to develop skills if you don’t know whether or not they’ll be needed. That’s why I’m making 60 and 90-day plans to help alleviate the fear. I’m also not putting my eggs in one basket. I am trying a few approaches, while finding steady income to keep me afloat. If I try my hypotheses for the next 3 months and fail I at least have a path forward. Here’s to the next 90 days!