Starting a Company

How to Become an Entrepreneur

Written by James Garvin for Gaebler Ventures

Almost everyone has thought about becoming an entrepreneur, fulfilling the dream, but for many the reality is they never even take a step towards entrepreneurship, it only stays a thought and a dream.

For the rest of the lucky ones, entrepreneurship can be the dream, but it doesn't start with asking yourself, how can I become an entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurs, while not born, do not think to themselves of what they need to do to become an entrepreneur, they do what it takes to become an entrepreneur. The difference is the natural ability to act on your thoughts and pursue your passions.

If you are someone who has been thinking of "how you can become an Entrepreneur" stop thinking and start doing. Entrepreneurship doesn't have to be a full-time job from day one, but it does have to start with you taking action from day one. Get involved, talk to others, become creative and most importantly just do something that you are passionate about. If you are passionate about cooking, start making extra food at home and offer it to friends and family. See what their response is. Try selling your food at a bake sale first and see what the customer's response is. None of these actions are major activities that require a lot of time or commitment, but they can be the beginnings of something much greater and much larger.

I've written before about companies that started on the whim. Bear Naked granola started by making granola for friends and family and because of the positive response they got, decided to make more granola in their kitchen and try to sell it to local stores. That same company that started in the kitchen on a whim was purchased by Kellogg for $40 million. I guarantee you that was not in their business plan, if they even had a business plan.

Entrepreneurship is not like business. Established businesses use methodologies and analytics before making decisions, and rightfully so. Entrepreneurship is about action and passion. You can try to think up the perfect idea for a business, but the reality is there is no perfect idea for a business. The perfect idea for a business is always hindsight after the fact that business has become successful. This doesn't mean you get to ignore everything you've learned about competitive advantage, but it does mean that the longer you think about the types of businesses to start, the harder it becomes to actually start a business.

Even Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, became an entrepreneur through action by following his passion. As a child, he was always fond of making money and investing in opportunities of value. He followed those same values be creating his own investment management firm. He wasn't always a multi-billionaire. Far from it actually when he started, but by constantly pursuing his passion to find valuable investment opportunities, success was found and it can be found for you to if you start by taking action

So stop worrying about how to become an entrepreneur and let it happen naturally. Go start that bake sale or create your website that will help you follow your passions. Once you get set-up and going, the rest can sometimes happen naturally for you. Don't try to force yourself to do something you don't want.

James Garvin began his education studying biotechnology. In recent years he has turned his interest in technology to helping two internet startup companies. The first business was an online personal financial network and the second was an e-marketing platform created to help entrepreneurs demo their web sites. Currently a student at University of California Davis, James is spending his summer incubating two new online businesses and writing about his entrepreneur experiences.

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