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During Saturday’s Centonomy Entrepreneur Chats, we discussed the different angles of business. We chatted with Sally Mahihu about the experience of running a business while still employed, we talked with Leonard Mudachi about the experience of transitioning into different businesses, as well as transitioning from employment into entrepreneurship and back into employment, we talked with Inooro FM’s Jeff Kuria about talent and how it translates into entrepreneurship.

As we continue to ponder on and chat about entrepreneurship, here are 5 essential take-aways from the most recent Entrepreneur Chats.

1. Work with What you Have

We often go into business thinking that we need to keep up certain appearances. For instance, we may feel that because at our previous place of employment we had a lobby, a receptionist and a team, we need the same resources as we start our businesses. The reality though, is that for most businesses, you won’t need most of these bells and whistles. This is especially true for service businesses.

To start a service business, you may mostly need a laptop, a phone, an Internet connection, information and wisdom. Realize that optics do not matter in entrepreneurship. Having a receptionist and a team may look good and be good for optics, but they won’t do you any good if nobody is coming in to your office. What matters above optics is your first client. Figure out how you’re going to get that first client, and regardless of what the optics are, your business will have already taken off (Click to Tweet).

2. Bust the Myth of the Lined-up Ducks
You’re possibly waiting for that moment. The moment when your ducks are all going to be lined up in a row, everything is going to be perfect, and then you can either transition completely, or dip your toe into the pool that is entrepreneurship. Let’s be honest though, that moment is not going to come. The ducks don’t line up. They have refused to line up. Circumstances change. One area may be lined up, but another may be way off. What to do, then?

Make the decision. Transition. Dip your toe. Understand that entrepreneurship is not a destination. There isn’t going to be a time when you’ll say, “Yup, I’ve arrived at that entrepreneurship place.” Even for entrepreneurs who’ve been at it for years and are running established businesses, the ducks aren’t all lined up. But as long as there’s that internal call, an itch, a discomfort with the way things are and a desire for better, that’s your call into entrepreneurship. It trumps the position of the ducks.

3. Don’t Get too Attached
As entrepreneurs, we sometimes treat our businesses like our babies.

Sometimes we’re so over-protective of the business that we don’t even want to talk about it with anybody lest they don’t see our vision and shoot it down. Sometimes as the business grows, we’ve gotten so used to doing everything ourselves that we’re not able to hire people and even if we do, we continue to do everything ourselves and refuse to trust the people we’ve hired to manage tasks, and themselves. At other times, we hold on to our businesses even when consistently going at a loss and it is clearly time to transition into a different business.

Why is it necessary at times, to let a business go and transition into another:

  • If the business is going against your values and you are internally disturbed by the things you’re having to do in the name of business
  • If the idea for the business was not to solve a problem in the market and there is therefore no market or demand for the product or service that you’re offering

Understand that even if you close down your business, it doesn’t say anything about you. “The success or failure of your business is not your success or failure.” ~Leonard Mudachi. It’s not personal.

4. Entrepreneurship vs Self-Employment
Contrary to popular belief, entrepreneurship and self-employment are not the same thing. Self-employment means that you’re employed by your business. The implication of this is that if you’re not present, the business won’t run. The business won’t move forward if you need to take two days off.

On the other hand, an entrepreneurs business can run without him/her. And the only way to shift from thinking of ourselves as self-employed, to thinking of ourselves as entrepreneurs, is to have a 180 degree shift in mind-set. Once your mind-set is different, you stop focusing so much on working at your business, and begin to build a business that will work with, and for you.

5. Allot yourself a Salary
As an entrepreneur, I reckon you’ve heard this said a lot! So have I. But what does it mean, especially at the early stages when the business is probably not making much money? Allocating some money for yourself, even when your business isn’t able to pay you yet, is one of the most important disciplines for the entrepreneur.

  • It transforms your business from a hobby into a business
  • It puts you in the position of creditor, where you can ask your business for money when it does get on its feet
  • It gives you the discipline not to spend your business’ money, even when your business does bring in more money

One of the first things to do as an entrepreneur, is to cut down your expenses and trim them down to the essentials. This has a two-fold benefit. First, it will enable you to manage your savings more efficiently, and it’s good practice even as your business continues to grow and your income increases.

What about you? What has your experience been, with entrepreneurship? Comment in the section below.

Waceke Nduati-Omanga runs programs on Personal Finance Management and Entrepreneurship

Find her at waceken@centonomy.com| twitter @CekeNduati| Facebook.com/CekeNduati