The most important characteristic you need to do anything risky
I have had my fair share of screw ups, failures, dark days and intense nights throughout my entrepreneurial career. I know from experience that there are very few things that get you through the tough times. What does it take to survive entrepreneurship or take the road less traveled?
You don’t need more funding.
You don’t need to have the most unique idea in the world.
You don’t need to have an NDA template for people to sign.
You don’t need to work longer hours than anyone else.
You don’t even need a business plan.
The single most important characteristic that you need when doing anything risky or against the socially-accepted grain is:
Resilience.
When you take the leap and do something risky you are absolutely going to get knocked down, sometimes daily. You’re going to lose money. You’re going to lose staff. You’re going to rewrite your business plan (if you ever wrote on in the first place). You’re going to change strategy, pivot and switch direction. You may lose cofounders and have to pay investors back. Then even when you succeed you will likely be hit with a few failures very quickly.
The only type of entrepreneur that can make it through the intense highs and brutal lows are the resilient ones. You take the hits and keep moving forward, albeit in a new direction, but forward nonetheless.
If you can’t take the roadblocks, speed bumps and hairpin turns that come baked into any entrepreneurial journey then you’re not going to make it. If you want to do something risky but not risk anything then you’re not going to make it.
The only way that I have been able to sustain an entrepreneurial career spanning more than 15 years is stubborn resilience. If people tell me that I can’t do it, I’m driven to prove them wrong. If I fail, I start over and try again.
I’m not trying to say it’s easy. Being resilient is not easy. It’s a battle-hardened skill you can acquire over time but be prepared to suffer, learn, grow, fail, repeat.
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Photo by James Pond on Unsplash