Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Modern Entrepreneur?
by Wei Ying August 19, 2022
On a typically humid Wednesday evening, a group of diverse yet passionate entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs gathered at the second level of a shophouse, That Tuition Café, nestled in Sixth Avenue, for a talk.
I was highly sceptical when I first signed up for this talk on “Modern Entrepreneurship.” Could you blame me? Before the talk, my take on entrepreneurship was about being creative, having a business plan and lots of funding, and voilà! I remembered thinking to myself,
“Is entrepreneurship that hard a concept to grasp?”
A speaker who is the owner of a business that teaches people with special needs how to cook and read and another who owns an e-commerce firm while being a wellness coach sure didn’t!
But boy, was I wrong as these aunties and uncles proved me wrong that night.
Although the participants fell under the middle age bracket, there was nothing backward or old school about how these inspiring seniors were mostly successful owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore.
SMEs play an important role in Singapore’s economy. In 2021, the total number of enterprises increased from 273,100 in 2019 to 291,600 in 2021. SMEs make up 99% of all enterprises and support 71% of total employment. Sure, this might not be news for some but what was mentioned by one of the speakers stumped me.
“Not all laws are favourable for SMEs. Many have to fight for their survival.”
Although this might sound demoralising, there were many success stories present and all had a thing or two to share.
#1 – Get That PhD!
Being a modern entrepreneur does not require one to hold a doctorate in any field, but they need the following traits — Passion for life, Hunger for success, and the Discipline to persevere.
One has got to have that drive to want to overcome all odds, no matter what external obstacles, such as laws that might come in the way, and ride it out through the tough times. If you do not have the willpower and fight for what you are crazy about, no one else can do it for you!
#2 – Upskill Or Stagnate
Now I cannot emphasise how important this is as it was reiterated many times during the talk!
One of the speakers mentioned developmental phases and how they were critical to one entrepreneurship journey. These four key phases were shared,
- Personal Awareness
- Self-Leadership
- Building of Core Skill
- Managerial Skill
When you look at it as a whole, honing a set of skills makes up half of the equation. Here at the Hustle, we can help you find your core skill as we have an extensive range of workshops for you to choose from.
Even when it comes to the first two phases, you could also pick up a thing or two from our hands-on workshops. We believe in a learn-from-experience approach. Hence as a student in Hustle’s Mobile Videography or TikTok Marketing workshops, you would be able to discover your untapped leadership qualities when you lead your team during projects while adapting and accommodating to the different learning styles of your teammates.
#3— Think From All Sides
Unfortunately, being an entrepreneur would require you to do more than just all action and no words or vice versa. Or worse, you could act on pure impulse!
Instead, you should cultivate a multi-dimensional thinking system to make informed decisions.
It involves five stages — Stage 1: Origin, Stage 2: Solution, Stage 3: Empathy, Stage 4: Test, and Stage 5: Review.
Most of us tend to stop at Stage 2, where no reflection is involved. However, this makes us susceptible to actions that might cost us consequences that could be avoided. Indeed, failure is part and parcel of entrepreneurship. You would likely hear stories of how one struggled before successfully establishing his business.
As such, do not get demoralised if you hit roadblocks at Stage 4. In a way, you had just saved yourself tons of money and resources that could have been wasted if you went ahead with that particular decision.
Therefore, taking on a more reflective role when it comes to decision-making can do the entrepreneur in you more good than harm!
Making Of A Modern Entrepreneur
Gone are the days of just having an idea and rolling it with it. There is so much more that one needs to do and lay the groundwork, such as upskilling or adopting a new thought process before putting an idea into motion.
Mould yourself to be the best version of yourself, and if you need to test the waters, you could try listing your service on our marketplace before scaling it up.
Let “these aunties and uncles,” who are successful owners of SMEs be an inspiration for all of us. Age does not limit what one can do. Take it from a lady, who I met that evening, who left the corporate world after twenty years to start a company that hires people with special needs.
If these seniors can do it, you can also be the modern entrepreneur you never knew!
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