Essential Qualities You Need to Have as an Entrepreneur in India

Being an entrepreneur is very tough and we have been reiterating on this. In India, it is tougher. People tend to just notice the day after entrepreneurs or visionaries become successful, simply overlooking the amount of years that have been channelized for that one day. People talk about series funding and expansion but don’t acknowledge the days they were working out from paying guest accommodations, 1-bhks, balancing day job and struggling over the weekends. However, there are a few qualities that bind us all – entrepreneurs – together and it is these qualities that keep reminding us of the road ahead, and the potholes.

If you are someone about to startup or planning to venture into your business, you need to be quite mentally prepared and have a few skills apart from the ones you’ve been taught at business schools. This comes from our experience and that of ones we have worked with. Hope they will help you in your journey.

Never be embarrassed by your ideas

One of the best things the world knows to do is critique. You can see people who screw up instant noodles going to restaurants and commenting on their food, people who cannot write a leave letter without an error commenting on bestsellers and even those who can’t photograph without shaking the output write movie reviews. The world knows to talk and it will keep doing it. So when you are pitching or discussing your idea with someone, be prepared to be mocked at. It could either be their lack of knowledge or exposure compared to yours or simply the enviousness of being unable to stand by own efforts. No matter what, do not be belittled with your ideas. Remember they laughed when the idea of earth being round was proposed first?

The Ability to Handle Pressure

By pressure, we are not mentioning about the deadlines, projects, or strict clients but the pressure from society. When you are struggling hard in your living room with your laptop at 3 AM, you might just see your formed colleague uploading an image from Japan. Or, you could be asked to give up on your dreams and get back to routine for the sake of better matrimonial alliance. The thing about us visionaries is that we are ahead of time. We live like nobody else does today so that we can live like nobody else can tomorrow.

The people around you won’t see the bigger picture you see and will come up with reasons to corner you. If there is a dream, do not compromise on it.

Taking a Stand

At times, you will have to work with clients or people who have no idea of what they do but will have an opinion on your job or skill set. At that time, you have to put your foot down in such cases and take the side of your work experience and background. When you take a stand, you are respecting your job and your knowledge of it. It’s okay to talk back or communicate with clients on creative differences and they are not always right. If they were, they wouldn’t need you. So, feel free to take a stand when you feel you are cornered and you will see people actually molding themselves to fit with you.

Pivot and Adapt

Netflix started off as a DVD renting company but soon sensed an emerging technology to become the most popular video streaming site. The key is simple – you need to be ready to pivot your ideas (not give up) and adapt to the emerging technologies to offer better value to customers and concerns you are trying to solve. If you are rigid on your plans that you know won’t work that effectively as you thought, you are making time tough for yourself. Be open to pivoting your ideas to suit the market and adapt to the changes as they come. It’s the key to sustenance and outgrowing competition.

So these were some of the most essential skills to possess if you are an entrepreneur in India. Apart from the pressures that we face in our lives, it is really hard to tackle business concerns as well. Developing a few skills would go a long way and this post is just on that. Good luck!