To the college freshman who just decided on the taking the road towards entrepreneurship.

I know why you want to be an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are significant. Innovation appears cool and exhilarating, and every day you will be doing something new. Television shows and magazines praise and respect the men and women dressed professionally in suits or business casual attire who speak about their accomplishments, challenges they overcame, and the years spent working to develop and launch the next big thing in the tech, healthcare, music, sports or food industry.

You passed business, finance, marketing, statistics or accounting classes, and know the definition of vocabulary words used in selling and meetings. Negotiating, investing, organizing, and networking are things you can handle with little to no stress. You think you have what it takes to being an entrepreneur? There's more to it than that.

No matter how many times you look it up, the meaning of the word entrepreneur changes, depending on who you ask because until you accomplish something extraordinary and give yourself a unique identity, the term itself will only have the textbook definition instead of one that you personally define.

You can know every entrepreneurial strategy or person that achieved great things before you, but you will not develop the confidence that you need like they did until you read about their journey, learn the skills you want, and stay in contact with friends who have more experience than you do.

In the news or social media platforms you will see and read about the difficulties that brilliant and sometimes eccentric men and women overcame to achieve their dreams. Whether it's financial issues, missing out on fun activities (besides the ones cancelled due to Covid-19) or not having the time, you will never have the life you want unless you take that first step.

The people you meet with either be your teammate, competition or best friend. They will have faults, unique skills, personal issues, and vulnerabilities, but if they remain loyal to the business and put in the effort, it will still be okay because we all want to achieve success.

Making your presence known on social media (including having a website) are the only ways to succeed as an entrepreneur. Any business without an online presence will fail within a year.

To get ahead of the competition, you should check out what other people have created and try to improve on it. Read what customers like and dislike about products or services, so you know what to do and avoid when starting your own business.

Entrepreneurship is not only limited to making cool stuff. Being an entrepreneur is unlike the things you are taught in college. The skills you need to learn will involve months of paid online courses or watching YouTube videos for free.

So, do you still have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

Give it a shot. Read finance, investment, and marketing books. Do some meditation. Try to network with business owners on LinkedIn. Sketch out ideas. Create a brand and website to promote your work. Form a team with friends or other entrepreneurs and keep working until you make real progress.

Taking that first step towards being your own boss or joining a team of innovators, thinkers, and scholars will be worth the risk. If you want to have a life with the freedom to travel, spend more time with family, and get access to the latest technology, you will need to use your failures as lessons to keep trying until you finally achieve success because you can do it.

Sincerely,

The college graduate with big dreams