Who is an entrepreneur? Any individual who strikes out on his own to build his dream by creating a future by seeing and seizing an opportunity to do things differently. By doing so, he undertakes the associated risks of doing things differently. He swims against the tide, and he chooses to be unorthodox in his business approach. He thrives to be different and be different.
Entrepreneurs build and create; they are relentless in bringing to fruition what they created. Entrepreneurs play a crucial role in the economy a start-up pushing changes, innovations, and inventions as market unicorns. While parents too are playing a similar role by doing similar things in bringing up their children to be future unicorns.
This is where entrepreneurship and parenting share many similarities in building, creating, and nurturing. Parenting and entrepreneurship share many similarities in that parenting skills and mindset are implementable in one’s entrepreneurial journey.
The characteristics of entrepreneurs mirror that of parenting.
Visioning.
No parent starts their parenting journey without a vision. Parents walk the parenting journey because they have a vision that they are excited to bring to fruition. There are the same premises that entrepreneurs took on their entrepreneurship journey, to see their vision becomes a reality. Both are driven by their vision, to create and build a future, a dream of success that they are proud of.
Resilience.
No parenting nor entrepreneurship journey is easy as it involves building a future. Every brick put into place today must fit the vision of tomorrow. No matter what happens today, the bricks for tomorrow must be placed with enthusiasm. They move their mountains by picking up and carrying pebbles every day. Tears and sweats are part of the toiling of the future with one baby step a day. Rome was never built in a day for entrepreneurs as well as parents. Failures are seen as gaps that need to be closed and get better after each failure. They continuously nurture what they create and build with great hope that it will succeed with the right nurturing; that is resilience.
Passion.
To create a future, parents and entrepreneurs must be passionate about the envisaged future and avoid giving up mid-way particularly for entrepreneurs when the going gets tough and rough. Whereas parents live with the adage, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Parents never give up; they plough on relentless fuel by their passion. This is the key to success. Winners don’t quit and quitters don’t win. Parents and entrepreneurs will always see themselves as creators of success, they walk and sleep their dream of finding success in the not-too-far distant, they believe that hard work coupled with passion will bring them success. They are what they believe.
Self-belief.
Both exhibit huge doses of self-belief. Nothing is impossible, combined with their passion and resilience, they move mountains. Their self-belief comes from the clarity of their vision. They knew what needs to be done to get them to their vision. Each journey is crafted with a purpose; the vision. Losers are defeated by impostor syndrome that which is tough out there while winners are bouncing with daily self-belief that they can overcome the tough situation by staying the course and doing what is needed to navigate the rough sea.
Motivation.
Both journeys rely on vision and love as the fuel to drive and propel the dream forward. It never relies on external motivation although they do act as enhancers for the intrinsic motivation drivers. When the going gets tough, both dig deep into themselves particularly the WHY to ensure that they stay on track as go-getters for the vision. Motivation and happiness for parents come from the daily progress made by their child, from taking the first step to the first word by the kid while for the entrepreneurs, it is from the first pitch to the first expression of interest to the first sale that motivates them that it is a worthwhile journey. That sense of worth is experienced by the progress made each day.
Opportunities seeking.
Businesses thrive on minimizing risks while parents and entrepreneurs see the opposite dichotomy, opportunities. To them, opportunities lie in the future although the future is full of uncertainties yet they accepted that uncertainties are part and parcel of their journey. They both see the vision as packed with opportunities and with the right matching action plan, it is not impossible to achieve the vision. They work on the opportunities without fail. Both parents and entrepreneurs live in their tomorrow, they dream of their tomorrow while they work hard for their tomorrow today. Each day is a fraction of the foundation of their dream to get to the top of the peak in their dream.
Social capitals.
It takes a community to raise a kid likewise for entrepreneurs, they need the net worth of the network to thrive and build their business. Support structure features prominently in the success of both. Parents and entrepreneurs alike rely on stakeholders for their success. They do not see their creation as solely their dream, instead, it is also a shared dream, a co-creation of the success of their dream with the stakeholders. To walk fast walk alone, walk far, and walk with others and these others are none other than stakeholders of the parents and entrepreneurs.
Growth.
Both are preoccupied with growth, to grow their vision, and their future by doing what it takes to grow the vision and future. Growth is the only way to their vision and future and they never hesitate to invest in growth. Entrepreneurs and parents are naturally with a growth mindset as they encounter many challenges in creating and building the vision, it is only with a growth mindset that they can surmount and give their all to succeed. Their growth mindset enables them to a different paradigm, to see failures as the stepping stones to success and not hindrances to success. This is where the differentiation lies, the ability and capacity to see through failures, learn from them, and get better the next time as building a future takes much more than just a stroll in the park, they have the knack and ability to make lemonades out of the lemons that circumstances throw at them. What matters is the future success and their vision.
Curiosity.
Parents need to scan the current situation to understand the future and entrepreneurs do likewise. Their curiosity enables them to adapt them today for their tomorrow as they understood the future is never status quo, it is ever evolving. Curiosity enables them to learn and adapt. For both, what exists today may not be around in the future, the future is constantly changing and they need to be adaptive with their sensemaking. They live in both realms of today and tomorrow.
Focus.
Parents and entrepreneurs are selective in their focus on the future. The focus is always on inching toward the vision. Nothing derails nor diverts their focus and attention away from their vision. They maintain a laser-sharp focus on their vision, the success lies in them keeping their eye on the ball. This is their sensemaking, eye always on the ball.
Paying it forward.
Since it is about building the future, entrepreneurs and parents are always paying it forward to lay a strong foundation for attaining the vision. What they do today determines the future and they always ensure they do it right by learning from their mistakes along the journey.
Investments.
Parenting is about investing to secure the future, similarly, entrepreneurs need to invest in the future by doing what it takes to build the future. The doings of building the tomorrow represent the investments. Every baby step taken for the future is an investment for the future.
Uniqueness.
Parents always wanted their kids to be unique, to stand out amongst others so that their kids have a better chance of success. Parents will opt for the best school and education for their kids, and extra curriculum activities to build the characters of their kids. Likewise, every entrepreneur needs to build his business into a unique boutique business where he stands a better chance of succeeding. The entrepreneur ought to expect the mushrooming of copycats once he succeeds, so he too like parents needs to insulate the sustainability of success.
Decisiveness.
Entrepreneurs ought to be bold in capturing as well as creating opportunities, especially since markets are moving fast, and waiting for no one. The early birds catch the early worms. Parents too need to be bold in a fast-changing world by allowing their kids to work on their passion and talent to be the best of who they can be. The old school of staying safe by following my footpath will no longer work. It is about the Blue Ocean of parenting.
Nonetheless, I do want to qualify myself that not being a parent is never a restriction to being a successful entrepreneur. The listed virtues of parenting are acquired skills, which are useful for entrepreneurs.
Being a parent as well as an entrepreneur, my parenting skills and knowledge was my term of reference for building my entrepreneurial skills. It wasn’t a zero-base build-up as my parenting skills were my strong foundation. My parenting skills experience shorten my learning curve to be an entrepreneur as many of the parenting skills bear exact similarities and are directly applicable.
