Through coaching thousands of people over the last decade and a half I have witnessed many different types of issues and problems that have stopped people from stepping into the fullness of all they are created to be.
It’s been a real privilege to be able to coach many of them through these problems to become free to pursue and succeed in things that they would never have imagined would be possible.
I have witnessed so many people re-invent themselves, bravely leaving behind comfort and familiarity and stepping forward into their deepest hearts desires to change the world in a particular way that they have a vision for.
One of the biggest obstacles that I find which holds people back is an inability to fully embrace the need to be entrepreneurial.
Whatever is being launched, whether it is a charity, ministry, a non-profit, or a business, an entrepreneurial approach is essential for success!
Many believe being entrepreneurial is a niche gifting reserved for the few who are ‘called to business’. In fact it is a gifting available to all and necessary to be embraced, if you want to succeed in bringing any of your ideas forth and impacting the world by them.
I’ve noticed that in Christian circles, many people have an aversion to the very thought of thinking like an entrepreneur, feeling it is greedy or wrong to want to make money. In Christian circles, the idea of thinking entrepreneurially is sometimes thought of as being opposite to what Jesus modelled to us. Yet Jesus himself spent most of his adult life as a businessman, working in the family business of carpentry.
When you think about it at least 95% of our favourite Biblical characters were businessmen or women in one way or the other. The only ones that may not have been could have been those that were born into the priesthood (a very small percentage). But even for the priests, we have no evidence that they were not entrepreneurial in their approach. Paul, for example, an apostle, a prominent pharisee, was also a tent maker. More or less everybody in Bible times operated through their own small businesses or ‘entrepreneurially’, trading and finding ways to make money having several sources of income. (Check out the Proverbs 31 woman).
Entrepreneurial thinking gets over taken by the ‘Being Employed Mindset’
Nowadays most people are employed. Consequently most people’s thinking has shifted from thinking as a creative entrepreneur growing something that they own, to a mindset of doing one specialised job. People are used to being managed and having an whole infrastructure behind them in a larger organisation. This closes down thinking like an entrepreneur in many ways which unfortunately closes down options moving forward.
From Big Picture Thinking to Departmental Thinking
Firstly, many people don’t think or get concerned about the entire organisation and how it will be sustained financially and how it will grow. Most are focussed on their particular job in their particular department and how to do it well.
Innovative Dreams and Ideas can get Squashed in Favour of the Safety of Salary
Secondly, being employed gives people a sense of security financially, as they get used to receiving a pay check regularly. Sadly, this can result in thinking becoming limited. Unique and innovative ideas and dreams get squashed under beliefs that they are not possible, not ‘safe’ and that it’s better to rely on a guaranteed salary. The employed mindset becomes risk adverse, preferring the comfort and safety of a regular salary, without the responsibility of creating finance and sustainability through exploring and launching unique and innovative ideas. I believe that this was not God’s original plan and that it robs so many of the adventure of pursing their dream.
Entrepreneurial skills which you already possess, that you can apply to set up or grow what you have been dreaming of!
The truth is we all have entrepreneurial skills. Recognising and activating these can help us finally launch into areas of our calling that we have previously felt are unobtainable.
These skills can be applied to setting up a business, or setting up just about anything!
Skill 1 – Communication and Community – Maybe you are in touch with what people really need and really want and how they want it. This is a key entrepreneurial skill that can hone and shape the way you provide an offering or the way you generate income for a community project.
Skill 2 – Creativity – Are you someone who creates solutions to problems? Do you think outside the box, not being constrained by formality, tradition or fear? Great, you have the capacity to do something innovative in a way that no one else has! You are entrepreneurial.
Skill 3 – Embracing adventure –Are you an explorer? So maybe you enjoy embracing and experiencing new things, understanding that every adventure has its twists and turns and doesn’t go smoothly, but strength, endurance and persistence wins. To create a new organisation, idea, product or resource that generates income you need this quality!
Skill 4 – Abundant thinking – This one is so important. More millionaires are made in times of recession than when an economy is buoyant. Why is this? The entrepreneurial mind does not think – ‘we haven’t got enough money, resources, people or favour?’…. An entrepreneurial mind thinks – ‘ok we need more money, resources, people, favour – how will be get this?’ ‘Let’s create a way to attract this.’ If you are able to create solutions to today’s lack you are entrepreneurial!
Skill 5 – Accepting Ownership – Do you take responsibility when things don’t work out? Do you learn by mistakes, move on and do things differently from what you have learnt? If so, you are someone that has more chances of succeeding. Many millionaires have gone bankrupt and gone forward to make millions again and again. Most inventors went through many failed attempts before stumbling upon something great.
Problems arise when we spiritualise things. We interpret that because something went wrong it’s not Gods will (This is not always the case!) We may think when something goes wrong it is because we are not capable, or there is no market for it, or people are not interested. Thinking entrepreneurially means taking ownership of outcomes and treating them as valuable learning experiences. It means that if you find out you are not capable, you put a plan in place to get the training you need. You can become capable in anything you want to. If you have no success with people, no favour, do research. Would a different approach work with the same people? Are there other people somewhere else that may feel differently? What changes can be made to make your proposition more desirable to the people it is for? Giving up or blaming circumstances is not taking ownership. Every effort you make will result in an outcome. Every outcome is a chance to learn, refine and perfect.
Skill 6 – Emotional resilience – Are you able to not take things personally, keep emotions in check and get on with the job? If so this is a strength and is needed to create new strains of income. It is a valuable entrepreneurial attitude.
There are many other skills, attitudes and characteristics that could be called entrepreneurial. These are just a few.
I have spent time developing vision with many people. To step into making these visions a reality almost always means embracing the entrepreneurial spirit in you. This will give you permission and space to learn, to plan, to create, and to launch!
What could embracing the entrepreneurial spirit in you release in your life today?