This is the final post in our series CIE’s 10 Principles for Redefining Entrepreneurship. Read the previous entry, Start at the Beginning.
Challenge: With so many different types of people at so many different stages on the journey and with so many different types of businesses, how can we address each individual’s unique opportunities, challenges and needs?
Lesson #8: Focus on the Reality of Each Individual
It is not possible to help a person assess whether a living wage business is realistic and achievable without understanding that person’s individual circumstances.
• Start with the Bird in the Hand – Who are you? How much do you have to start with? Who do you know?
• Get to the Bottom Line – How much net profit from the business is needed to meet the higher of current household expenses or a self-sufficiency income? Is business net profit divided by total hours dedicated to the business more than the prevailing minimum wage?
Lesson #9: Guided Experiential Learning is Best
Get out of the classroom. Classroom learning is one-size-fits all, highly structured, and abstract. Entrepreneurs are highly individual, experiential learners, stepping into a chaotic and unknowable future. The quicker we get to one-on-one out in the real world, the quicker we can focus on a person’s specific opportunities, challenges, and needs to help them learn to think like an entrepreneur – planning in action with a Minimal Viable Product and an Affordable Loss mindset.
Lesson #10: Instead of Pushing, Let Yourself Be Pulled
The entrepreneur must be the Pilot in Plane. Do not provide the idea. Do not provide the initiative. Let the entrepreneur drive the idea, set the pace, learn to ask for help, learn to fail forward, and decide whether to go, pivot or throw in the towel. You cannot push someone into business ownership on your schedule.
Do not over teach or over structure. Just in time learning is best. Structure is the antithesis of the entrepreneur experience. And an “MVP” program is more agile, is more adaptable to community needs, and can more easily connect to and collaborate with the existing local entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Thank you for reading our series CIE’s 10 Principles for Redefining Entrepreneurship! Re-read and go back to Lesson 1, Anyone Can Be an Entrepreneur.