8 most common Myths about Entrepreneurship

In the world buzzing around startups, the one word that you've often heard is Entrepreneur. Society and media have created some special characteristic traits of an entrepreneur, in such a way that it blurs our vision of who can be an entrepreneur and what an entrepreneur should be. There are a lot of myths about entrepreneurs. Most of the generalizations about entrepreneurs aren’t true. The most important thing to remove are the myths that are worth examining for every budding entrepreneur.

Here's what the most common myths are :

• " Entrepreneurs are Born " :- Yeah, the most common myth about entrepreneurs is that they are born with skills. However the truth remains that entrepreneurship can be taught. Trust me, there's absolutely no gene of an entrepreneur. Even experts generally agree that most entrepreneurs were not born, they learned to become entrepreneurs.

• “ Entrepreneurs are risk-takers ” :- Even the dictionary describes an entrepreneur as one who assumes business risks. However, while startups do have risk, entrepreneurs aren’t inherently risk-loving people – they’re really great risk mitigators. They take calculated risks – constantly building decision trees, whether real or mentally, for every different situation their business encounters.

• “ Only 10% of startups succeed ” :- You must have heard it from almost everyone. While the rate of first time entrepreneurs isn’t much higher, it is up a little bit at 18%. But there are ways to increase your chances and stack the odds in your favor. The more repeated effort of an entrepreneur, the higher this rate. It’s the entrepreneurial process that is the key that accounts for success.

• " Entrepreneurs Are Often High-Tech Wizards " :- Again we're alll setup by some entrepreneurs who made it all by their high end technical mind. Only a small percentage of today’s personal businesses are considered high tech, and what was considered high tech just a few years ago is not considered high tech by today’s standards. There are many examples of entrepreneur having having no technical knowledge or expertise.

• “ Entrepreneurs are college or school dropouts ” :- This one's a little bit funny as there's a common thing to hear that entrepreneurs learn from the experience, not the schools. In order for entrepreneurs to be successful, they need to drop out of school to devote themselves 100% to starting a company as soon as possible. But education matters for entrepreneurs. Stats show that 95.1% of entrepreneurs have bachelor’s degrees, and 47% even have advanced degrees.

• " Entrepreneurs Give Little Attention to Their Personal Life " :- All successful entrepreneurs usually have long working hours that cuts into their personal life. However, the counterpart is schedule control. Entrepreneurs don’t mind working 60- to 70-hour weeks, but they will do everything they can to preserve their private time. They schedule important meetings during the week so that they can have weekends off for their personal life, which is very important to them.

• " Entrepreneurs Are Loners and Introverts " :- Entrepreneurs are willing to work independently if it is necessary to succeed but they never are loner and introvert. In fact, entrepreneurs actively seek the advice of others and make many business contacts to validate their business ideas. An entrepreneur who is a loner will not talk to anybody and surely will never start a successful business.

• " Entrepreneurs Are Often Ruthless or Deceptive " :- Our perception of entrepreneurs is skewed by a few outliers. Entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, and Bill Gates make us think that you need to have these characteristics to be successful as an entrepreneur. But often times it is not true.The truly ruthless or deceptive entrepreneur will often alienate others and be forced to waste time and energy repairing relationships with employees, customers, and suppliers, or simply fail.

However, there are a lot of myths about entrepreneurs and most of the generalizations aren't true. You don't have to match any stereotype of an Entrepreneur. You don't have to be best at every perspective. Just remember there are millions of ways to success. You just have to choose the one that fits you.

And this all means that you, too, can be an entrepreneur, even if you don"t have a so called “entrepreneurial DNA.”

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