Lightbulbs

I believe everyone, at the very least, has thought about building an awesome product and making a ton of cash by selling it to the masses. It’s this ambitious dream that drives us to come up with great ideas and take huge risks trying to share them with the world. This is the entrepreneurial spirit, and everyone has it!

So, why isn’t every single person going out and solving tough problems or improving existing solutions? Why aren’t we all trying to disrupt industries or compete with huge monopolistic corporations?

There are many reasons people refuse to take action. I’ve heard and used many excuses to avoid launching my own startup. It’s the overwhelming fear of failure that deters most of us from risking it all and evolving our ideas into top-notch products. Instead, we put our entrepreneurial spirit to rest and let our great ideas sit and mold.

Surround Yourself with Inspiration

I’ve recently found that one of the best ways to (re)awaken your entrepreneurial spirit is to get out and join a startup. There are many benefits to working at a startup over a big company, but the biggest advantage for me so far is the ability to feed my entrepreneurial spirit each and every day. The founder at my company is very accessible, actively involved, and deeply passionate about the product she has created. Our team is small and our day-to-day operations are very transparent. Of course, I spend most of my time in code land, but I’ve been exposed to several parts of the business and learned much about what it takes to run a company (even if it’s tiny).

So, why not work closely with the type of people you aspire to become? After all, they were just as scared as you were at one point! Sure, it’s riskier and probably pays less than the Amazons and Googles, but if you have even the slightest interest in starting your own company, a startup is the best environment to build confidence and bring you miles closer to launching your own company.