Myths of Entrepreneurship
This myth claims you need a certain personality type to succeed.
What is “entrepreneurs are born”?
Steve Jobs said without this, you’ll give up when things get tough.
What is passion?
One of the top reasons businesses fail is not having enough of this at the start.
What is startup capital?
Coke and Pepsi are an example of this type of competition.
What is direct competition?
This type of factor includes things like funding and competition.
What are economic factors?
Google’s Larry Page and Microsoft’s Bill Gates proved this myth wrong by succeeding despite being naturally shy.
What is “I’m too shy to be an entrepreneur”?
Working too many hours can take this type of toll on entrepreneurs.
What is a personal toll (emotional & physical)?
An irregular paycheck is especially common during this stage of a business.
What is the early stage?
Riding a bike instead of driving a car is an example of this type of competition.
What is indirect competition?
Government rules and industry laws create this kind of barrier.
What are regulatory barriers/issues?
This myth says you need this one thing—lots of it—to start your business.
What is money (or capital)?
“Isms” like racism, sexism, and ageism are examples of these types of barriers.
What are social/discrimination barriers?
Entrepreneurs must understand this type of calculation to know their profit margins.
What are numbers/math acumen?
Being “risk averse” means you are generally ________ to take risks.
What is reluctant?
Pursuing an innovation may be rejected in some areas due to these two types of external factors.
What are social and political factors?
This myth compares entrepreneurship to gambling, but in reality, good entrepreneurs take these kinds of risks.
What are calculated risks?
This common mistake happens when entrepreneurs focus on the wrong KPIs.
What is measuring the wrong things (not what really matters)?
If you don’t create this financial plan, you’ll struggle to manage your cash flow.
What is a budget?
Too much or too little of this can both cause entrepreneurs to fail.
What is risk-taking?
Psychological barriers can hold entrepreneurs back, but many of them are really just these.
What are myths (misconceptions)?
his myth says only prior jobs or background in a certain area can make you succeed, but entrepreneurs actually come from ________.
What are all walks of life (different types of experiences)?
This barrier comes when an entrepreneur has no clear direction or long-term goal.
What is poor vision?
Lead generation, product demonstrations, and new customers are examples of these important business metrics.
What are KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)?
Not adapting or changing to meet customer needs is this barrier to success.
What is lack of innovation?
When entrepreneurs don’t have the right teammates—or aren’t the right person themselves—this type of barrier occurs.
What are people/team barriers?