3 Reasons Why " Start Up" Literally Means "Stand Up'
The Entrepreneurship route has become very popular among Millennials looking to create employment for themselves rather than look for one.
The Entrepreneurship route has become very popular among Millennials looking to create employment for themselves rather than look for one. Although different people have different reasons for launching Startups and small businesses, the underlying objective is to be one's own boss and be able to earn an income without necessarily getting employed. Truth be told, neither way is without adversity.
Being involved in a Startup can be, at times scary and unpredictable, and other times ridiculously rewarding. There is no feeling like the one you get when you see your firm start to take shape right before your very eyes. Bringing in new employees, closing new deals, etc. There is nothing like it. It takes a true show of faith and guts to be able to make things happen at your own firm. One is required to show up and put their money where their mouth is. I call this the "Stand up" factor.
Stand up to see opportunities
Startups are meant to solve specific existing problems or needs in the marketplace, fill demand/supply gaps, or create new products or services that the market needs but no one has realized yet. In fact, at some point, one may have to prove to people that they need something they didn't know they needed.
All these are opportunities. Having a startup means spotting opportunities and doing something about them. That means creating solutions. James A Martin highlighted the 10 biggest opportunities that startups could take advantage of in CIO like consumer privacy protection, counter-terrorism mechanisms, financial technologies in emerging markets among others.
Stand up to see what the future holds
Market forecasting is one known way of preparing a product or an organization for the future. For instance, people may not need umbrellas now, but they will two months down the line when there will be heavy rains. Seeing into the future helps startups to strategically place themselves at the receiving point of the advantage that comes with market demand variations. As an example, the rate of cell phone ownership in Sub-Saharan Africa has grown exponentially since 2012 according to The Pew Research Center, with up to 65% in Ugandan, 73% Tanzanian, 82% Kenyan, 83% Ghanaian, and 89% South African adults owning cell phones in 2014. Startups targeting the mobile industry can see their expected trajectory from these statistics and strategically develop products that would take advantage of this trend.
Stand up and step out of your comfort zone
Believe me, anyone out there who has tried it will tell you that launching and managing a startup is inherently challenging. You cannot work in a startup unless risk-taken comes naturally to you. Startups demand more than just getting embedded in a continuous routine of doing mundane, predictable tasks.
Lisa Evans in a bid to explain why you need to step out of your comfort zone says being an entrepreneur means taking on new challenges, trying out new things that may not work. She adds a statement from Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo, therapist, and author of Better Than Perfect, who says “Breaking your own mold can only make you stronger and more confident to reach higher levels in your professional and personal life.”
Being a Techpreneur myself, I have learned so many lessons since I got to it 4 years ago, and I do not expect to stop learning anytime soon. Every new day brings new challenges, new opportunities, all which need variable strategies to deal with.