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Where to Begin
Have you ever avoided bringing your idea to life because you didn’t know where to begin? Entrepreneurial Thought and Action is a method one can use to embrace innovative action to accomplish your goals. On April 7th, Iris Hammel with RISE hosted a workshop about putting yourself in the mindset of an entrepreneur to confront uncertainty and not get stuck solely in the planning stage. In her discussion, she broke down Entrepreneurial Thought into two key phases: planning and execution. This method is ideal for individuals with limited resources because it creates efficiency and doesn’t prolong the time of moving forward with an idea.
Planning
The first step in this method is to determine the desired impact. What does success mean to you? This will help you narrow down your goal and what you are trying to achieve. To be successful using this method, one must have a clear goal they are trying to accomplish. If you are still unsure what your goal is, start by asking yourself a few simple questions:
· What are you curious about?
· What are you motivated to do?
· What engages you?
Once you have your vision, the thing that drives you, think about the resources you have:
· Who are you?
· What do you know the most about?
· Who do you know?
· What are they the best at?
Once you have your idea, you can calculate what you are willing to risk. With all investments, your time and energy will produce returns. Knowing what your limit is before you start acting will help mitigate the net loss if your initial plan doesn’t work.
Take Action and Expand Resources
Think about the people you’ve identified as someone you think is a valuable person. Think about the roles that need to be filled. Entrepreneurship, at its core, is about collaboration and co-creation, working with others to build on your collective knowledge, and taking those first steps. After you take that action, think about what is missing. Who needs to be in your network for you to accomplish your goal? Network and enroll more people in your journey. Then start the process over again with a new idea with your resources. In this process, you are constantly creating and producing new things to try.
Building On What You Learned
If you’re asking yourself, "when should I stop this process?" either you have arrived at the desired outcome of your impact statement, or you’ve exceeded the time and expenses you were willing to lose. The reason this is a mindset and not a how-to guide is this process is never-ending. You should constantly build on what you learned and look for new ways to expand your network. As you buildup your network and accomplish your goals, how can you pivot to what’s next?
The Entrepreneurial Thought and Action framework is meant to be buildable. Meaning it can repeat and escalate. As you continue to practice this method, your ideas will become more precise, and the loss you experience isn’t as high. This is because you are starting this process each time with a more extensive knowledge base than before. The more you use this method, the more confident you become in controlling how uncertainty affects you.
Your Story
As you build out your network, Blackink IT would love to hear your story and see how we can be a valuable partner to you. We work to help businesses reach their full potential by maximizing their technology. Interested in learning about how we can help you grow your business? Contact us here - we can't wait to meet you!
Source: Entrepreneurial Thought & Action is a registered trademark of Babson College. Entrepreneurial Thought & Action is a methodology used at Babson College to develop entrepreneurs of all kinds. The methodology is based on the pioneering work at Saras Sarasvathy of the Darden School of Management. This note is excerpted from Entrepreneurship: The Practice & Mindset (2017, pp 51-53) by Heidi M. Neck.
