Workaholic Tuesdays: 5 Steps to Entrepreneurship

Create a wish board: “Clarity is very important,” emphasizes Patty. Picture yourself having all that you want. If it's a bakery for instance. How will your signage look? What colour will the interiors be? What sort of furniture will you have? Will the place smell of vanilla? How many ovens will you have? Who will buy your cakes? How will you feel when you've achieved your dream? Visualise your dream down to the last detail, and it'll soon be reality. “You don't have to figure out the how right now,” insists Patty. “Act if you have $500 million and all the resources you need to make it happen and start to plan it and I promise you that a year from now you're going to have a cake shop. I know it sounds crazy but it's true. Just because you have total clarity about where you want to go and what you want to do at the end of the day, suddenly you'll start to meet people and all the stars will line up”. 

Talk to people who know: “Do you know someone who is successful at what you want to do? Interview them about what it takes to be successful. It would be interesting to pursue people who have actively lived their dream because what you're doing is building up your mindset to get you to that place,” advises Patty. This will give you great insight into what it took for them to succeed and whether or not you're really up for it. It just might help you avoid pitfalls by learning from their experience. Thirdly, it will help build your network. 
 
Look at the numbers:“Don't quit your day job, but don't give up on your dream,” says Patty. If you're just holding on to your day job because you don't think your dream job will pay the bills, let all your beliefs go and look at your business idea strategically. Break everything down to numbers, because money is measurable.  You can probably pay your bills and your mortgage with your dream job too. The thing is you need to figure out for instance how many cupcakes you need to sell to make the same amount that you do at your day job.  Figure out a best case, worst case and medium case scenario. Once you do this, you can possibly think up innovative ways to make up for the shortfall if any. You just may find that paying your bills whilst doing what you love, isn't too difficult after all. 

Start working on your dream: Start devoting at least an hour a day to your dream. Re-organise your existing work as efficiently as possible, so that you get at least an extra hour a day to work on your dream. Whether it's research, or building contacts, or getting start-up funds in place. Start working on it. Try employing the Rule of Five, where you do five things in a day to get you closer to your goal. If 5 seems like too much, start with one and then buildup. But start. Make that call, do the research... Once you start, the rest will follow. 

Share your dream: “Any new venture is scary, but if you enroll other people in your dream, you'll find that people naturally want to help,” shares Patty. “I would really encourage you to find someone who is really willing to help you get started, because you need that. It's what I call and accountability partner or a mastermind partner. It's someone who believes in you more than you believe in yourself.” It also means that there is someone to hold you accountable for living up to your dreams. Sharing your dream with a significant other could strengthen your relationship, as you're sharing a part of who you really are. Sharing your dream with people who care about your happiness, could also result in more people reaching out on your behalf, increasing the quantum of opportunities coming your way. 

Are you an entrepreneur? Tell us what worked for you. And for those who are still trying to make it, let us know if you have any questions.