The Dance of Entrepreneurship

by Rajesh Setty on June 9, 2009

There are broadly three phases of entrepreneurship

1. The Beginning

2. The Journey

3. The New Beginning ( Yes, It’s Not the Destination )

rubber_meets_the_road

Now, the quick outline of the elements in each phase:

1. The Beginning

The five elements for the beginning phase are:

1. Purpose: Knowing why you are in this will help you keep going when the going gets tough

2. Passion: Doing what you love will make it feel like you are not working

3. People: Building together with the right people will make it look easy

4. Problem: Solving a real problem will help as people will pay to solve a real problem.

5. Plan: Having a plan even when you know that it’s going to change along the way

2. The Journey

The five elements of the journey

1. Patience: Everything takes longer and costs more. Patience is a MUST

2. Persistence: Sticking to the course of action even in the face of difficulty

3. Perseverance: Sticking to your beliefs even in the face of no successful outcome

4. Pain: Ability to handle the “pains” of entrepreneurship along the way

5. Politics: Knowing how to navigate in the sea of politics. You may not want to play politics but surely you should know how to survive and thrive in the politics that already exists

Last phase is what I call the “New Beginning.” I purposely did not call it the destination because rarely I see entrepreneurship “ends” with something – it’s usually a stepping stone to begin something new.

3. The New Beginning

So, here are the five elements of the new beginning

1. Pride: The satisfaction that comes with taking a concept to a completion

2. Profits: If executed well, there is money to be made. There are also profits in terms of personal growth and fulfillment.

3. Power: Since nine out of ten companies go out of business, if you are part of the one that succeeds, you automatically have more power.

4. Possibilities: New possibilities open up as you have more credibility

5. Philanthropy: You can make a bigger difference to the world as you have “extra” capacity

For those of you who are starting on this wonderful journey, wish you the very best.

rubber_meets_the_roadRajesh Setty is an entrepreneur, author and speaker based in Silicon Valley. He maintains another blog called Life Beyond Code and tweets as @UpbeatNow
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Tagged as: Entrepreneurship, pain, passion, patience, people, perseverance, persistence, philanthropy, plan, politics, possibilities, power, pride, problem, profits, purpose

  • Robert, thank you.

    "Glee" is throughout the journey. When you love what you are doing, it's glee all the way :)

    Best,
    Raj
  • Interesting way to capture the process: journey. I'm curious about where the "glee" is in your model? Is your glee the new beginning?

    Appreciate the article!
  • Wonderful article. I'm taking a printout of this and pasting on my wall.. TODAY! Keep up the good work!
  • Christoff
    Really clear model. I this applied to enterprise development programmes somewhere. Would be very keen to link up around how entrepreneurs use such a model as tool to for business improvement. We are trying some stuff here in South Africa and would benefit from comparing notes.
  • Very intuitive "Power of the P" outline. You hit it spot-on and I think the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs is the middle "Journey". It's so easy to get excited about something new and jump to the next best thing, but we can sometimes forget to show persistence and perseverance with our business model and....be patient with our customers.

    Great read!

    Best,
    Jennifer

    Best,
    Jennifer
  • amazing !!! This gives me courage to KEEP SWIMMING :)
  • Very concise and clear article, loved it thanks
  • Love the Power of the Passion of all these P's working together in Parmony!
    All the best
    Paul ... yet another 'P'
  • Well Said Rajesh.
    A simple guide for me or anyone who thrives to be a entrepreneur .
    I see myself in the second phase.
    Your post helps me to stick with my belief

    With Regards,
    Swam
  • Must have been tough coming up with all those "p"s, but they work well. In fact, Perfectly!
  • Well coined wordPLAY and insightful. Well driven home. This is a home-run.
    Well done Rajesh!
  • Well said Rajesh, you rock! :)
    Hope you don't mind me mentioning you on my blog...
    http://khalilaleker.com
  • Rajesh Setty
    Rocky, thank you for your kind comments and good wishes.

    Have a great Thursday.

    Best,
    Raj
  • Hi Raj,

    I have been on this Journey awhile, read and studied many different approaches, but so clear, concise, and down right common sense language like you have used here to describe the process, Just Fantastic! Thank you so much for takiing the time to share this with us and I wish you luck on your JOurneY!
    Keep the Fire Burning!
    Cya,
    Rock
  • Rajesh Setty
    @Alain

    I enjoyed your comment very much. Creative genius you are :)

    Thanks for adding the much needed color :)

    Best,
    Raj
  • I would have taken the P-lunge if not for the P-anic of being a total P-atsy when it comes to entrepreneurship, if there ever was one.

    Thanks for the P-ost. Will come in handy as I P-ursue this uncharted P-ath.

    Peace.
    Alain
  • Rajesh Setty
    C.D. Thank you for your comments. My first four books were fiction so I can relate to what you are saying.

    Wish you the very best with your initiatives.

    Best,
    Raj
  • This is right on. I spent the last three years becoming a fiction writer. I'm at the middle stage with three publication credits, finished rough draft of first novel, and a near finished short story collection (25 stories). I'm just about ready to step up to the next level to take it even higher.
  • Rajesh Setty
    So many good comments here. Thanks to all of you.

    @Dave - I love the additions. I might have to update the illustration now :)

    @Roddy - Would love to hear your comments. Curious now :)

    Best,
    Raj
  • Absolutely love it. Particularly the emphasis on new beginnings. Once you get a business to give you economic freedom, it tends to open up new possibilities of what your personal freedom would be like.

    I love business, I love entrepreneurs, and I love developing my entrepreneurial genius.

    http://www.gerardoritchey.net
  • Very well laid out. The mere fact that you found so many words beginning in 'P' is a triumph in itself... ;-) No seriously, having succeeded (and failed) on many of these points I can relate...

    You could also consider the following – but then there would be 6 elements:

    The Beginning:
    Priority: Putting your project before everything else to give it the attention it needs in its infancy.

    The Journey:
    Performance: Having an attention to detail and rigorously executing through the different phases of your project.

    The New Beginning:
    Pass on: Taking the skills you have learnt in this process and passing it on to others so that they too can be successful.

    Nice post..
    @DaveSumter
  • Bulls eye! I would change the order in the "Journey" Section and put Patience to the end. Happy to discuss why...
  • thank you very much for this post. i needed it. Very simple yet powerful. As i continue the journey, i will refer back to this. Throughout challenges and tough times create new opportunity, and My Team and i continue to move forward. cheers
    Justin
  • Bookmarked and printing this out later...

    I am going to take this "journey" soon ;)

    Thanks for the bullet-pointed and numbered nuggets o' wisdom ;)
  • Raj
    Hi Rajesh

    Excellent ! Very precise article. Especially the fact you mentioned about "New beginning" I was shocked Jeff Bezos started Kindle and his company to start visits to space. The ideas never stops and the real entrepreneur takes it to the next level of implementation.

    Regards
    Raj
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