Alhamdulillah, I got a very amazing opportunity to participate in Ignite Entrepreneurship Camp on 6 to 8 December, as a part of me entering the V Creator Startup Pitch Competition.
(I know, I updated a bit late. I was tired, okay? 😅)
Honestly, growing with my parents who both loves running business so much, for more than 20 years, while also helping them with their business as long as I can remember, with them currently achieving stable income and satisfying financial freedom (from as much as I can perceive),
I can safely say that,
I actually don’t like business.
Thus, it actually never cross my mind to be involved in entrepreneurship.
Even with growing up with my parents who definitely guarantee their full support.
Even after countless efforts of schools trying to instill entrepreneurship spirit in their students.
Heck, even until I go into university, where university students in Malaysia are highly, highly, highly encouraged to be involved in entrepreneurship.
For real, I was never interested.
Until recently.
We’ll come back to that later. Coming back to the program itself, it is an intensive 3-days program, teaching the very details & technicalities of entrepreneurship, which is exactly what I want to learn.
But, if I were to be asked, what is my biggest takeaway, this would be it:
Entrepreneurship is not the same as business.
At first, I don’t get it.
“It’s different? Why? How is it different?”
Well, business can be defined as
an organization or economic system where goods and services are exchanged for one another or for money. Every business requires some form of investment and enough customers to whom its output can be sold on a consistent basis in order to make a profit.
While entrepreneurship is
the act of creating a business or businesses while building and scaling it to generate a profit.
Which means...
Everyone can make a business.
Entrepreneurs make business for a living.
Everyone at some point has sold something out of their own initiative.
That is business.
But not everyone has what it takes to plant, grow, bear the fruits, and later use those fruits to plant more business, or to make the business even bigger & bear more fruits.
That is entrepreneurship.
Just like humans, we are all living human beings, moving and doing things.
But do all humans living life? Some just move without purpose, some prioritize desires over everything else, some just choices over choices that just ruins their lives.
Only some are only living life;
having purpose, contributing, loving, building meaningful relationships, creating impacts.
If business is a body, then entrepreneurship is the spirit; it’s what makes the business continue to be alive & thrive.
That is what attracts me into entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs take their career and dreams into their hands and lead it in the direction of their own choice. It’s about building a life on your own terms, without no one holding you back.
It's what I do best at; managing & organizing every single aspect of my life. And extrapolating, developing management & organization as like senses of my own, I naturally become drawn to lead people & be a leader. I like leading people, not just to achieve my goals, but also in a way that they can also learn and benefit from my leadership. At this point, it almost feels natural to me.
Thus, being in entrepreneurship means
I can do whatever I want, as long as I do what I need to do.
“Which means…?”
As far as my observation is concerned, commercialization is the fastest and the most efficient way for me to spread ideas & messages.
Like I said, I initially never want to delve into entrepreneurship itself. I intend to deliver my meaningful contributions either by working in the right industry and organization, or furthering my studies and using my intellect to do researches.
But nah, entrepreneurship is way better.
If done efficiently.
This is another things that attracts me to entrepreneurship.
I'm all about spreading my messages & ideas to people, since people around me keep saying that I think differently, have a unique perspective, and how they actually have benefitted from it . And I aim for people to listen to my ideas, then ponder upon it, then act upon it. That's what gets me motivated to make more content & gets me high when people actually share & comment on my ideas (even if they disagree with it!).
But again, entrepreneurship can be used as a very effective tool in spreading messages,
if done efficiently.
That is why I want to learn the details & technicalities of entrepreneurship.
I want to learn, not just how to start a business, but how to sustain & make it thrive.
So I don’t get to caught up with the idea of
‘helping as many people as possible’, without factoring my own survival and sustainability.
Everyone wants to do good things. Everyone can do good things.
Everyone wants to help people. Everyone wants to change the world.
I also want to do all of them, but efficiently.
Thus, I believe, through entrepreneurship,
I can do whatever I want,
I can spread whatever I believe in,
efficiently.
Which is why the distinction between entrepreneurship and business is personally important to me.
I thought I didn’t like entrepreneurship.
But what I actually don’t like is business.
What do I mean by that?
I saw my parents working hard for their business from the moment they open their eyes, to the moment they close their eyes back, on a daily basis.
I saw them dealing with licences and taxes.
I saw them going here and there, dealing with logistics.
I saw them being stressed when there are problems in their equipment, halting their production.
I saw my father just keeps adding things to sell, getting busy each and every day.
I don’t like that.
But then,
I got very jealous with their financial freedom.
I got very jealous when they can decide on the spot to not be involved in their business affairs, whenever emergencies come out, or when they perceive they have other priorities to be settled on that day, or simply when they don’t want to.
Be it for one day, one week, and even one month (yes, it happened).
I got very jealous with the network that they build with various people, ranging from their customers to their colleagues.
I got very jealous whenever I got on the phone with them, one among the lines they always say is, “Just inform me if you don’t have money”
I got very jealous that they can plan their lives 10-20 years in advance, and are already on the way on preparing for it.
I like that.
I may not like thinking about the money stuff, marketing, license, taxes, sales, and what not.
But again,
who does?
It's a tool for management, that I just have not mastered yet.
I like the idea of people believing in me & my product. I like the idea of having financial freedom. I like having control on aspects in my life, as much as possible I like the idea of going as big as I can, influencing every single soul possible.
I like the fact that though I may not like the things that I’ve mentioned,
as long as I learn about them & how to do manage them adequately,
I am the one who would have control over them, and ultimately everything else.
This is why I am currently interested in entrepreneurship.
I believe it makes me a better student, a better leader, a better child, and a better society member.
I believe entrepreneurship would bring out the best of me, making me an ever-progressing person.
Thus again, it is a great honour for me to join the camp and the competition. I would be forever thankful for this opportunity.
And may my new venture bears it fruits. Aamiin.
And yes, guys & gals, I made it to the semifinals! 😄
“Wait, you haven’t told us yet; what is your business idea?”
Be patient, dear ones. The one thing I can tell is, it will come out in 2020.
Stay tuned! 😉
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