Entrepreneurship: Spelling it right

I've been wanting to right a post about my perception of entrepreneurship for a long time....its a topic very close to me, and would love to write about some random thoughts crossing my mind every now and then on starting off on your own.

1. Nothing like being a bachelor when wanting to be on your own. The thinking is fresh, the quality of life is abysmal in most cases (you can support yourself on a shoe-string budget), and with no family or society pressures, you are much better equipped to try it out, until you succeed

2. Find a real need, and don't just go googling to find those needs. Every successful venture of US will not succeed in India. Appreciate the cultural nuances, and ensure your offering is customized well enough to offer value to the audience it is targeting

3. Fail. Its important to fail. Never underestimate the importance of failing in your venture early on. It will teach you a number of things which you otherwise will never realize

4. Build a network which you can rely upon, at the right time and place. And it's not only the online network. While Linkedin, twitter, facebook etc are great places to start getting known amongst the right people, its equally important to build a strong offline network as well. Go to blogcamps, meet people who have gone through the entrepreneurship cycle, learn from them, keep a track of all these people and be in regular touch with them. You never know when they might come in handy

5. Do not assume that everyone out there is just waiting for you to tell them something, and they'll go rushing to follow you. For example, if you send an email to 1000 of your contacts, do not expect all of them to act upon it, just because the mail is coming from you. Irrespective of whether they are your known contacts or not, only when they see some value in what you're saying, that they'll be willing to listen to you

6. Learn from your mistakes, and take immediate actions. You'll be better off by not repeating your mistakes. Small mistakes and oversights can make or break startups

7. Never forget the people who helped you initially. The success of your venture should not change the person you are. At a young age, when you suddenly taste unanticipated success, it is very very easy to get carried away

8. Learn as much as possible. Even if you're new to technology or photoshop or other relevant knowledge base, you'll be served by better by taking a shot at learning them yourself. Do some google and you'll be surprised at the amount of help that will come your way, by way of free tutorials, advice, templates, and sites which will do the jobs for you

9. Make a sustained and solid presence on the web. Think along the lines of a complete online identity management approach, wherein you integrate your website, your blog, business and social networking, micro-blogging, feedback tracking, participation in forums of relevant/related topics

10. Give your venture some time. Do not look for short-term gains. Be clear on where you see your venture 2 years, 5 years and 10 years down the line. Most of us end up thinking from a short term gain perspective, without realizing that this can only result on temporary happiness. Have belief in your idea and your venture, and go all out to succeed. Celebrate short and sweet successes that come your way, without ever compromising on the vision you have set for yourself