A few days ago, I met with a great friend with whom I shared various classes in high school, with whom I even shared many hours at university. It was extraordinary in every way, not because of my direct relationship with him, but because of the subject we touched on, it allowed me to analyze and understand it in every way, so much so that it gave me the way to publish this little article.
The psyche understood in the dead language, Latin, as "soul" leads to many interpretations for those who do not know it. In this case, that term will be separated from that known in theology, seeking to give this article a scientific rigor to achieve its objective, provide knowledge in the area of entrepreneurship and generate self-help to those who deserve it. We will define soul as the invisible part of the human being that leads him to feel, express himself, have a certain behavior, that is, that place where all his feelings and emotions are agglomerated. Now, once the premises of this work are in place, the fundamental terms are known, the following question will be raised: What was said in that conversation of such importance?
In form it looks very simple, but by understanding its background, it is seen that it was not a trivial or banal topic. “I am an entrepreneur” that phrase is said by many with great confidence, firmly, hoping that the people around him shout with excitement when they hear what he represents. He told me that phrase and I was already thinking of leaving the table, I wanted a conversation with substance, and thank goodness I did not follow my instincts. "It's not as easy as it looks," exclaimed my great companion and my attention was detonated with great enthusiasm. It turns out that this young entrepreneur had decided to establish a completely different, innovative, practical, economical and above all sustainable garbage disposal system. It was a kind of basket that would be placed under chairs in public spaces; specifically in baseball fields, cinemas and theaters. I would solve a problem,solve hygiene problems, and it could even be applied in homes to store books and materials for daily use, since it is based on an aluminum grid. Incredible, extraordinary idea I thought, but it came up in my other question,
Why are you showing fragility and some sadness talking about your project?
I tried to understand it, I do not know if I fully achieved it, but my conclusion at the time was, one never prepares for what happens in reality, multiple books will tell you about "An entrepreneurial being" but very few will comment on what really bring this, effort and dedication are very general words, perhaps we will locate other words that really serve as support to readers.
Creativity could already be seen, much more than of course it predominates in my partner, innate or not, it is a characteristic that a large number of people can present and not make it entrepreneurial. Second point, motivation, that immaterial fact that makes you walk forward, in this case, eliminating a problem that aggravates your entire community, is like Individualized Consideration that Stephen Covey talks about in transformational leaders, where it can be training, religious beliefs, or something unknown, which moves them much further. I would dare to say that the great number of young people carry in their genetic code, that desire to face life, a desire, to fulfill a purpose. You read this and you will ask yourself, but everything is on the right track, what is the bad thing that happens? Why does it trigger sadness?
I think that is where I could speak of a third characteristic, the decay, the clash with a reality that is not what it seems. Once the emotions of joy, happiness, enthusiasm are present, they turn the human being into a great wave, a wave with a lot of force that takes everything it touches. However, for external reasons, comments from people or the lack of progress in the idea make that wave crash and the sea does not move much more. It turns out that this boy went through this characteristic, he realized that entrepreneurship is no game. Everything was serenity and happiness when his friends and family spoke in favor of his project, when on social networks they were generating impact, until everything stopped. Until you thought about registering a trademark and just seeing the big paperwork that needs to be done in your country, the bureaucracy,he got scared. He saw his entire empire decay until that conversation. You don't know how you will fight until you are on the battlefield. It is possible that not only sadness is present, but also impotence, anger, pain, but this should not stop here. It would be an unfortunate conclusion to a story of great interest.
The fourth characteristic is, stop being a teenager. It is accepting that just as one changes the ideals, a transformation of the body comes. In short, it is like that evolution from child to youth where you stop liking toys and the other sex begins to attract attention. However, this is not exactly what you can explain to a person who finds himself in an emotional plot, so I applied two techniques, one that I call comparison and the other self-confidence.
I began to name him important high achievers, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Carlos Slim, and many others. I drew a line between the two and exclaimed, "What do they have that you don't?" I kept naming and then made the connection to self-confidence. We talked about his past, he was a person with a good track record, he had nothing to indicate that he could fail, the only thing was not to trust him. Why is it that young people doubt your abilities? Why do your ideals hold back? It is a difficult question to answer, although it will become easy if we understand fear. Fear is its simplest definition, it can be due to two things, you feel that they are threatening you or there is something that prevents you from continuing. I could tell you that fear does not exist, but you must know yourself,and once you find yourself in the middle of the battle, you have to think because if not everything remains in ideas in the air without any purpose.
The story ended quite interesting, he began to change his mood, I don't know if his conversation with me helped him, but that smile on his face filled me. In summary, he gave himself four interesting characteristics, a fifth could be mentioned "success" or maybe not, because I'm not quite sure if it is necessary to have that element to be an entrepreneur, it is a point that can be left for another article. A few days ago my friend contacted me, he told me that in September he would give an entrepreneurial talk and participate in a project fair, perhaps it is a bit far, but without a doubt, if one acts well, things go well no matter how long it takes. As Henry Ford once said, "When everything seems to be against you, remember that airplanes take off with the air against you, not for you."
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Carlos Llorente
Psychology student at the Metropolitan University of Caracas.
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