The best way to grow successful entrepreneurs is to start devoting more resources to fostering an entrepreneurial environment within higher education. Such an environment would encourage progressive ideas and innovation, and equip students with the practical knowledge and skills they need to navigate in life.
Project-based learning will help you practice the soft skills that are so important for effective teamwork, high productivity and are not related to a specific field.
Surely, the best way to get these entrepreneurial skills is to dive into a real project, i.e. to get real experience running your own business. However, it might be hard while you are still studying. In case you decide to give it a shot but might still need some help with your university assignments, be sure to get in touch with professional writing services. Experts will write a report online or assist with your essays at any time.
So what are entrepreneurial skills you should develop as a student?
Willingness to take risks
Students are willing to take risks and that is the greatest value. University students have a higher tolerance for risk. Nowadays more and more people in their twenties are becoming entrepreneurs. They certainly have an advantage over their older counterparts, because most young entrepreneurs do not yet have children, spouses, mortgages, or other financial obligations to worry about. Accordingly, they are more willing to take risks, conduct various experiments in the process of developing projects, and calmly experience failure.
Consequently, young people see themselves not just in business, but precisely in start-ups: they want to create innovations and contribute to society through their business, and most importantly, they are willing to take risks for it.
At universities where project-based education is being implemented students already know how to start a business. This openness of the market and the willingness of young people to create their own products gives a perfect combination for entrepreneurship growth.
Readiness to Fail
Studying startups helps to develop the skill of “failing fast”. This ability to survive failure and move on is one of the most important traits for an entrepreneur. We were brought up in a society that does not tolerate mistakes, and most of us have a high level of self-criticism and a low tolerance for mistakes. Such attitudes provoke a sense of shame for every mistake we make. And this needs to be eradicated in young entrepreneurs.
A university is an ideal place for this because it is just a learning process in which failure is only a part of the job. After experiencing first failures, students treat their own failures as a natural stage on the road to success.
Efficiency and prioritization
There is no single formula for entrepreneurial success as it can be achieved by different people of different backgrounds. But something in common can be highlighted, and that is their effectiveness. For example, there are people who like to wash dishes, and there are those who just like to have washed, clean dishes. The first ones enjoy the process: washing, wiping, setting up, and the second ones enjoy the result – the washed dishes. To make sure the dishes are clean – that’s the result. You can wash by yourself, hire someone or buy a dishwasher, the important thing is to get results.
It’s also important to be fast. The situation on the market and in the world is changing all the time, there are a lot of uncertainties, so you need to be able to make decisions quickly. And it is important to take risks. If a person doesn’t want to take risks and is always looking for a safety net, they won’t be able to run a business.
And in general, to be successful, rich, and healthy is a utopia; something will always not work out. It is difficult to be in balance. But it is possible to get closer to utopia if you learn to set your priorities correctly.
Making the right connections
The main quality of a successful entrepreneur is the ability to make the right connections and unite the team around interesting tasks. If the team is well-formed, it is almost always able to change the business model, product, or domain and pull out any project.
Empathy
One of the main qualities of an entrepreneur is empathy, the ability to empathize with people, employees, and customers. Empathy for employees creates a friendly atmosphere in the team, and this is seen by all new employees and, of course, customers.
Advantages of university education
Education at universities is not a substitute for a start-up incubation, but it will be a solid foundation for further development.
Indeed, the first university projects are usually far from perfection, but they give an experience of implementing a product from scratch.
Over time, students will grow as specialists in their chosen fields, expand their knowledge in their field and be able to offer solutions to the market. And previous project experience will help them find the first steps to validate the idea and implement it.
A major plus is that universities unite students from various backgrounds on the same campus and give them a possibility to easily interact with each other. Most investors want to see startup teams that bring different skills, knowledge, and experience. And a number of studies prove that such teams make better products and work more efficiently.
Nevertheless, there aren’t many platforms besides the university that provide opportunities for people to interact regularly across disciplines. And it is often the synergy of different, seemingly unrelated, areas of activity and objects of knowledge that generates innovation.
Entrepreneurs are a valuable asset to any country because their activities can not only create jobs and contribute to the country’s economy but also shape the way we live and work. Therefore, we should make an effort to nurture entrepreneurs and help them along the way.