A couple of days ago, I talked about Biznik and mentioned about a documentary movie created with its members as starring. It’s a MUST WATCH – yes, in capital letters. This blog post will specifically talk about the inspirational video – how it inspires me and what I learn from it.
I am not generally a movie watcher; I don’t really like documentaries – except those involving travels. But there’s something with documentary-style film involving stories of entrepreneurs. I always have a strong interest in them. Why? Because I can learn from them; I can learn how they deal with challenges; how they startup; how they can bring their business to the next level…
The short film, created by Dan McComb and Ben Medina, titled SHINE: The Entrepreneur’s Journey, can give you just that; it offers you almost half an hour of journeying into the life of entrepreneurs – their successes and failures; their daily battles; their ways to make things work for their business; practically everything you want to know about the life as an entrepreneur, really.
Just watch it – you’ll know what I mean. You’ll learn why people take the entrepreneurship route; how people startup; how they get funding; how they deal with failures; practically everything you want to learn about entrepreneurship.
It’s 24 minutes long – so grab your popcorn – or better yet, your note taking tool to jot down some lessons you’ll learn from the film…
Lessons Learned
Most entrepreneurs are going into entrepreneurship for one typical reason: Jobs don’t give them satisfaction, regardless the monetary rewards, the prestige and so on. More often than not, it’s not about money; a job might give you more money with some more perks, but it lacks one fundamental thing: It’s not a place where you can turn your passion into reality.
Starting your own business, regardless the risks, can offer you just that.
1. Entrepreneurship is definitely not easy – but rewarding
Budding entrepreneurs tend to be over optimistic when they start up. What many of them don’t know is that they have to pay the price: The sleepless nights… the stress… the hard work involves in getting your business off the ground.
Well, are you ready to pay the price?
2. Get ready for emotional roller coaster
Sometimes there are smiles and cries; sometimes you are revved-up, sometimes you feel stressed out; the thing with entrepreneurship is that every day is Monday; every day is like a new challenge, and the only way to go is to move forward and face it.
Ready to ride an entrepreneurship roller coaster? It’s often freaking me out, but it’s so fun!
3. Take risks, learn on the go
Well, it’s almost unanimous: Becoming an entrepreneur, you must have a gene inside you – not entrepreneurial gene, but according to Scott Shane, Professor of entrepreneurial studies, there is a typical gene that will help someone in becoming an entrepreneur – the “novelty seeking” gene, which govern how someone has the desire to try different things, face new challenge and so on. That, along with tools available, will help people to start up better.
The thing with entrepreneurship is that the fact you need to take risks and embrace changes – and make mistakes along the way, which most possibly a main cause for business failure. Entrepreneurs must embrace failures and learn from them – throughout their journey.
4. Seek work-life balance – or you’ll regret it later
Work-life balance is a luxury to many, whether they are employees or business owners. Entrepreneurs often work too hard pursuing their dream, in such a way that they sacrifice something along the way. Pursuing business success can sacrifice your marriage, health, and time for your love ones; and quite often, entrepreneurs realise that when it’s all too late.
Pursuing your dream is a noble endeavour; however, make sure you seek work-life balance and share your passion with the most important persons and things in your life – instead of sacrificing them.
5. Entrepreneurs can bring you freedom and happiness!
While freedom is a direct implication of taking the entrepreneurial road, many wonder about one thing: Happiness. With all the challenges, are entrepreneurs really happy? Well, according to a research, the answer is yes.
And if you look closely at the expression of the entrepreneurs, we know that pursuing your passion bring you happiness, and you will be more than willing to do what it takes to make your dream a reality. Entrepreneurs are indeed happier than someone working for a boss, no matter how enjoyable the work is – agreed?
Takeaway
SHINE might not win the makers an Oscar, but it’s a very inspiring one especially if you are an entrepreneur or someone who is considering entrepreneurship. You can relate your own entrepreneurial journey to the entrepreneurs in the film; you can also learn more how to better your business by learning how those entrepreneurs deal with issues.
The short film should get more exposure; Perhaps Biznik should not put the video in a page; it should sit on the frontpage of Biznik (gotta tell them this!)
For more information and discussion about the film, go to SHINE: The Entrepreneur’s Journey page.
