Experiences of an inexperienced entrepreneur

[Music]

back in 2018

i was looking for a job in my field of

academic expertise

being sure about having the required

skills to take up the position

i applied rather confidently but

surprise surprise

like many of you there are rejections on

the way

and many of them solely based on me

being

unexperienced

after months of trying it hit me why

don’t i take up my side fashion project

and

turn it into full-time entrepreneurship

at this point already

a few months into the journey during a

workshop about

how to be an entrepreneur out of

curiosity i raised my hand

amidst a hole full of people to ask

a simple question

what would your advice be for student

entrepreneurs sir

the speaker posed for a minute looked at

my face

smirked and asked how old are you again

uh 22 i answered

he then continued oh

i believe you’re too young to be

thinking about this

you’ll need to have some experience

before

addressing the audience he continued

this glitch in the system he says

and to complete what he actually meant

was that there’s a glitch in the system

to be allowed to be an entrepreneur

while you’re a student

now this was the moment when a

realization hit

the young entrepreneurs do not have it

easy

not because of being unexperienced but

because of the various perceptions

surrounding them

and well this was just the beginning of

that realization

such perceptions could easily lead to

shatter the heaps of belief and

motivation it takes young individuals

to even get started with

entrepreneurship now

let’s be honest having a self-belief and

confidence

are vital for starting your own business

do we all agree that every experienced

person was once

unexperienced they never had an idea

where to get started from but they did

and that’s what gained them the

experience

look at me now for example standing

right here giving a

tedx talk something i never had an

experience in

and this is my first time but guess what

i’ll officially be considered an

experienced tedx speaker about 10

minutes later

but sadly the notion for experience

being the criteria

has remained unchanged for years

you just need to have the experience to

prove yourselves as a professional

either if you’re applying for a job or

if you are starting

entrepreneurship now let me tell you a

little bit about myself

i’m a recent graduate and a full-time

overthinker

overthinking is one skill i have

definitely have

years of experience in and an art i have

mastered growing

all these years the overthinker in me

has always seeked external validation

even at times i have been sure of how

great of an idea i have

and what excellent execution can i pull

off for the same

i have never held any managerial or

literacy

positions in any of the jobs i have

taken up in the little span of working

life that i have lived

now being a part-time sandwich artist a

cashier

a salesperson working and counting

hours each day for the cloak to strike

nine so that i can

finally go home and sleep just so that

the next day

i can wake up attend an 8am lecture

followed up by another 4pm shift

and the cycle continued this was around

three years ago do you think

this was for gaining experience

no it just had to be done

to make ends meet and survive the

student life

like many others

it took me a year of realization and

convincing

myself that i was perfectly capable

of taking a risk and becoming an

entrepreneur

or at least i was perfectly capable of

failing and getting back again to give

it another chance

today i’m a co-founder of a startup

with a capable team of seven members

built over a year and a half

the one trait that all of us shared

as a team was having no experience in

the start of life

do you think this was easy no i’m not

talking about the journey of

establishing a company or

hiring people or carrying out operations

but establishing myself as an

entrepreneur

in the eyes of other experienced people

in the startup ecosystem

now that is a task in itself

unfortunately it always

has been a tough game between my belief

in the worthiness of my ideas

versus the recommendations and

experienced opinions of all who

suggested

not to even get started with them in the

first place

and i was not winning this the easy way

first off because i was too young second

i was not experienced third

i fed on self-doubt

everybody brought in their share of

experiences

to influence what i should be doing next

high time i believed in myself and

anyways did what i was asked

not to and it worked

now from the little span of experience

that i have had

i would love to share some of the key

takeaways with you

of all the things i assumed were

important for me to succeed on my

journey

the only that remains important is the

right kind of support

and not exactly the experienced opinions

i found this support in the same

university and the same startup

ecosystem

it is a matter of understanding and

evaluating

all the advises commands and criticism

that comes your way

you’ll meet people from both the sides

of the spectrum

the ones who believe what you’re doing

is

not right and the others who believe

what you’re doing

is right and it will work out eventually

if you keep putting in the right

amount of work and dedication

being unexperienced should never be

looked down upon

or should never be the criteria to

reject or

accept someone forget about

others judgments you yourself should not

be putting yourself

down with your own self-assessment

criteria of

being too young too unexperienced or too

naive

to get started with your next passion

project

you want to do it and are ready to

commit to it

go for it

it is okay to take risks and it is

more than okay to fail just like success

is never guaranteed

failure isn’t either who knows

when your next failure brings in your

first fortune

lastly do not become

too comfortable in the comfort zone you

have created for yourselves

entrepreneurship life demands adapting

to circumstances

and being open-minded towards change

the idea of associating age with

experiences and capability is not

completely

our fault it has somehow been embedded

in us since childhood

let me share something funny i’m

originally from

india and growing up our parents would

tell us to keep our noses out of elders

business

this meant to not interfere in

discussions that are not our age

even if we had a point to make that made

much more sense than their elaborated

discussions

you just have to keep quiet because you

know

that’s not your place to talk

and we should be behaving our age

so you’re made to believe that just

because you’re not

old enough you cannot come up with

anything

or how dare you offend them by sounding

smarter than them

it is quite often as per the convenience

of the people elder

experience to us to either judge us as

unexperienced or overexperienced

we need to break this norm this should

be the last

thing to influence our decision making

and stopping us from chasing our dreams

you do not have to be a professional

chef to be contesting at a cooking

competition

you just need the right skills that you

could have learned by cooking for

yourself or your family

my age has never been a barrier on my

entrepreneurial journey

but the judgment surrounding it

definitely had

not so great effects

your age doesn’t determine what you can

achieve

but your attitude it definitely does

i accept that i never had the experience

but what i had was an idea

my ability to learn and the courage to

fail

were all that were needed to pursue my

passion

i believe a lot of young people

have that in themselves but they are

unable to recognize it

just because they have heard a lot of

no’s

due to the lack of this magic ingredient

called experience

i want to convey a simple message

do not fall for that it’s a trap

circumstances can drain you you’ll be

put down

you’ll be rejected by the experience for

not having the experience

but if you decide to keep going despite

of

all the criticism that is coming your

way believe in yourselves

and be positive something wonderful is

already on its way you will find the

right people

on the way your vibe will attract your

tribe

hard work consistency

and perseverance have to be the only

superpowers

one would need to take up challenges and

face failures

and of course a helping hand never hurt

anyone either

to my experienced peers and mentors out

there

your support and willingness to provide

constructive criticism really does

determine if a new

an experienced individual will be able

to build their dreams

a matter of fact a helping hand at the

weakest

moments of one’s personal or

professional lives

only motivates them and empowers them to

do better

and to my inexperienced young fellows

mentors can be the guiding lights in the

moments of darkness

sounds too philosophical right

but this is as true as it can get

find the right kind of support determine

your

own wrongs and rights network in your

own local communities

you’re sure to find the people who might

not necessarily be able to take this

journey with you

but they’ll inspire you to experience

the

unexpected there are so many heroes out

there

who had their share of struggles

pursuing their dreams

and they are willing to share their

golden learnings to help the coming

generations thrive

i did find the right kind of support you

will too

even the unexperienced have experiences

worth sharing and this is coming from

a not so experienced entrepreneur

i look forward to seeing many more young

entrepreneurs in the ecosystem

walking with confidence and knowing that

their ideas are worth the

impact they dream they can create thank

you