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