James Kingham

How To Become a Startup Pro - On The Side - Book 1 James Kingham

It's a sad fact of life that the majority of wannabe entrepreneurs will never get to fulfil their lifelong ambitions, dreams and aspirations of becoming successful startup owners. Many will spend their valuable time talking about doing it but will fail to take the action needed to actually make it happen, whilst others will only ever muster a token "have a go" gesture but will rarely commit with enough "all in" effort to cross the finish line successfully. Unfortunately for the growing army of wannabe entrepreneurial freedom fighters and soon to be "billionaire business tycoons" they often find themselves held back by their own lack of self-confidence, limiting beliefs and the constrained mindsets that have built up over the years. They will often focus on and listen to negative narratives, associate with the wrong types of influencers and continue to be guided and often misled by others. More often than not they believe that "success" is what happens to other people and deep down don't believe that they too have the skills, knowledge and expertise to become successful "on the side" startup entrepreneurs. For those of you out there having doubts about your ability to make it as an "on the side" startup entrepreneur, I'm going to demonstrate how you already possess all the qualities and attributes needed to turn your dreams into a reality. The biggest stumbling block for many new startup founders is not, as many believe, a lack of ideas, finances or resources. The real challenge is that their true and natural entrepreneurial spirit has become dumbed down and buried over the years by the ongoing drudgery of day-to-day habits, routines and behaviours. This situation is further exacerbated by the overwhelming compliance to think, act and conform to the traditional rules and role models that others have defined. The truth is, we are all born entrepreneurs, salespeople and expert marketeers. In fact we are naturally born that way and learn to hone those skills early on in order to survive. Don't believe me? Simply take a look at any child. Children are masters of the entrepreneurial craft. They are highly skilled sales people who deliver compelling pitches, create irresistible offers and are experts at removing obstacles, solving problems and reframing their proposals. Every child also has the uncanny knack of maximising emotional hooks, they are never afraid to ask for the sale, and will unashamedly use every psychological trick in the book to close the deal. Now that sounds like all of the ingredients needed to become a first-class entrepreneur to me. I know from experience that my own children, and those of others for that matter, have sold me time and time again and that's with an intimate knowledge of how this stuff works. My advice for budding entrepreneurs follows that of the great Jim Rohn: - "Think like a child."