A good entrepreneur isn’t one with a great idea or isn’t one who hasn’t ever failed.
Heck, he needn’t even be good at execution… at least to begin with!
He is one who has a good sense of smell.. towards the customers needs and towards where eventual profits are (or whatever else the reward). And pursues it relentlessly. Whatever shit happens in the meanwhile is a lesson… if one has the composure to call it that and the caution to not let it hit the ceiling.
He may start stupid. Do things that may seem like a joke. Alter course, he will. (Provided he didn’t bet his house on a Donald Trump like whim. Not everyone can be a Phoenix). Each time improving his sense of smell.
Eventually to reach the pile. Good sense of smell, you definitely need!
If one isn’t a good entrepreneur yet, it helps to
- start (close your eyes, jump! Off the plane. Just make sure you took a parachute along!)
- do something small (rent stuff out? ;-))
- read good advice of good people (to me that is Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Richard Branson, Felix Dennis, Paul Graham, Steve Blank, etc)
- learn (book keeping, marketing, sales, customer interaction, budgeting, risk management, etc)
- un-learn and re-learn (the heady stuff Rich Dad Poor Dad taught you, bean counting mistakes, etc)
- do more after validating your small stuff (not easy as it sounds)
- realize when things aren’t working out and alter course (or realize when things ARE working out and speeden the boat)
- know when things aren’t REALLY working out (no point being a fool beyond a limit)
- cool off and try again with a better sense of smell than when you started out
- keep eggs in separate baskets all the while.. even when things are working out well (well, can’t get rid of a risk-aversion lesson of 31 years)
PS: Am in the learn / un-learn and re-learn phase as of now.
PPS: My sense of smell is better than it was in April.
PPPS: The above is just a theory and untested in its entirety ;-). Only time can tell.