I remember when I was 20 years old going for my first internship, I had the opportunity to work with a millionaire. Although the intended value I should be gaining was electrical engineering skills at that time, my businessman mentor had different skills that he wanted to pass on to me.
Throughout the course of a 6-months internship program they had for me, I worked for 2 and spend the rest of the time with an ambitious entrepreneur. I was angry at that time not knowing how these skills will be useful to me in the future.
Boy oh boy, fast forward to 4 years later I became an entrepreneur and a business owner myself. I realize now that the skills he taught me weren’t any skills that would fade over time. It was the ability to think and act like a business owner.
What I Learn
Throughout this article, you will learn the wisdom I learned throughout my 4 months of entrepreneurship. Understand what you must “think” in order to become successful.
The BOTTLE Mindset
This lesson had a profound story that I will never forget. It all started just like any other day of looking into businesses. My mentor had come up, build and set up his own bubble tea business in the heart of Jakarta. When I asked my mentor why is he opening a bubble tea business even though Jarkata was full of them. Here is his response:
A bottle of water cost $0.50
That same bottle of water cost $1.50 in a food stall
And that same bottle of water cost $3.00 in the gym
And that same bottle of water again cost $6.00 in the plane.
Edmund, what changed?
“It does change its value, it just changed location” I responded
Yes, you’re right! But there’s more to it!
You see, marketing plays a big role when it comes to promoting anything, even yourself.
The product doesn’t need to change, it just needs the right push.
We are constantly worried about our products and services on whether we can actually deliver but we never bother pushing more effort into promoting them. Our education system emphasizes spending time fixing mistakes that we often missed out on thinking outside the box.
This was the lesson I will forget to keep as an entrepreneur:
A business doesn’t have to be superb, it just needs to serve the right customer.
If your product or service isn’t selling, you just need to find the right location. Likewise, if the people around you aren’t supportive of you, you need to find the right location. There are plenty of ways you can sell a product or service, you just need to find the right marketing for it.
Every Chess Piece Matters
Next, this lesson strangely resembles the Andrew Tate business mindset. Which is understanding your chess board.
Everyone in your life has a certain value tag placed on them, your queen could be your best friend or your parent could be a pawn in the situation.
Chess pieces are a great reminder that as business owners. Just as each chess piece has its own unique moves and strengths, each team member can contribute in their own way to help the company achieve its goals.
Not everyone will be there for you when you start off your business(I had little to no one at that time) and they most certainly do not want to build a business that takes more than a year just to start.
That’s how it is.
As the King, you must be willing to adapt, take some moves cautiously, and be willing to sacrifice pieces in order to survive.
A Business starts from yourself
Is a brand a business or is owning a company a business?
All of it may sound right but are actually wrong. A business has and always will fall under a person’s name. Much like Apple is Steve Jobs, Tesla is Elon Musk, and Amazon is Jeff Bezos.
If you plan to start a business, the business starts with yourself. The lack of self-promotion and self-esteem are the biggest flaws to overcome if you plan to start a business. Build a brand around yourself. Many readers or friends who know me, know me as a business entrepreneur guy. That’s where I know I’m going on the right path.
If the head of the business doesn’t act like he/she is running the business, everything will start crashing down simply because people look for business energy. And the business “energy” always happens to be the business owner themselves.
Are you Ready?
I haven’t seen my mentor for more than 6 years now but we are still in contact. What he taught me was something more important than any engineering skill I could learn. He taught me the mindset to be successful.
Only now as an entrepreneur did I realize that the actions I took to get to where I am were fed by the energy and mindset he had instilled in me during that internship.
To end off, find someone that has a strong mindset. They are usually the ones who are willing to put in the work to create a better future, have a hunger for growth, and have the mindset to be adaptable.
These are the people you should look up to and follow.
