The three pilars of entrepreneurship

I took a trip to Halls Creek, a small town in a remote location. My idea was to fund a business plan competition at the local high school to promote entrepreneurship. By the way, this picture was taken by an 8 yrs old girl who was wandering around with friends.

I came back thinking that I will make it a priority to get involved as the foundations for "life" there is much different and there is a lot of work to do to establish a basic structure... mmmm like there is no bank.

Despite everybody's pessimism I was determined to find the local entrepreneurs… Once we got into it, they started popping up like stars on a clear sky. I had the fortune of meeting amazing people and sharing our experiences in social entrepreneurship around the world.

Coming back I reflected on what makes an entrepreneur special and wanted to share my thoughts with you. A lot has been studied about entrepreneur’s way of thinking, but I think we are yet to find some commonalities. I hope these three pillars shed some light into the mystery.

Entrepreneurship is NOT about learning but about developing skills in three key areas, I’ve called them the three pillars of entrepreneurship: self-expression, self-determination, and self-accountability.

Self – expression nurtures our sense of contribution and importance. Entrepreneurs feel that they have something to offer to the world, and they need to find a way to express it, to share it with others. Not so much because they need feedback but more because they believe it is useful. That feeling provides a sense of self esteem that feeds onto the second pillar.

Self-determination allows us to believe that we can manage our destiny. That it is through our choices, successes and failures that we create the life we live in. It makes the switch from victim to hero, and feeds into the third pillar.

Self-accountability gives us courage to accept that we are not perfect but that, regardless of any circumstances, we still chose. It helps us nurture our wisdom. When we accept accountability, we can transform the world. We switch from being part of the problem to being part of the solution.

Whatever we do either in our home, with our family, friends, coworkers or our extended community, we will always win if we support these skills. Nowadays when many people are concern about the crisis, I think knowing about these pillars can come handy to all of us. Because every single one of us can do something about it.

here is to your success,
Alicia