Wednesday 28 October 2009

Entrepreneurship of Life

Last Monday I went to the Entrepreneurship Seminar organised at my university and it was great. Really, it was so inspiring that I am still so energised it feels I could run a marathon!

A nice surprise

What happened then? Basically, a bunch of entrepreneurs showed up and each gave a little speech followed by a Q&A session. I didn’t expect much to be honest. Just a few businessmen with some bits and pieces of advice on how to succeed in the world of commerce. But to my surprise what I witnessed was an outpouring of enthusiasm, unbeatable spirits, and such tremendous passion that soon I was completely overwhelmed by what I was seeing and hearing. After just a few moments I was sitting there listening, fiercely writing things down, putting them out on Twitter and thinking about what questions to ask at the same time. Totally loved it.

Interviewing Rob Heilbron, co-founder of O’Neill

Live your life to the fullest 

While there was a multitude of things I learnt, the overall lesson was that to live life to the fullest you have to really go for it, try things out and constantly challenge yourself. Of course it is not always easy to do just that (humans are overwhelmingly creatures of habit), but perhaps the key to it all is not to be afraid of failure - “every failure brings you one step closer to success” - said Kevin Eyres, CEO of LinkedIn Europe. Once we accept failure as a natural part of life then it is not that big of a deal to fail anymore. In this context each failure can be a valuable lesson for the future. When you understand your mistakes, the next time you have an opportunity comes along, chances are you will not screw it up again.

With that said I feel much better equipped to drive through my fears now and to take the opportunities in life when they come along, to be the entrepreneur of my own life! Hope that after reading this, it will be similar for you as well!