The thought of facing the risks and responsibility that is attached to becoming an entrepreneur has scared off many to their safe little corner of forever being an employee.
This assessment was made by best-selling author and businesswoman Cameka Ruth Taylor, who was a guest on Darron Hilaire’s FLOW in the Morning ‘Awakening Possibility’ show on Radio Turks and Caicos.
Taylor, the author of 21 best-selling Amazon books, and who has coached several Caribbean authors to becoming best-selling authors, argued that many people are followers rather than leaders, and so, prefer to take the safe path.
“It is not easy to be the mover and the shaker,” she said, noting that the first mover always has a crosshair on his/her back.
“Not everybody is cut out for entrepreneurship…not everybody can handle the risk. Most people are comfortable with stability, and knowing where their income is coming from, knowing who is responsible for what. When you have to shoulder the responsibility into an organization your whole life, it is a challenge, and you are taking a risk,” she elucidated.
Taylor, the creator of Entrepreneur Secrets Academy with a mission to raise up 10,000 winning Caribbean entrepreneurs by the year 2030, added: “And so, it is easy to follow the leader and look to someone else to do that, because that comes with a lot of risks.
“So if you are not that kind of person who has that Star Trek mentality, to go where no one has gone before, it is going to be difficult and there are not many of us like that because when you walk what I would like to call the road less travelled, it's challenging, you would be discouraged.”
She pointed out that entrepreneurs do not have it all figured out since one does not know whether a hatched idea would bear fruit.
“So you are kind of like walking in the dark, and who wants to walk in the dark. So, they prefer to follow somebody who has already outlined a path that is proven. But to create a new path has its own difficulties. We like to glorify it (owning own business), but it is hard and difficult before it gets better,” she noted.
“It takes courage in maintaining the vision and that dream, and to walk along that path. What I am reaping today, I had to be encouraged and I had to keep my mind on it, but it has been rough. Success is always five to 10 years in the making. So, if you don’t need to put up with that and if you don’t think it’s worth it, you are not going to follow that route, you prefer to go where it has been proven and the strategies are there and the people know what they are doing because it is less headache,” she continued.
She pointed out though that everyone is endowed with creativity, but some only realize their inspiration when they are in a tight spot.
“Our creator made something out of nothing. Therefore, we also have the ability to use our imagination to create whatever we want to create,” she expounded, referencing the Henry Ford quote of: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right,” to drive home her point.
“So whatever belief you have that is what you are going to live out. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So I believe we are creative beings, and part of the thing is that the challenges if you allow it, it will pull that view.
“Necessity is the mother of invention and I believe we all have that creative ability in us, and that is why we have to think like a designer. A designer does not only see the thing in its current state. He sees what it can become,” She added.
She noted that if one could start a project with the ending in mind, then he can start to work backwards to fulfil that dream.
“The days of working 30 years and then retiring with a gold watch are over. And as a matter of fact, people change careers every four and half years based on the studies. And so, you cannot depend on one source of income…things can happen. You need to do what Jim Rohn said…‘Work harder on yourself than you do on your job’,” she said.