The road to entrepreneurship?

There are any number of ways one can become an entrepreneur, and there are many ways to earn success as an entrepreneur.

While there may truly be no “one best way” to get there, my belief, based on advice from entrepreneurs I admire and my own journey, is that there is a preferred path to eventually owning the business of your dreams. That path starts with experience.

First, go get some experience in the field in which you want to own your business. For example, if you just know you want to own a coffee shop someday, go work in a coffee shop. While you’re there, strive to move into as many responsibilities as you can so you can learn as much about the business as possible.

If you can obtain a management role, all the better, because then you’ll gain experience in making decisions based on what you’ve learned. And believe me, you’ll learn tons more once you become the one making decisions and then living with the consequences of those decisions, good and bad.

For that matter, go into any “job” with the attitude that you’re there to learn and not only will you gain some invaluable training, you may find how much you enjoy the work actually surprises you.

This is my favorite approach because not only are you earning the crucial experience you need, but because someone else is paying you to earn it!

Education is what you get when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get when you don’t.” – Unknown