BOOK OF THE MONTH…YOU Have the Innate Ability to Start Your Own Successful Small Business…Yes, YOU!

Wondering if you have what it takes to own your own home-based or other small business? Looking for just the right business opportunity or other business model to fit your lifestyle, attain your financial goals and secure your own future? Worried that it takes formal training or some grand plan to get it right?
What if a fancy resume and a whole lot of schooling isn’t at all what it takes, or at the very least is largely unnecessary? What if each and every one of one of us is truly capable of owning his or her own business and really making a go of it?
In her new book, The Entrepreneurial Instinct, that’s Monica Mehta’s argument, and it’s a convincing one by the time you’ve heard her out.
As the observant child of immigrant parents who came to the U.S. with nothing more than their desire to succeed and absolutely no formal schooling in all things entrepreneurship, Mehta does speak from experience. But it’s more than that.
A now well-recognized expert in small business ownership who has years under her belt operating multi-million-dollar consumer businesses and advising hundreds of entrepreneurs, Mehta has seen firsthand that there is oftentimes a lot more to being your own boss and doing it successfully than meets the eye. In fact, she argues much of getting it right isn’t about school or even experience, it’s actually largely instinctual.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from, or what your talents are,” she writes. “Instinct is universal, and we are all capable of becoming great entrepreneurs.”
Now you might be thinking—given my own skepticism or uncertainty in all of this—that leaves me out…especially if I don’t know if I have all the right instincts. No matter, Mehta says, the instincts she’s talking about, while they may come to some individuals more organically than others, reside in all of us. It’s all about knowing how to tap into them.
And that’s where her book comes in.
So, where does your journey to unleashing your very own instinctual entrepreneurial spirit begin?
Mehta’s contention is that it all starts with two key things that must override all else—the ability to take rewarding risks and agility, and if those two things don’t come naturally to you, don’t fret. They can be learned. Entrepreneurs, she says, are born and they are made.
Entrepreneurial risk taking, Mehta concludes, is driven by some combination of both impulsivity and adaptability. Impulsivity is the “itch to try something,” while adaptability is the “ability to roll with the punches.”
She equates the dynamic to a red light-green light scenario. “For entrepreneurial risk takers…the light flashes green…and they have a natural bias toward action,” Mehta says. But, “for those who hesitate in the face of risky gambles…the light flashes red,” and fear becomes the dominant force.
She goes on to describe the brain science behind the green light phenomenon and how you can turn yours on and forge ahead more confidently in your own entrepreneurial endeavors. Rest assured, she writes, “either nature or nurture can turn on your green light.”
Having tackled the nature of instinct, how you can develop it and how it can be used to take rewarding risks in business, Mehta spends the second half of the book discussing in depth how it can work to your greatest advantage as you launch a financially successful and rewarding small business of your own. While some of what she has to offer might seem counterintuitive, her fresh insights make her book worth the read.
Shoot first, aim later? Don’t spend a dime until you exhaust your imagination? Talk about out-of-the-box advice, huh? And you can’t miss this “aha” moment, the one that might just stick with you the longest…
“To take the journey, put action over planning. To fund the journey, put planning over action.”
Good stuff, right? There’s just one thing we’d like to add…
Before you begin your journey, you may want to consider taking the time to read this book.
Hopefully, you can find a copy of The Entrepreneurial Instinct: How Everyone Has the Innate Ability to Start a Successful Small Business at your local library. But if you can’t and buying it sounds like a plan, we encourage you to visit your local bookstore or click here on either of these online retailers: Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.