Entrepreneurial Mentors and "Friends"

Becoming an entrepreneurial is a crazy and exciting thought for me. For the past, several years I have dreamed of owning my own food truck. The thought of having people eat and love my food is something I have only dreamed about. 

This week I started taking Intro to Entrepreneurship at BYU Idaho. I have looked forward to this class with excitement but then at the same time fear. Fear because I may find out that being an entrepreneurial is not for me. Then what would I do, what would be my dream now? I don't have a plan B. I need to have other dreams and plans, but in the meantime, I am on this path to learn and see if owning my own business especially a food truck is in my cards. 

As I began reading this week’s assignments about the process of discovery on the path to becoming an entrepreneurial, I could feel the passion rise within me. This was to be a lifelong journey, but not a journey to be taken alone. I need to find "Friends" those who could mentor me and be a sounding board for me along the process. Jim Richie said, "The truth is that without friends, your trek will not only be lonely but also probably quite unsuccessful." 

The biggest surprise for me was hearing that failure needed to be my "Friend". That I needed to embrace failure and see it has a normal part of the process. Without failure, there is no growth or regrouping. Jeff Sandefer said, "The sooner you embrace failure as a friend, the better. Blessed is the entrepreneur who learns to fail early, cheaply, and often." I have grown up in a society that views and expresses failure as a bad and negative thing. Having been raised with this mentality and reading this last quote, I should embrace failure. But no, failure scares me, I am afraid of failure. 

In this class this semester I hope to begin to see the dream being broke down into pieces. Pieces that I can see and imagine becoming a reality. 

Christie

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