The United States leads the world in entrepreneurship, according to the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute (GEDI), which analyzes data from more than 120 countries. According to the index, American entrepreneurs’ greatest strengths are their ability to identify and act on promising business opportunities, bring new products to market, and leverage technology to advance their work. As a company that offers people in 90 countries the ability to own their own business, usually to earn supplemental income, but also the possibility of full-time income, Herbalife Nutrition wanted to better understand what both drives and inhibits entrepreneurs from reaching their goals. We conducted a survey of 23,500 respondents spanning 24 countries and found that 64% of global entrepreneurs dream about starting their own businesses, and that number increases to 67% in the U.S.
The survey also revealed that entrepreneurs are motivated not only to seek greater job satisfaction (45%) — but that 64% of U.S. respondents want to start a business that aligns with a personal passion. At our Company, we see this passion in action firsthand. Many of our members start their business as a result of combining their goal of positively impacting the lives of others with our Company’s mission to help people live healthier, more active lifestyles. Through improving the health of individuals, our goal is to improve communities by affecting positive change to some of the biggest global trends including the rising rates of obesity, increasing healthcare costs, healthy aging, and an increase in people interested in entrepreneurial opportunities.
Passion Drives Profits
Successful entrepreneurs have a passion or belief that drives them forward. The adage of “doing something you love” is advice that has been passed down from one generation to the next. Ideally, everyone would make a living doing something they love, but now more than ever people are prioritizing what makes them happy in their everyday lives and turning what were once “passion projects” into new businesses.
The biggest barrier to entrepreneurship across the globe, according to our survey, is the inability to secure initial start-up costs (64%), which outweighs profit worries (38%) or worries about a lack of financial or marketing knowledge (38%). Regardless of perceived barriers, the opportunity to pursue one’s own passion can be a liberating and exciting experience. Understanding the common barriers and recognizing the risks that hold back aspiring entrepreneurs from pursuing their dreams can help others in their success.
For people who are interested in turning a passion into a business, they need to first assess whether there is a consumer appetite for their product or service or something the consumer can benefit from. Is there a need for it, or will it improve an existing industry by providing a better customer experience? Is it something that is marketable? Our entrepreneurship survey tells us that 68% of entrepreneurs believe their idea would be revolutionary and could change the world.
Strong Support System
Regardless of the type of businesses people choose to pursue, a strong support network has been proven to drive success. In fact, 37% of Americans from the survey said encouragement from family and friends is a significant factor in taking the leap to start their own business.
There is wisdom in numbers: the crowd is wiser than any single person, simply because the cumulative impact of everyone’s knowledge, experience, and information leads to a more informed and balanced perspective. Supportive communities build confidence to achieve success, and anyone willing to start their own business benefits from informed advice. Learning from others helps avoid common pitfalls, and having people in your community to provide advice along the entrepreneurial journey can make venturing out on one’s own less daunting.
We provide our entrepreneurial distributors with extensive mentorship opportunities both from the company directly as well as other successful distributors, and a suite of marketing and sales training tools to support them in building their businesses with clear strategies to meet changing consumer demands. These business tools help them in other parts of their lives as well by understanding the importance of budgeting resources.
To mitigate risks, it’s important to start small and build a sustainable foundation. Somewhere along the way, the challenges that come with entrepreneurship can become distracting and cause one to lose sight of the purpose of the business and potentially go off track. The passion that sparked ideas for the business in the first place must be the “North Star” that helps entrepreneurs focus on positively moving forward one step at a time.
The Importance of Impact
Starting a business from the ground up is daunting, which is likely why 81% of Americans interested in starting a business feel overwhelmed by the prospect. Despite challenges, the allure of a flexible work/life schedule (58%) and potential growth in income (51%) continues to attract more people — especially millennials — to take the entrepreneurial route. Many members of today’s workforce are seeking more than a paycheck — they are seeking a job which has a positive social impact. They want to be responsible citizens of the world and expect the same from businesses they work for and support. This means entrepreneurs need to not only be passionate about the product or service they offer, but also their business’ impact on the world.
Entrepreneurship should not be viewed as a quick way to make money. In fact, starting a business is extremely hard work that requires continuous learning, adaptation, and perseverance. It will always come with its own benefits as well as risks. It is important to identify the purpose of the business, the passion that brought it to life, and foundation of strong, distinctive principles on which it’s built while seeking support from a community of like-minded individuals who can lend the right expertise, knowledge and encouragement that fits into your equation for success.
