If your entrepreneurial imaginary lightbulb just turned on a few seconds, months, years or even decades ago with a brilliant, game-changing idea, or just one which may warrant the creation of a new and potentially profitable business, this article is for you.

You may need to be more aware of the many angles or skills that need to be part of the fusion to increase your chances of success, and we examine some of these in this article.

Cybersecurity Skills in the Mix

With all the excitement around your potential future startup or current startup, it is too easy to forget the entrepreneurial necessity to obtain cyber security skills such as malware protection and a range of existing and very recent cyber threats. Other essential items such as managing ransomware attacks and ransomware removal mechanisms are vitally important.

With all the intellectual property involved in building a competitive startup, security and data privacy are of utmost importance and are essential for your entrepreneurial survival.

The most prudent start would be to secure your endpoint devices, including laptops, smartphones, tablets and more.

For this, look for a reputable cyber security firm with a proven track record that has helped small to medium-sized businesses in the past with countless testimonials and customer recommendations.

Let’s go over some of the cyber security threats your startup or future startup will need to protect itself from and learn more about, at an organizational level:

• Malware in all its forms
• Ransomware
• Keyloggers
• Cryptojacking
• IP Cyber Theft
• Corporate Espionage
• DDoS
• Phishing
• Zero-day Exploits
• Spear Phishing
• Whaling
• Trojan Viruses
• Pharming
• MitM or Man in the Middle cyberattacks
• SQL Injections
• Password Cracking
• Rootkits
• IoT Cyber Attacks

Besides purchasing top-notch cyber security products, self-education on the cyber threats listed in this article and discovered independently should play a big part in your entrepreneurial cyber-secure skills journey.

Imagination

Imagination can generate an immensely innovative idea or can take your existing ideas or inventions to loftier levels. For example, it may be a very imaginative new system or a small cog that can add value to a more extensive system.

Quotes by famous and highly accomplished historical personas can help you better understand the importance of imagination. Imagination is a trait, which some have and have not yet tapped into, and it is also foundational in social, emotional, physical, creative problem-solving skills in children. It can later make a big difference in many entrepreneurial skills which are needed. There is lots of room to develop imagination in adults and hence the skills fueled by it.

Oscar Wilde is quoted as follows:
“Yes I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”

Pablo Picasso said:
“Everything you can imagine is real.”

John Lennon:
“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”

Jonathan Swift:
“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.”

Albert Einstein is quoted as follows:
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

I think it is safe to say that if one of the greatest intellects in the history of humanity, Albert Einstein, tells us that imagination encircles the world, entrepreneurs should take his words with utmost importance as they are super relevant in today’s innovation-centric and competitive landscape.

Creativity and imagination are vital ingredients to creating innovative products and services. Indeed, this fact is very well known yet overlooked. Founders or pre-inception founders often do not place enough emphasis on brainstorming and do not make it habitual or habitual enough.

To start, brainstorming sessions should be scheduled in your startup or even pre-startup activities to take place on a regular basis and more sessions should be scheduled as needed.

Brainstorming and writing down new related ideas is essential. Every angle of the idea needs to be carefully scrutinized and reimagined, if possible, with additional layers of innovations and intricate interconnections.

An example of a brilliant idea being handled with scrutiny is checking if it is “universal” enough, and if it is cross-cultural in a case where a truly global product is in the business plan.

This type of pro-active scrutiny will better prepare you for those sharks waiting to challenge your pitch and business plan.

Place yourself in the position of a business shark you may want in your team, not just for the money but for the smart thinking that can play a role in guiding your idea to massive success.

Even a person with immense imagination may realize that this skill needs to be practiced more, and that other respective angles of the idea also need to be explored. For example, even if the idea is excellent, are the technologies needed for this idea in place or widely accepted? Perhaps waiting a bit could reduce the risk around this startup.

Scrutinizing the innovation and seeing how well it fits, or not, in a thriving business is critical. An inventive blueprint may look impressive and original, while the business blueprint could be an utter contradiction. Not all great ideas can make money, that is the bottom line. If the idea will not be needed by enough people, it probably should remain as a fancy blueprint on paper and not as a business which could bankrupt you and impact your family in a negative way.

Have an open mind to bring other inventive minds to the picture; you will be surprised how well you will be able to fuse those innovations with yours.

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The Gap Sensor Skill

As an entrepreneur, a vital skill needed is the “gap sensor” skill. This skill entails learning and observing the world around you, recognizing gaps of any kind, such as in a product or service, as a potential entrepreneurial opportunity while fusing imagination to the mix to fill that gap creatively and in a cost-effective manner.

Be Willing to be Misunderstood

This is a vital skill to have in your journey to entrepreneurship and innovation.

Jeff Bezos has expressed on many occasions that willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time is a vital skill for entrepreneurial resiliency and success. This skill is taught to Amazon employees as part of Mr. Bezos’ strategy.

The iconic Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde is quoted as follows, “I live in terror of not being misunderstood.”

Oscar Wilde presents being misunderstood from another angle, that he is terrified that his creations or ideas are so simplistic that they are easily understood, hence not misunderstood, lacking innovation and sophistication. In other words, as a thought leader or innovator being misunderstood is a great thing; it means you are likely on to something very innovative.

This skill is indeed straightforward to understand but much more challenging in practice. Often, our emotional intelligence and emotional energy will be put to the test with many haters and opposers discouraging innovation. Remember that Oscar Wild’s quote and Jeff Bezos’ strategic business philosophy can significantly help develop this skill.

Being misunderstood, especially if you know that your startup idea will change the world for the better, is a great sign that you are onto something incredible.

The other side of the coin is that if the criticisms and oppositions are valid, do scrutinize your idea and ramp up your due diligence. You may not have to scrap the entire idea but refine it or make some other minor adjustments. And yes, sometimes, you may have to scrap it and perhaps move on to another idea.

Finite Vs. Infinite Constructs

Another essential skill in entrepreneurship is understanding the difference between finite and infinite constructs from a business perspective. Some companies always look sideways to the competition with nervousness and anxiety, and are driven by traits such as mission-orientation, intuition, purpose, vision, passion and innovation while mainly looking forward and caring less about what the competition is doing. Choosing the infinite construct business strategy means looking forward and not sideways while focusing on innovation and purpose. By becoming more and more unique, the word competition becomes more and more irrelevant and should fade away over time.

When you do “your own thing” and worry less about someone else’s purpose and passion, the unique value proposition is likely to shine brighter and brighter with your new product or service resonating its innovation in a much stronger fashion to the world. This will likely lead you to much more success and much less stress.

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