At the inception of a career, you are bound to be perplexed regarding future prospects. Questions such as “When will I be able to get the first break of my career? Do I have the right qualification and skills to get a breakthrough?” and many more keep haunting the mindset. Many of you wonder whether your education is the right path toward getting the dream job you dreamed of at school. In general, you are worried because you think about your career inaccurately. You plan wrong and act wrong. There are many ways to think about your career prospects. Let me guide you on how you can develop a mindset to follow your dreams beyond academics.
Most of you are not born with a golden spoon, right? Now, if you think about shaping your career, let us consider three ways of earning a livelihood.
· Job
· Business
· Investment

I have considered these three scopes to determine if any of these can be achieved as an individual. Let me explain briefly:

· Job – We all have a dream job that we have been cherishing for a while. How you plan to achieve your goal depends on your thinking and planning pattern. There is a pattern for everything in life. Successful people follow the pattern of a successful mindset. The failures follow that of a failure mindset. Failures always put their conditions as defensive mechanisms. In short, to achieve the dream job, we must consider the right path towards achieving it. You should understand the core requirements, skills, and the right approach.

· Business – It can be anything. Being self-employed with adequate skills is also a business. Business can start from your home too. Businesses give you the freedom to take risks and convert those risks in your favour. Again, you must do a self-assessment if you have the right mindset to start a business. The right mindset is essential to do anything in life. If you think or do miscellaneous things, you are sure to receive miscellaneous results in return. Proper market research, mission, and a definite vision make a perfect blend for a successful business initiative. In a Business, if you stay determined, then failures become added advantages. Failures in a business make you strong and help you identify new ways to become successful.

· Investment – Another way of making a career choice is through investments. You either inherit wealth from your family or from the jobs you engage in at the early stages of your life. It is preferable to start early. Starting early will make you experienced and cautious within a time frame. You can even invest in time. We all know that time is money, and that is why rich people buy time.

We can keep discussing how to shape our career by choosing any of the above-mentioned choices. But you will know your choice better. Hence, make your fruitful choice. Successful people make decisions fast and change their decisions slowly. In this article, I would like to focus on how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset to think about Businesses. I will tell you why you should start a business and how to progress with the idea of entry and exit from the businesses you create. Now, ask yourself this set of questions- “what is a business idea? Why do I do business? How and from where the money will come to invest in my business idea? How can I generate revenue to sustain my business? Do I have the right attitude towards giving everything that I must make the business a success? How can I excel and expand?”

As an entrepreneur, you must understand money and believe in the power of money. Money gives you options and flexibility and helps you acquire any tangible things in the world by making you rich. Entrepreneurs are disciplined, focused, go-getters and confident. That is why people say rich people are arrogant.

Once you have the right mindset about money, you can start thinking about becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business. In a business, the right answer to all these questions such as “where money will come from? Who will give the money? and Why will someone give money?” are people. People will give you money because your business is going to solve their problems. This means that your business will have a product or service to satisfy people’s needs. They will give money for the value that your business offers.

It is challenging to run a business. Not that every business sustains and grows. That is why you must be incredibly careful while choosing your business or business idea. You must decide which business will be suitable at the right time. Once you decide to run your business, go full swing. Business is not a part-time endeavour. It is a commitment to solving people’s problems by adding value.

Organization is central to the success of any business or endeavour. Once you have your business up and running, you must plan to organize everything i.e., how to run day-to-day activities; how to manage inventory; how to maintain a proper distribution channel; how to handle customer feedback; Human Resources & policies and follow government regulations, to name a few. So you need to organize and develop a system. A well-organized business always keeps a customer-first approach, and they do not hustle.

The pundits always say a business which is not growing is dying. Now that your business is well established, you should plan for expansion. Being an established business, you will have credibility in front of your banker and customers. You can look to solve the customer problem in other locations. You can either open on your own or partner with an associate who understands the demographics of the intended location. You do not have to be everywhere now because you already have a proven system to run the business anywhere. This way you can think of expanding your business to multiple locations and grow a sustainable model. Also, think how many people employ today. How many families will rely on you? That is why entrepreneurs are considered good human beings. Yes, you should be a good human being to contribute to society.

Now, I believe you have earned some profits. Your lifestyle has changed positively. Most importantly, your business is growing and already has multiple locations. Progress is life. At this juncture in life, either you continue and look for expansion to more locations or you sell the business. Many people do not sell the business because they consider it their baby. Business is not a baby; it is an asset. Whenever you feel it is the right time to sell the business, you should proceed. Remember, you took the right decision at the right time to start your business. That is why you are successful today.

It always sounds good that you will be successful in anything you do. But to become successful, you must burn midnight oils, work countless hours, and fail in multiple ways and attempts. All these make you stronger if you are committed. There are three kinds of people in our society:

· Victim Card player – They always blame others for their failure. They cannot stand up by themselves. They blame society, family, friends, the economy, weather, and anything you name it. They live on sympathy. They always want someone to spoon-feed them. You do not want to be one and wish to excel in any of the above-mentioned career options.
· Never-ready attitude – These kinds of people are never ready and are always concerned about making a decision. They keep reading and attending classes and seminars, but they are not ready. Avoid being this kind because the information is widely available. You can get any information available immediately, and it should not stop you from deciding on your career goals.

· Decision maker – These people are always informed and action-oriented. They keep trying new things and learning new ways of doing things differently. They are creative, approachable, doers and risk takers. They fail many times but never stop trying. They just need help from a mentor or experienced person to help them realize their dream. You will have to be this person to excel in life.

I tried explaining to you the career options you can think about. I also explained how you can think of solving a problem and adding value to the people or customers. A scenario description helps you to think about the end goal. I focused on the entrepreneurial side, but this will help you to plan other focused areas too.

Start taking risks and enjoy the life for which you are destined.