Have you got what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Shashi Naidoo shares her tips for making it on your own.
GLAMOUR: How important have good employees been to your success?
Shashi: It may seem like common sense to hire the best employees but a lot of employers, in the haste of getting a positioned filled, will overlook how integral good employees are to the business. In my specific business, my employees have to deal not only with clients but also models. If a client or a model has a bad experience with one employee, it could have major ripple effects because the industry is so small. People will always share their experiences and a bad experience is ten times more likely to be shared than a good one.
GLAMOUR: What three pieces of advice would you give to college students who want to become entrepreneurs?
Shashi: My first bit of advice would be to finish your degree. A lot of people who become entrepreneurs have a natural flair for business and will start something in their varsity years. Once you start getting a taste for money, there can be a big temptation to give up your studying and focus on your business. But at the end of the day, 3 years is not going to kill you. Unless you’re an extreme case, the next Mark Zuckerberg, you can only stand to benefit from what you learn in that 3/4 year degree. If you’d like to get involved in a start-up, sitting around and talking about it doesn’t count. Be brave, be bold, make it happen!
GLAMOUR: If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Shashi: I spent six years of my life studying chiropractic and two years doing community service and because of my decision to go fully into the entertainment industry, I did not go into private practice. Whilst I have absolutely no regrets about that decision or my decision to study such a long degree, sometimes I wish I had the guts to study something related to this industry that I am so passionate about. All my knowledge of acting and presenting has had to be learnt through experience along the way.
GLAMOUR: What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Shashi: To be innovative is critical… What makes your offering different to everybody else’s? You have to be self-motivated… Nobody is going be calling you out on getting in late. The ability to manage money… Most failed start-ups that I know of got to that point because of misappropriation of funds coming in.
Even if you don’t have your own business, you can benefit from approaching your career like an entrepreneur. Mistakes ALWAYS happen. Here are 10 steps great leaders take when things go wrong.
