You want to be an entrepreneur. You have an awesome idea but you don’t have the time or the money to bring it into the market. Furthermore your idea is not actually fully developed yet so you can’t really start working on it. Don’t forget that you don’t have the technical skills required to build it. So many things seem to be against you!

You’ll be amazed how many people feel the same way as you do, everything seems to be against you. I am not the exception to the rule, but I’ve learned how to overcome negative thinking and instead of looking for resources, I’ve taught myself the art of resourcefulness.

If you simply “Google” resourcefulness you’ll find this definition:

Resourcefulness is defined as the ability and creativity to cope with difficulties. If you are stranded in a house without power and you are able to find a way to get a fire going and cook yourself some lunch, this is an example of resourcefulness.

Of course knowing what resourcefulness means won’t do you any good as long as you don’t exercise your mind to start acting instead of blogging your movements. In the book “The Business Idea Factory”, Andrii Sedviev, shares an exercise with his writers to help them start generating business ideas. The exercise simply suggests that you think for one hour about how you can make an extra £100. In this exercise, you don’t need to think about how to change the world, how to become a billionaire, or how to create a steady stream of income. Your only goal is to generate as many ideas as possible of how you can earn an extra £100. After the completion of the exercise, pick the one idea that you like the most and make a commitment to implement it.

If you forget about the big achievements of changing the world or becoming a billionaire, your brain will be able to avoid the negative thinking. That’s a start.

After you implement this business idea you will know if it works, if you can scale it, and if you can outsource some tasks. That’s where you need to start thinking more resourcefully than before. Make sure that you realise that you will never have the funds needed for any of your business ideas and it will never be the right time, so just do it and figure it out later.

After personally failing a couple of times in the past, I came to realise that the best way forward, especially when you don’t have the resources needed, is collaborations. When you are facing a business challenge, instead of thinking how difficult it is to overcome it, start thinking who has already overcome the challenge you’re currently facing. If you need more clients, there is someone out there that has the clients you need in their mail-list, find out what you can offer to them in exchange and contact them with a clear win/win offer. If you need funding there are people in your city that know who you need to talk to in order to get your initial funding from.

What amazes me the most, is that many people don’t even bother making a Google search before they decide that they can not fund their project. I’ve recently written the Edinburgh Startup City Guide where the readers can find many resources from Edinburgh, from networking opportunities to funding and incubators/office space. I also urge everyone who does read the guide and needs help to contact me directly if they need anything and I’ll make sure I help. There are more guides like that, just look for them, other people have made sure to work hard so you don’t need to walk around blind.

Furthermore, almost every city has entrepreneurial groups on Facebook nowadays. If your city doesn’t have one, the nearest city will have. Also, if your city doesn’t have one, here is a business idea for you – Launch an entrepreneur networking group for your city/town! Ask for my help if you want – @tdalis – for real. Becoming a member of those Facebook groups, it will help you find out events that you can attend and start connecting with the people you need to.

It’s amazing how many things someone can learn during a 60-minute meeting with people who have the same or similar areas of interest. Recently, I had a coffee with an entrepreneur who has over 30 years of experience in entrepreneurship. He said something that I haven’t given much thought to before myself.

Nowadays, many young entrepreneurs fail to realise the power of face to face networking, focusing all their energy and time trying to network on Twitter and Facebook. Print a business card, go to networking events, talk to people, they’re their to network. If you exchange cards with someone, this is the first “contract” of interest to meet again!

Strong networks, will help you find the resources you need. Make sure though that you always offer a win/win/win deal.

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