We often hear people said that being an entrepreneur is easy and the way to go, easy to earn money. However, this is contrary to the statement of Tracy Tardia, the CEO and Founder of HiPajak, in the SBM 2023 marketing class when presenting “Getting Real with Entrepreneur Life” as a guest lecture.
Tracy emphasized that being an entrepreneur is not as easy as it looks. It’s not easy to start a business, it’s not easy to get rich, and it’s not easy to lead a team. She said entrepreneurship is a long lonely journey; therefore, finding the right partners and a strong team is necessary. Many businesses fail because they don’t find the right partners.
“How to be a good entrepreneur?” asked Tracy to open the next section of her presentation. Based on her experience, the important thing is to maintain consistency, perseverance, and sincerity because, as mentioned earlier, the journey of starting a business is a long one.
During this long journey, Tracy stated that it is crucial to maintain strong principles, including the purpose of a company and a flexible way of working. Without these three attitudes in leaders and teams, a business cannot last long. In the all-digital era, combined with the pandemic circumstance, a flexible way of working is needed by adjusting to the needs of the times, without forgetting the main principles and reasons for establishing the company.
Finally, being open for input, continuously striving to be better, and being humble are essential attitudes for an entrepreneur or team. “Whatever your role in the company, always try to learn. If we don’t upgrade ourselves, we will be replaced by robots,” Tracy said. She reminded us that whatever we learn every day, even the smallest things, is important. “Never stop learning, even when you have achieved something great,” she concluded.
Written by Student Reporter (Tjia Alphani, Entrepreneurship 2022)