How to Know If You're Meant to Be An Entrepreneur | Kiki Ayers | TEDxBuckhead

According to Kiki Ayers there are key traits natural born entrepreneurs have stemming from an early age.
Speaking from her own experience of working a 9-5 to her journey to entrepreneurship, Ayers makes the case that being an entrepreneur isn't something that be taught. Though there are skill sets you can learn through workshops, speaking engagements and courses, she argues that the determination, motivation and dedication is something you either have or you don't.

Before her success as an award winning journalist, entrepreneur and advocate, she ignored many signs that she wasn't meant to be an employee and through survival skills and taking a leap of faith she's now successful as a serial entrepreneur. Ayers Publicity

[jessicacasca]

When she said "we would rather work 24 hours for ourselves than 8 hours for someone else" - that's when I knew

[justifiedcrown]

This is just the beginning of entrepreneurship. The real entrepreneur is not working for yourself, it is when others work for you. When you don’t have to work 24 hours; when you control your time. Let this be your goal…

[tells]

I went to school with KiKi since Jr. high-our first year of college and she’s always been super positive and intelligent individual. This TED talk is amazing girl!!

[christianbanks]

“Survival instincts, that’s what entrepreneurs have.”

She’s great 🇬🇧💜

[Mo-vovo]

Entrepreneurship takes two skills: hard skills and soft skills. The hard skills are the technical skills to run a business. The soft skills are the motivation, resilience etc. To succeed. To much surprise, the soft skills are 90% of what is required to be an entrepreneur. That is all mindset and it can be taught. The mind is a powerful thing, and it can be taught and retrained.

[ranya]

I'm gonna give my 2 cents even if no one asked lol: I truly disagree with the "you either are born this way or not", this is what I call a fixed mindset. Growth is possible. Yes entrepreneurship is not a "skill" you can learn, but you can build habits, you can show up every day, you can try and fail and try and fail and try and succeed at finding a good rhythm. Yes, entrepreneurship is over-romanticized and not as easy as some make it look, but you're not either born to be one or not. It's always about growth.

[marvinchisenga]

Kiki is 100% right. If you are uncomfortable where you are despite putting in so much effort, it definitely means that that's not where you are supposed to be. So get up and explore. You will thank Kiki later. Thank you Kiki

[LoveLife-gvjg]

I am an entrepreneur through and through. I love providing my services on my terms. I love employing women that society had given up on. I love meeting deadlines and schedules. I love earning more money than I ever have in my life. I love using my skills, intuition and networking to keep this train going. I never sold anything a a child but I always hated being told what to do because I always felt like I knew how to do it better. I love learning new things about my trade. It's really all on me and I'm built for this. I am great at it!

[emilymatloob]

kiki is literally talking about being homeless like it was a stroll in the park.. incredible. I aspire to be that strong

[loriwatson]

This video came at the perfect time. I lost my corporate job in October 2021 and pursued transforming my side hustles and hobbies into a full-time business. I've exhausted my savings and retirement funds and questioned if I'm making a mistake. Just as I was giving myself a pep talk to keep pushing toward my dreams in working for myself I came across this video. I take this as a confirmation that I'm on the right path. I much rather work 24 hours for myself than 8 hours for someone else.

[AmazingStoryDewd]

I think entrepreneurship is something people can learn. But it's something you have to learn on your own. I had a mentality shift in my early 20's that propelled me towards entrepreneurship. Ever since then I've never been happier. Also one unfortunate side effects of entrepreneurship I often seen is workaholism. Sometimes working 60 to 80 hours a weeks is necessary but after a while your health starts to get impacted. At least that was the case for me.

[MateaAccount]

Love this statement: "Thought that going to work on Monday made me depressed" like it. I agree 100%, I think like "how can WE even accept being trapped in a job, in order to make someone else´s dream?"

[abubakarabdinor]

I did computer science from India. My goal was to become software developer. And I realized I was in the wrong career. So I decided to drop out. to become entrepreneur. My first business(9 times) failed since I lacked experience. I realized I wasn't having the necessary skills and mindset of entrepreneur. I started reading financial books, marketing, sales, leadership, negotiation, Am 24 years old. And my goal is to become successful business man and philanthropist.

[italyparis]

Thats my life currently. 6 months into homelessness. Im driving uber, I clean houses, lost everything. I have a family. They all watched me lose everything. So What I did, I continued to go forward. I do not give away my time. I self improve/ self invest.

[EarthSunny]

Literally living this life.
I’m in the bathroom stall tryna figure out what to name my company.

[normapadro]

I like the last part. This is what got me wanting to write books, photography, art, and music producing. I wanted to do something different, because these thoughts would bother me every day. I wanted more. I wanted to let my creativity show so I became an artist. I self published all of my work. This is who I am.

[orchestrafusion]

I had to break up with my boyfriend last week because he just couldn’t understand the extent of my passion when it comes to having a business of my own and why I’m willing to do crazy things to achieve that. By his definition (as an employee), he has reached success in his career at his dream job. But when I try to explain to him that I don’t have a “dream job” because I don’t want a job at all he doesn’t understand.

I hate being told what to do and he kept trying to control and stifle me. His expectations of me were limiting. When I would express all the types of success that I see for myself, he would discourage me or tell me that it was impractical or unrealistic, despite my idea being very realistic and achievable. It’s not like there is no one doing what I was suggesting, it’s just that he couldn’t see success as being anything beyond his own ideas of what it looks like.

[zubh]

9:13 when tell you I’ve always felt like this every Sunday back when I worked in corporate, it’s literally the worst feeling ever and I never want to get back to that again. Working for myself is the only way I can be sane. Everything Kiki had said is spot on, working a 9 to 5 is not for me. Time to work on myself and level up. Everyone who’s reading this comment, I want to say to you that you got this!

[TheDaanishh]

This is one of THE BEST Tedx Talks I've listened to. She was so vulnerable, real, and relatable. Everything she spoke, I've experienced on my entrepreneurial journey (except homelessness). The entrepreneurial journey takes extreme grit, perseverance, and commitment. I wish every entrepreneur spoke realistically like this and not acted like it was a smooth journey. It's not!

[TheTwonne]

I've been self-employed with a business for 25 years. And fact is, not everyone has the discipline of being A TRUE entrepreneur. Just like some people don't have the discipline to work is, either you have it or you don't.