Now the dream ended in the classic nightmare, falling and waking up covered in sweat. My immediate response was, “Well, if you are a unicorn that is supposed to fly – why didn’t you just fly?” (After all, isn’t this what you do in dreams?) “But dad, I didn’t learn to fly yet and it was really scary!”

So that got me thinking. What about birds, how do birds learn to fly? Do they know that this is what they are meant to be doing or do they have to go through the nightmare of falling?

So as I often do in such cases, I consulted Dr. Google. It is amazing how many well-written articles are to be found on the subject of how birds do learn to fly. As it turns out even though birds are “naturally born to fly” they still need to learn how to do it. And some do indeed learn it the hard way or even die trying. But just like the human baby learning to walk, I think they never really have a doubt that flying is what they will do no matter what.

Now there are two important lessons here to be learned if you go into business. One is that the precondition of becoming successful as an entrepreneur – you have to KNOW deep inside that this is what you are meant to be doing. There is no room for doubt on this. Even if you don’t know how it is done yet, you still are what you are – a naturally born entrepreneur. And second, what lies between the fledgling bird and the master of the skies is relentless practice. The young eagle doesn’t jump out of the nest just like that. They got wings and the natural instinct to stretch them out and start flapping. But between then and the time they take to the sky to never come back are many steps of practice and testing their capabilities.

“All right”, I hear you say – “I got the bit about practicing, and it makes sense but how do I KNOW that I am an eagle that is meant to fly?” The answer is role models. Just like the baby eagle that opens its eyes and sees mother eagle hovering over the nest in the wind carrying food, it instinctively understands that this is what it will be doing when it has grown up.

So the best advice I can give you on how you know that you are an entrepreneur – get a mentor or a coach or at least pick somebody who can be a role model for you and understand that one day you will be like them, no matter what.

Who is your role model or mentor and how do they make you feel?