The Accidental Entrepreneur

Have you ever done Zumba? Probably you have and even if you haven’t, it’s highly likely that you have heard about it. It definitely qualifies as a case study in entrepreneurship, but not a case study like you would find in textbooks. It all starts with Alberto, the founder of Zumba, forgetting to bring his tape to class. He doesn’t go back when he realizes that he doesn’t have the tape but instead he tries something new. He improvises his Rumba, later to be called Zumba, class with a different style of music. And this is where the seeds of a worldwide famous dance routine are spread. He didn’t have the idea of Zumba until he experienced his improvised class that day. He didn’t have a plan but he had confidence in his product which brought him success.

Alberto realized that people were happy in his classes and all they wanted was one hour without worrying about the world. So, he decided to sell this experience because he believed in what he was doing. Selling is not easy, especially when you are trying to sell experience. You would need to reach out to people one by one and have them experience it themselves and it takes resilience. It’s an important feature in the process. One by one…That’s what Alberto did. Without giving up, without getting discouraged, he knocked on doors just to get a chance to have people experience that one hour he was trying to sell. It may seem like he got lucky in the process, and maybe he did. But he contributed in creating that luck by making connections, expanding his network and by, of course, working hard. Turning connections into opportunities is up to you. No one else can do it for you. As long as you are confident in your product and connect with the right people who can see your vision, hang in there and good things will happen.

I resonate with Alberto’s experience launching Zumba. In college, I was asked by a friend if I could translate a medical article for her from English to Turkish. I did, for free, because I was just helping out a classmate. The second time she asked me to do another translation, she offered to pay me. Then she said, “Why don’t you turn translating into a business? You can make a living out of it.” It did not occur to me until she mentioned it. She was right, I could do it. It started by word of mouth and I started getting more clients (medical students) day by day. I always wanted to translate books and get my name out there but never knew where to start. As I thought about the details such as not having a degree in philology, or not having experience in translating books, I got more and more discouraged. But I never stopped translating and never stopped wanting to translate books. Six years ago a friend of mine referred me to her publishing house that was looking for a translator. I was given a text to translate as a test drive and they were happy with the product I provided. Six years in translating books, I have nine books with my name on them being sold in every bookshop in Turkey.

Entrepreneurship is not really something that is planned ahead of time. It all starts with one step; and the rest is in your hands. Be confident in your product, and hang in there. It will happen. And the Tesla picture? One third of those books, bearing my name, are works on Tesla.