Entrepreneurship is a form of art, not a science. You can’t go with it by the book. If you do, I hope there’s enough cash behind you to burn until you figure it out. But if you are truly passionate about what you do then you let your dreams, passions, guts & feelings guide you down the chaotic road of entrepreneurship.

Artists are very similar to entrepreneurs, in so many ways. Therefore there is a lot to learn by studying their work and life philosophies. Here are only a few things we can learn from one of the greatest artists of the last century, Picasso:

“Good artists copy… great artists steal…“ It is not a coincidence that this Picasso quote was Steve Jobs’ favourite. There are multiple interpretations for it, but one way to think about it is that you need to go first where others would and could go. Do something before someone else does it. The world is full of opportunities ready to be exploited. Many people are looking for them. You can’t just expect them come your way. You need to go get them – steal them!

“The world today doesn’t make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do” See if Picasso had painted a violin in a conventional, sensible way it would probably look great to everybody. Instead, he did something that it may still doesn’t make sense to the masses, but is indeed an extraordinary piece of work, especially appreciated from those who truly understand art. You don’t need to make sense to everyone. Find your niche and make sense to those who care. That’s when you can claim special.

Picasso once said “…an artist works of necessity…” You can’t be an artist – you live as an artist. Picasso wasn’t contracted to create some of the worlds greatest paintings of all time. He lived and breathed art and apparently had the talent but also the passion and discipline to devote his life into it. So you may be well prepared to become an entrepreneur but what you have to really ask yourself  is simple: are you ready to live as an entrepreneur?

Facebook has just announced that they will acquire Instagram for $1B. I am sure you all know facebook but in case you never heard of Instagram bear in mind this is probably because it only exists for 6 months!

Yes, this is how much it took Kevin Systrom & Mike Krieger clearly 2 passionate entrepreneurs who launched this cool photo sharing app last October. It is indeed impressive to see a start-up reaching the billion mark up in such a short time, moreover becoming facebook’s biggest acquisition yet (…or ever) which by the way… had indeed started as a photo sharing app as well!

So, what made Mark Zuckerberg put his hand so deep in his pocket buying a company that don’t even have a plan on how to generate revenue, days before facebook goes public? What else? The amazing penetration rates Instagram has reached so far. Unquestionably, people’s interest and engagement with a product is the most valuable asset a start up can own!

Now, does that mean that “the stakes” are now higher for your own venture? Should you consider the Instagram case as a benchmark? Well, it is of course advisable to keep your goals in ambitious levels BUT on the other hand never forget how much it took the world’s most valuable technology company – Apple – to become a sustainable business itself!

Both stories have nevertheless something in common: True passion to succeed!  Whether it will take 6 months or a decade for your company to succeed you will never know. But whether you are determined to succeed is something you can decide for yourself! Apparently, that’s all that matters… (see how instagram had to redefine itself)

If you’ve got a real passion for something or a good idea that think you could transform into an entrepreneurial venture don’t stuck on the “scalability issue”. Why? Simply because your judgement of scalability is based on what you know - which limits what you can imagine. 

Scalability is a very “systematic” way to look into ventures. Is a prediction based on data & facts that are useful for managers, business analysts, investors and all kind of corporate thinking folks.

Successful entrepreneurs on the other side tend to be taking a more “artistic” approach into things. The game is won if you can invent your way forward rather than predict it.

Take as an example someone having a passion in photography. How scalable can something like this become? If we were to judge how far can a photographer go we would base our prediction on her talent and the hours she could put into it. Regardless how talented she is, her talent is not transferable to others so she cannot employ more people to do the work in order to maximise her business and her work capacity is limited to a maximum of 24h a day. So there’s a scalability issue here…  

But is photography just about taking pictures or is it also about optimizing photo cameras? Advancing the way photo classes should run? Writing the next best seller book on photography? Creating a better photo sharing online platfrom? Re-inventing the whole photograph industry?

Sky is not the limit… Sky is just a limit…

The best thing about getting into a new year is that it provides a great milestone to review where you stand in life and think where you want to head. When it comes to aspiring entrepreneurs it is the best time to make the ultimimum resolution: start a business.

Of course, starting a business takes a lot more than a new year’s resolution but indeed, getting into the right mindset is probably one of the most crucial aspects. So trying to add into this task (getting you in the right mindset) here are a few reasons why 2012 is a good time to start:

Environment is more favourable for SMEs and Start Ups…

You may think that the global economic crisis is a reason not to start a business however it is generally true that SME and Start-Ups are less impacted from this volatile environment that is highly affecting large organizations. Smaller business are undeniably more flexible to adapt in this new world having the advantage of steering the wheel where the wind is blowing faster than their big competitors …therefore your chances of surviving (not to mention attracting the attention you need from the investment community) are higher.

The myth of job security in larger organizations has been busted… 

More than anything else we all realized how fragile our current economic system was and how easy it finally was even for the biggest companies to get out of business overnight. That really changed our appreciation of having a job in a big organization, which was perceived to be a safer workplace in economic terms, moreover sometimes justifying a relatively lower annual salary for that reason. The new generation of talent will be more effective to make career choices on the oxymoron basis of sustainability through risk-taking decisions …thus your chances of attracting great talent willing to get in an adventure with you are better.

You have less to lose yourself…

If not the greatest of all forces to at least start (not necessarily sustain) a business is the one coming from the basic need of financial survival. In a world where the so called comfortable middle-classed population is destined to get out of comfort the triggers to react are more than ever. If you were asking a professional whether he’d like to have his own business almost 9 out of 10 would tell you that they have considered this, however never made that step for reasons that if you really analyzed them will end up being ‘comfort of being where I am today’. Why risking to fly staright to the top of a mountain if you can hike up there? So now that the path to the top has become a rocky and dangerous walk learning to fly seems less risky…so if not now, when?