In this article I will share with you what it takes being a
entrepreneur ,please I suggest if you have a question or something to
add write it down at the comments.
1.The
Right Attitude
Every endeavor, large or
small, benefits from a proper mind-set. As Henry Ford once said,
whether you believe you can, or whether you believe you can’t,
you’re absolutely right. In the business world, this means having
or developing above-average levels of the following before beginning
a business endeavor:
− Drive and determination.
Including initiative, high energy levels, and a hearty appetite for
achievement.
− Ambition. Harboring a
fierce desire to succeed as well as forming a substantial, realistic,
and personal definition of exactly what success is.
− Intelligence. The desire
and aptitude to gather, interpret, and prioritize information.
− Commercial intellect. The
motivation and know-how to scan business environments for weaknesses,
threats, and opportunities.
− Confidence. The courage to
be decisive and assured (not arrogant), with your abilities.
− Curiosity. An innate
interest in the world and how it works.
− The will to win. The
determination to come out on top rather than just participate. (For
example, consider the thousands of entrants that enter big city
marathons. Only a dozen or so can expect to win. Most are happy to
just finish the course. In business, you must enter to win.)
2.Implementation
(Putting Plans into Action)
Winning as an entrepreneur is
based on being a doer, not a dreamer. This means having the guts to
leave the comfort of familiar surroundings and march off into the
unknown with a well-honed idea and a keen sense of adventure.
Prerequisites for these attributes include:
− Communication skills. The
aptitude to state what is needed clearly and concisely.
− Motivation. A willingness
to work long hours whether you feel like it or not.
− Self-discipline. The
ability to rein-in temptation or excess.
− Persuasiveness. The
ability to convince others and inspire them to do your bidding.
− Speed and Agility. The
ability to respond intelligently to situations both rapidly and
effectively
The
Four Main Fears of Entrepreneurship
Obviously, the number of qualities and attributes needed to succeed
in business is quite extensive. So does that mean that an
entrepreneur needs to be a superhero to triumph in the business
world?
Absolutely not. Few people are born with all the marvelous abilities
that are needed to succeed in life. Yet successful business owners
appear to get around their shortcomings by learning as they go,
admitting their frailties, and shoring up their weaknesses
– a process that helps overcome their fears. Fear is a common
emotion that often manifests itself into excuses, procrastination, or
inaction. Indeed, many psychologists say that fear is the root cause
of most human problems. Listed below are four of the most common
fears associated with starting a business. 1. Age.
Exactly what age is too old or too young to run a business? Years
ago, the owner of a sporting goods store in the USA celebrated his
100th birthday (he opened his enterprise in 1933). He was only
working four hours a day, but he was still working, and introducing
new products, and beating his competitors. Colonel Sanders, the man
who invented Kentucky Fried Chicken, began selling his secret formula
to franchisees at the age of 64. Ray Kroc, a malt-shake machine
salesman from Illinois, bought four California hamburger restaurants
when he was 52 years old and re-tooled them into the McDonald’s
empire. And so it goes as the number of entrepreneurs over the age of
50 is expected to rise dramatically according to industry experts. At
the other end of the scale, Michael Dell, the founder of Dell
Computer, began his first business at the age of 13. By the time he
turned 19, the computer parts business he ran out of his college dorm
room was grossing $80,000 per month. Not to be outdone, Bill Gates
started Microsoft at the tender age of 19. And today, millennials are
starting businesses at almost twice the rate of their older peers
(Petrilla 2016). The overall message is that age is not a determinant
factor when it comes to starting and running a business. Attitude,
courage, and action are far more important.
2. Lack of Money.
There’s no doubt
that having lots of capital makes starting a business somewhat
easier. Yet a sizeable number of successful practitioners steadfastly
believe that having a better-than-average amount of start-up capital
has little to do with overall success. Indeed, quite a few hard-nosed
entrepreneurs claim that it’s actually beneficial to create a
business with as little money as possible. Their belief is that too
many individuals, when starting with a pile of cash, waste it on
things they don’t need – an office, a secretary, expensive
computer equipment, and so on. On the other hand, having a small
amount of startup cash teaches frugality and efficiency. If you’re
not convinced by this argument consider the hundreds of thousands of
folks around the world who began their businesses with little more
than chump change and a burning desire to see their idea bear fruit.
3. Fear of
Rejection.
Most successful
business owners readily admit that the path to prosperity is paved
with rejection. Indeed, many hard-core entrepreneurs state quite
openly that they often fail twice as much as others. So why do they
end up succeeding? Because they try more. Instead of giving up,
successful business owners learn to deal with failure and adversity
and then move on. Take for example Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank
who, in 1978, joined forces with co-worker Ronald Brill and founded
Home Depot – after all three men had lost their jobs in a corporate
buyout. Or consider King C. Gillette, the inventor of the safety
razor, who suffered six years of humiliating rejection from
companies, investors, and toolmakers while they laughed out loud at
his innovative new product. When King eventually decided to produce
his invention himself, sales rose at a rate of 1,000% annually! The
story of Ewing Kauffman provides another good example of how
successful entrepreneurs rebound from rejection. Shortly after WWII,
Kauffman was fired from his job as a salesman because his commissions
exceeded the president’s salary at the company where he worked.
Undaunted, he descended into his basement and began making calcium
pills from oyster shells. Years later, after capturing forty percent
of the $100-million calcium supplement market, he sold his company to
Dow Chemical for a fortune. Such bounce-back stories are not the
stuff of old fashioned motivational stories. Indeed, millennials seem
to be more prone than their elders to learn from failure, brush it
off, and then parlay it into victory (Petrilla, 2016). The lesson
here is that winning often lies in the mind. Success to those with
the perseverance to stay in the game is usually nothing more
4. Lack of
Education or Experience.
There is evidence
that suggests a college education does not guarantee business
success. Indeed, it sometimes appears otherwise. Steven Jobs and
Stephen Wozniak, for example, founded Apple Computer after dropping
out of college. Neither one of them had any entrepreneurial
experience. Michael Dell, the multi-millionaire founder of Dell
Computer, is also a college dropout. The same goes for Ted Waitt,
who, after quitting school, underwent nine months of on-the-job
training at a computer company only to leave and start Gateway 2000.
Ten years later, his salary exceeded $500,000 per annum. John Bond,
former chairman of HSBC (one of the world’s largest banks), also
never went to university. Still not convinced? Then consider the
story of Ian Leopold, whose college professor failed him because of
the unrealistic business plan he submitted in class. By sticking to
his instincts, Leopold turned a $48 investment into $4-million in ten
years with the very same plan (writing university guidebooks). And in
the last years of her life, multimillionaire Anita Roddick, founder
of The Body Shop, advised entrepreneurs to ‘stay away from business
schools’. Her belief was that business schools focus too much on
the financial side of business and ignore the all-important human
element. Of course this does not mean that education and experience
are not needed to start and run a business. The following statement
was relayed to me several years ago by a successful entrepreneur in
France: ‘I didn’t learn any ground-breaking secrets in business
school,’ he said. ‘Most of what I’ve learned I experienced on
the job. Yet one thing I’ve noticed over the years is that no
matter where business studies are taught, the folks who need this
information the most are usually nowhere to be found.’ His point is
that there’s no shame in not knowing everything there is to know
about running a business. There is only shame in not admitting it and
ignoring the need to improve.
Overcoming
Negativity
Perhaps now it’s
easy to understand why so many people forgo the notion of starting
their own business and choose to work for someone else instead.
Simply put, building a business is hard work and the odds of
succeeding are harsh. That being said, if starting a business seems
beyond your reach because the people surrounding you - not the facts
- are filling your head with negative thoughts, the following advice
from experienced business practitioners may be worth considering:
− as a rule most
people in life will tell you what you cannot do rather than what you
can do.
− just because
someone doesn’t believe in you doesn’t mean you can’t succeed.
− no one can make
you feel inferior without your consent.
− your past does
not have to contaminate your future.
− where you come
from isn’t important, it’s where you’re going that counts.
− if you focus on
what you want, instead of what others deny you, you’ll have a much
greater chance of succeeding.
− fear of the
unknown (and the known) can be controlled once it’s admitted.
Developing a
Healthy Definition of Success
Still afraid of
taking a risk and stepping out into the unknown? You’re not alone.
It’s not uncommon for even experienced entrepreneurs to measure
themselves against unreasonable standards and see themselves falling
short.
Overconfidence
Wilbur Wright, the
co-inventor of the airplane, once wrote to his father, when flying, I
have learned that carelessness and overconfidence are far more
dangerous than deliberately accepted risks. Put another way, the
inventor of one of the world’s most useful devices firmly believed
that a little fear is a good thing. His contention is that fear keeps
one in check. ‘Overconfidence can lead to misjudgment, disregard,
or the ignoring of good ideas and advice,’ says psychologist Amanda
Druckerman. She goes on to say that people who believe that they’re
superior to everyone else (which is partly what defines
overconfidence) are often incompetent and self-deceptive, which opens
the door to missing out on opportunities.
Advice from the
Pros
By now it should be
apparent that starting a business is an eclectic, all-or-nothing
endeavor filled with misconception, contradictions, joy, defeats, and
advice (both wanted and unwanted). With that in mind, this chapter
has been concluded (as has every chapter) with the wisdom of
entrepreneurs, many of whom assisted in the writing of this book with
their hard-won advice.
− In business, as
in life, know that you cannot change what you tolerate.
− Be honest as to
what you want and need.
− Accept the fact
that some things in life cannot be taught, they can only be learned.
− Remember that
fear is a gift. It is nature’s way of keeping you alert.
− Think of fear as
an acronym: False Evidence Appearing Real.
− Make a list of
what you are afraid of (it’s not so frightening now, is it?).
− Find out if
others have experienced similar fears and what they did to overcome
them.
− Tear up the list
you wrote above.
− Know that there
is no trust or safety where there are unanswered questions.
− Map out the
direction you wish to take by writing down what needs to be done.
− Start moving
toward your goal by gathering as much related information as you can
and adapting it to fit your prospective customers, your region, and
the business-structure you would like to begin. You have nothing to
lose by educating yourself.
− To an
entrepreneur, every day is a crisis
How To Manage Your Business Risks.
Every business involves some risks. This may be little or much
depending on the type of business as well as many other market
factors. Identifying, outlining, and assessing the risks involved in
a new business and developing strategies to manage those risks is an
important, in fact indispensable step to take when planning a new
business.
By understanding potential risks to your business and outlining
strategies to cushion their effects, you will help your business
recover quickly if an unexpected incident occurs. For instance, a
risk assessment will unveil workplace risks that you or your
employees are exposed to. And it will help you meet your legal
obligation for providing a safe workplace and reducing the likelihood
of workplace mishaps that can impact negatively on your business.
Types of risk vary from business to business, but conducting a risk
assessment and preparing a risk management plan involve a process
that is common to all business. It goes without saying that the first
step to take when conducting a risk assessment is to identify
potential risks to your business. Understand the scope of potential
risks will help you come up with realistic and cost-effective
strategies for handling them. When considering the types of risks
that your business is prone to, it is very important that you think
broadly. This is where many people go wrong in their risk assessment;
they focus only on the obvious concerns like fire, theft,
competition, etc. without paying attention to subtle but equally
dangerous concerns.
Accessing Your Business For Risks
Only after assessing your business can you successfully identify the
risks associated with it. Start by thinking about your critical
business activities, which includes your main services, your
resources, your employees and factors that could affect them or their
work. These factors include natural disasters, accidents, power
failures, and illness. By assessing your business this way, you can
work out those aspects that are indispensable to your business.
How To
Identify Risk In A Businesses
After
assessing your business to get a clear picture of it, you can start
identifying the risks involved. Go through your business plan to see
those things your business cannot do without, and list
some possible risk factors that could cripple those indispensable
things.
Don’t forget to
identify each step involved in your work processes and outline the
associated risks. Think of what factors could hamper each step and
how this could affect the rest of the process. Once you have
identified the risks associated with your business as explained
above, you will need to analyze the likelihood and consequences of
each, and come up with options for managing them.
Achieving
A Good Marketing Strategy For Your Business Plan
To access a good marketing strategy for your business you need to do
the following things:
Define Your
Target Market
The
first major step of your marketing plan is to define your target
customers. Of course, that goes without saying. While some offers
(such as snacks or processed fruit juice) can be targeted at all age
groups, most products and services are needed only by a specific
category of people, your target market. You need to define your
target market to avoid marketing your products or services to those
who don’t need them.
Define Your
Customers
The
details and the questions you will ask will vary greatly based on
what you are offering. Essentially, you want to paint as detailed a
picture as possible with both the qualitative and quantitative
information you can gather. There are many ways to break down your
customer segments, but you will want to do it in a way that’s most
meaningful for what you are trying to market. As far as marketing is
concerned, you will need to provide a detailed plan on how you will
go from generating awareness to ultimately getting what you are
selling into the hands of your target customers
Write Down
The Benefits Of Your Products Or Services
Think
of the benefits that consumers will enjoy from your products or
services and list as many of them as possible. Keep in mind that
these benefits must include those that your customers already expect
from your product or service. For instance, if you are starting a
tablet PC manufacturing or retailing business, customers won’t buy
your products if each unit doesn’t come with WiFi and the reason
for this clear: everyone expects all tablet PCs to come with WiFi.
Define
Unique Selling Points Of Your Products
In addition to the benefits that customers expect from your product
or service, list those benefits that make your offer unique. Figure
out those benefits that are missing in your rivals’ offers. Even
your pricing could be a unique selling point, especially if your
products or services are cheaper than others in the market, and yet
are of the same or even higher quality. The more the advantages your
offers have over others already in the market, the brighter your
chances of attracting tons of customers to your business.
Define Your
Marketing Methods
Even
if your offer has an endless list of unique benefits, customers won’t
buy unless you let them know about your offer. And that’s what
marketing does. However, your marketing efforts could be futile if
you don’t adopt the right methods and media. For instance, if your
target audience are teens and young adults, then mobile advertising
would work magically for you because teens spend long hours with
their mobile devices each day.
Similarly,
if you are targeting seniors, consider newspaper advertising because
older people read newspapers a lot. But if you are targeting a
general audience, then TV advertising would work. Of course, everyone
watches TV. Keep in mind that your marketing methods must comprise
both online and offline advertising media.
Advertising Or Promotion plan
Will you have a dedicated presence across many of the popular online
channels (such as website, social media, relevant marketplace, etc)
used today to gain brand awareness?
● Will your marketing plan be primarily inbound focused (such as
SEO, social media, blogging, etc), outbound focused (such as PPC,
affiliate marketing, sales teams, etc), traditional focused (such as
direct mail, brochures, and print advertising), or a mix of all
three?
● What are other low-cost yet effective marketing mediums that you
will leverage to get attention?
● What is your PR strategy? Why would the press be interested in
your story?
Sales And
Distribution Plan
● What channels will you use to get your product out there? Will
you sell via your website, a retailer, wholesaler, or a totally
different channel?
● How will customers pay for your product?
● What will your return policy look like? Will you offer any
guarantees? If so, what will they look like?
● What happens after a customer makes a purchase?
