When business schools teach entrepreneurship, too much time is spent on writing a business plan geared towards throwing darts at venture capital firms and getting interest in a company before it is even built.
This is hardly an effective plan because it wastes valuable time that could be spent on the business. Moreover, there is no reason for the entrepreneur to start a business only to give it over to 3rd party bankers who could and will pull the plug at first sight of turmoil.
Instead of chasing investors, the entrepreneur should be learning about business via getting their website up and diving in.
Until actual business and subsequent revenue is coming in, there is no real reason for the entrepreneur to take days speaking to an accountant or spend hours blogging about whether they should register their company as a LLC or a corporation. Taking others’ advice is the last thing the entrepreneur ought to do.
This advice is not coming from a columnist. It is coming from someone who started a highly successful company that is consistently eating up market share and now has multiple talented employees from a studio apartment in New York City.
If the entrepreneur wants their business to grow, they must start today. Forget a long, drawn out business plan, here is what the entrepreneur needs – 2 traits that must be quickly acquired:
Thick Skin – people are sensitive to rejection and human beings do their best to avoid rejection at all costs. Conversely, the entrepreneur must become completely desensitized to rejection as they must quickly come to terms with the fact that they are going to encounter resistance and judgment from others every step of the way.
Although I hate the term, entrepreneurs must “put themselves out there” and must buck the trend by ceasing to worry about what others think or what others say. Only if the entrepreneur develops a think skin, can they make a successful run at seeing the other side of the rainbow.
It’s great if the entrepreneur is born with this, however is not necessary as if the entrepreneur wants to be successful, they learn to desensitize themselves to resistance and this can be acquired over time.
Risk Tolerance – in college, too many entrepreneurs are taught to focus on controlling numbers and because of this focus, they don’t learn how to tolerate mass amounts of risk. Managing a high amount of risk is not easy nor is it fun, but it is necessary.
Entrepreneurs, until the business is completely done with its growth phase and can no longer grow at a fast pace, are going to have to live with a gut feeling that is indescribable.
Inevitably, there are certain periods in a company’s growth that will put excessive stress on the entrepreneur.
These company growth stages that tend to induce a large amount of stress include the transition to an office, the hiring of multiple highly paid employees who are crucial to the success of …
When people talk about starting their own business, the fear of the risk involved is often the key factor holding them back. There is an assumption that launching a business is akin to gambling – one unlucky roll of the dice and everything will come crashing down. They believe that anyone willing to go out on their own must have an incredible tolerance for risk or a substantial lack of fear. In fact, the most successful entrepreneurs are relatively risk-averse. There is a lot at stake when you put everything you have into the next great business idea, and true entrepreneurs work hard to mitigate every potential threat before it becomes an issue.
Four of the most common risk-related concerns are financial, lifestyle, career, and ego. Of course, there is some inherent risk in going out on your own, but there are legitimate ways to manage and mitigate those threats. This article discusses the realities of lifestyle risk and what you can do to manage that risk before you dive in to the world of entrepreneurship.
The perceptions of lifestyle risks tend to be relatively accurate. Most people understand that starting a business requires sacrifice – time, spending habits, heightened stress. During the early stages of any new business, the founder is going to spend every waking moment and a good portion of sleeping time obsessing about all that needs to be done. Your time may be more flexible, but for every one of your kids’ soccer games you attend, those hours of work will likely be made up in the wee morning hours. The responsibility of entrepreneurship can weigh heavily as well, leaving many business owners a walking ball of stress. And, depending on your financial situation, you and your family may be enjoying Ramen noodles for every meal during the earliest stages of your venture.
The trick to handling these lifestyle changes is to acknowledge their reality and consciously manage them as best you can. Keep the lines of communication open with your spouse or partner, family and friends. Become obsessive about managing your time and what needs to be done next and work through your to-do lists as efficiently as possible. Know that you will be working 82 hours a day most days and that you will constantly feel under pressure. Then make a plan to deal with those facts.
Give yourself a break. Do the things that you need to do to take care of your physical and mental health. Block out time to exercise, schedule important family events and treat them like mandatory meetings. Keep a pen and notepad with you to jot down ideas or tasks that are distracting you. If you are feeling particularly stressed, take a step back and do something that relieves stress for you. At the start or end of each day, reset your priorities and make a plan. Be realistic about what you can accomplish in a day and focus on completing those tasks. Reward yourself when important milestones …
I did not always have an entrepreneurial mind; as a matter of fact, when I graduated college, I was very lost. I was working at a software company and for a few more thousand dollars, took a job at a large public company (you would laugh if I told you the name). I was doing account management for their financial clients. Because it was a work from home position, the only thing I managed was the couch and DVR. After trying to ruffle a few feathers and really make a difference in the company, I was gradually ousted from “the group” and was eventually pushed out. I wasn’t fired, but I was put in a situation where it was either / or.
Though, at this firm, I learned the true definition of the word “complacent.” This brings me to the first question which I will put forth to get your brain in gear. Please keep in mind that these questions are here to help you as they will give you some guidance as to whether owning your own business would be right for you.
1. In twenty years, one day your son or daughter will be asked about you. More likely than not, the first thing that will come up is your career. How do you think they will describe your career and your job? Does that answer resonate well with you?
If the answer is fine with you, there are two presumed scenarios. The first is that you were very successful and enjoy reading about entrepreneurs on the web. Thus, I am flattered you are reading my article. The second is that you, more likely than not, do not have an entrepreneurial frame of mind.
2. How much would you invest in yourself? If you had to put a net worth on your brain, would it be more or less than what someone else is paying for it? Also, is that someone even using your brain?
If you’re like many and are in this situation, you have to work harder to become an entrepreneur for a few reasons. The first is that your brain is not being put to work on a daily basis, so you have to get that going. Additionally, because of the economy, it is very scary to go off on your own. So choose your time wisely, but don’t put it off too long.
3. If somebody put you out on the street and gave you $10,000 – everything else is gone. How much of that money would you spend on books?
If the answer is less than $1,000, you probably are good where you are at. This is a great test as entrepreneurs don’t create something out of nothing, they create something out of learning. Books are such an important factor of business success. Remember, in this case, you do not have the internet which shouldn’t be relied upon too heavily anyway.
4. If somebody offered you a million dollars to never work again, …
The official definitions of entrepreneur generally come down to an individual who takes on the initiative and risk of organizing and managing any business. This is a pretty basic description, perhaps better suited to the definition of business owner. Successful entrepreneurs bring something more to the table than the average guy who works for himself. They are innovators, they are independent, and they are willing to live like most people won’t in order to live like most people can’t.
Article directories and business magazines are full of advice for would-be entrepreneurs that doesn’t really fit with that title. Some experts recommend that you outsource all “non-core” tasks related to your business idea. The argument is that you should reserve your efforts for the core operations of the venture and leave all other tasks (accounting, marketing, legal issues, IT) to other professionals to handle. On the surface, this sounds great – you get to do the “fun” part and leave the boring business stuff to someone else.
The problems come when you are faced with critical business decisions – should we expand? Change direction? Are there opportunities to exploit? Threats to counter? If you do not have a solid grasp of every aspect of your business, you will not only have trouble making these decisions, but may not even know the decisions need to be made! There are hundreds (if not more) of horror stories about business owners turning over control of one aspect or another to an outside source, trusting them to do things right, and paying dearly for not taking complete responsibility for every part of their venture. Of course, there is a time and place for outsourcing time-consuming tasks, but a true entrepreneur needs to retain control over how and when the work is done, and have the knowledge and an established procedure for understanding what it all means.
The business of entrepreneurship is business – many of the most successful entrepreneurs will tell you that the product or service you are offering doesn’t matter nearly as much as the fundamental business skills you apply to the venture. The basics of running a business are the same no matter what you sell, who you well it to, or where you are located. Accounting systems must be coherent and accurate in order to tell you where the business has been. The operations procedures must be well-established, consistent, and efficient to ensure the day-to-day is being run correctly. The financial and strategic planning must be based on a balance of knowledge of the past, present, and future of the business as well as fundamental business principles. Whatever field your company is in, you success or failure will all come down to business.
Nearly every definition of entrepreneur includes a reference to risk-taking. Actually, the most successful entrepreneurs avoid risk like the plague. They do so by working hard to learn the details of every aspect of their business, identifying areas of potential risk, and doing everything they can to mitigate …