Tracing the Path of an Entrepreneur
By Corey Graham 2.0
There are several reasons people become entrepreneurs. Some people are somewhat forced into it due to the loss of a job and the inability to get a new one. Others are graduates who cannot gain employment in their chosen field while yet more people are fulfilling the family legacy of entrepreneurship. For some visionary people with strong ideas, goals and visions, their ambitions could never be achieved working to the tune of someone else’s music.
Whatever your reason for becoming an entrepreneur there are certain steps that everyone takes in the initial stages toward achieving the goal of self-employment. This process may seem daunting but here we seek to take some of the fear factor of entrepreneurship away.
1. Determine the viability of the market
Before you open your own business, you need to determine the feasibility of your product/service offering and whether there is a need for the offer in the market. This is done through market research.
Market research can be done while you are working for your previous employer. You can grow you contact base within a particular industry; you can begin to informally understand all the forces at play within a particular industry and a particular market. A person with this experience is then able to see openings and special opportunities locally, regionally and internationally for their product/service.
This may also be done through conversations, formally and informally, with associates to help refine the idea before introducing it to the market. There are several ways that this can happen but ultimately entrepreneurs sell a solution to a particular problem, so anyone who has a viable solution to a particular problem, under the right circumstances, they can become a really successful entrepreneur.
2. The Next Step – Network?
Personally in my own experience one of the most critical components is simply the power of your network. You need to determine who you need within your network to help make your dreams reality. Don’t be afraid to approach these persons, as it may surprise you how accepting and inspiring they may be as you set up your business. Many times the persons who are already established in business are perfectly willing to work with someone new, who might have a different approach. There a lots of tips and tricks as to how to network effectively but I would say the simplest advice I ever heard, is bring real value to the table to the person you are approaching.
Here are just a few of the key things that can really help get you started.
3. Clients / customers –
As one speaker at a business seminar I attended, said - "Customers are good for business", and another said "Cash is good for business". It’s very simple but powerful advice. Sometimes we spend so much time on all the other things like logo design and finding a perfect name for a product, rather than taking care of your customers and generating cash. Basically this is what business is all about! It would be pretty smart of you to start investing time, energy and money into researching and understanding your customers / potential customers. As you develop your idea, it’s important to have a clear a picture of who is willing to put money in your hands to access your product / service and why.
4. Joint Ventures –
As a new entrepreneur, going into a joint venture with a larger and more established brand is a brilliant way to get started. It's a good way of getting hands on experience in a particular industry and build up your network. You can do all this at very minimal costs to you. Additional benefits of joint ventures include the pooling of resources between entities which can make both organizations more productive. It can also allow each organization to be more focused on particular area of their business which can ultimately lead to more success. Joint ventures also expose you to unconscious competencies of some organizations. Unconscious competencies are the idea that a business/person might not be aware of the things that make them great. It is something that they are "unconscious" of. If this is the case, a joint venture might allow you to uncover some of these unconscious competencies in yourself which will help you to become a better entrepreneur.
5. Planning / Strategy –
I once heard a thought that said something to the effect that the act of planning is more important than having a plan. I believe it’s most important to have solutions or at least to have deeply considered the possible solutions to some tough situations. As you can imagine, it’s easier to approach a problem that you have "seen before" than it is to approach a completely new and unexpected problem. You should always keep yourself in a position that you can navigate the tricky waters back to shore. This is an ongoing process. Someone who is simply sticking to the plan, when unexpected challenges arise, they will be totally caught off guard and we both know in this dynamic world that we live in change is the only constant. It is important to be able to respond to the changes in your market or operating environment. One of my influences on strategy is Sun Tzu "Art of War" Chp 3 (on Strategy) and vs 6. It shows that the skilful planner is able to get to their result without taking the long and less productive route. In order to do this you must keep in the act of planning to some degree.
What's on paper doesn't always work in practice - this is to be the opening my conclusion. There are many moving parts in business and we know some of them well because they end up in the media on a regular basis - marketing, finance, funding, strategic planning, negotiation. It’s important to realize that with so many components to a business needing to work together for the business success, it’s most important to be practical. Dreaming and aspiring to your vision are the fuel that will take you on your journey down the entrepreneurial path. There is nothing else that will provide such high quality energy for your entrepreneurial journey, however being practical is what will actually move you forward from point A to point B rather than just turning wheels in the sand.
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