As a career and life coach many of my clients come to me complaining about their mundane and exploited work life and how they would like to make it big as an entrepreneur!
When I probe a little more, I find that their motivation to be an entrepreneur stems not from a business idea that they have or from their desire to better the humanity in some way, but, rather, from their desire to just make it big or from doing it for spite.
Spite?
Yes, I cannot count all those clients who come to me hating their bosses or their employers because how they are being treated and how they are being valued at their place of work. They plan to show their bosses that they can go on their own and be independently as miserable as they are working for them!
Now, this may sound cynical coming from someone who coaches clients on how to succeed. Success takes purpose, planning, thoughtful action, and some luck. Although few can control their luck, everything else can be organized for success.
Most believe that money is the first and foremost obstacle in getting started on a venture. In my view it is probably the last. If the right idea comes and if the market exists, money is available from a variety of sources. Finding the customer willing to pay for what you have to offer is front and center in any venture. Another notion people have is that their idea must be steeped in some solution that uses high-tech as a means to creating value. Wrong again. Many entrepreneurs have made it big through everyday business ideas that do not entail any knowledge of high-tech at all.
If you check the statistics you will find that success rate of entrepreneurs is about 5-10%. This means that nearly 90% of those getting into entrepreneurship fail in their endeavors! After working with many entrepreneurs I am convinced that it does not have to be this way.
How?
Over the years I have found the following ten ingredients that consistently produce successful outcomes.
- Find what value your enterprise is going to create and how that is different from what already exists
- If what you offer exists, how can you make it different or deliver it differently to claim your own market?
- How can you quickly prove the idea and adjust your thinking to create the right response for the market?
- How can you assemble a team that brings synergies to the business and that knows its own limitations?
- How can you transition to a different environment when your business starts taking off and it requires professionals who can provide the resources for its growth?
- How can you define your own limitations in ways that do not throttle the business?
- How can you scale your business and how can you set up your foundation so that when you are ready to scale nothing will stop you
- How do you organize the management team so that each member of the team has an ownership stake in the business and derives full benefit from the value they create and deliver?
- How do you decide the right exit strategy and how soon can you get out when things do not pan out?
- How quickly can you re-group after an exit and move on with your life without regrets and without personalizing the experience.
Entrepreneurship can be exiting, rewarding, and fun. Not succeeding at it first time around can be a great learning experience. Learning often can be far more valuable than succeeding without knowing how you pulled it off, although success has its own sweetness!
You just need to have the right reasons for going into it and have the right attitude with which to manage it!
Good luck!