Qualities in Businesses that foster Entrepreneurship

By nature Entrepreneurs are individuals who are bubbling with energy and ready to pounce towards an opportunity when it arises. However, one thing that that can seemingly limit the way one takes advantage of their inherit qualities and external opportunities in business is the influence of the leadership style they exist with. One could be extremely creative, innovative and energetic however if they were under the strict guidelines and policies of a business, that did not empower employees in expressing themselves but had their own way of doing things, these assets the business possess would simply be at unexploited thus limiting the business in achieving it's goals.

 On the contrary; when a business has a flat structure, employees are empowered, voices are heard and recognized and the corporation culture is inviting and laid back employees feel much more liberated and at ease which would allow them to be themselves which is believed that their  inherit qualities will shine thus benefiting the business with good. Think of Google employees, they are offered heaps of on campus activities that make work fun and inviting and their management structure is very laid back - as long as you get your assigned tasks done - that's all that matters. 

On way managers can also foster entrepreneurship is to be honest with their staff, and be forthcoming from day one with the team. The team sources their decisions and guidelines from the manager so one needs to be transparent to get the best out of their employees. This is important because you're not guessing what people might think of you or the tasks, you just do what you do best and give them confidence to tell you if you're right or wrong and if there's a better way. 

Another way of management is to always be optimistic. Doing business, especially being an entrepreneur, it is full of ups and downs which will sometimes shake and even break you. But seeing this is all normal and perhaps a passage of rite - that is the more errors one makes, the better they come out in the end and even more ready to pounce upon the next opportunity - the employees feel at ease in times of difficulty and use this as their motivation to be even better. This attitude inevitably always has employees performing at their pinnacle and thus avoids situations where they are still recovering from a previous failure. 

Inspiration for entrepreneurs

Being an entrepreneur means that you need to embrace ambiguity and get comfortable with being challenged regularly and unexpectedly. Some suggest that choosing entrepreneurship as a career path is completely irrational and like playing with fire because the odds of succeeding are dismal. However contrary to popular beliefs most entrepreneurs succeed in their projects because of their unwavering belief, laser focus on delivering and persistence. Starting a new business venture is extremely difficult and it may put an entrepreneur through high and low moments.

For inspiration we have collected 10 inspiring quotes by some of the most renowned entrepreneurs in the world.

11.     “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
- Steve Jobs.

22.      “My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had — everyday I’m learning something new.”
- Richard Branson.

33.     “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
- Peter Drucker.

44.     “Winners never quit and quitters never win.”
- Vince Lombard.

55.     “Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself.”
- Oprah Winfrey.

66.     “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”
- Bill Gates.

77.     “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
- Albert Einstein.

88.     “As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.”
- Donald Trump.

99.     “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
- Winston Churchill.

110. “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can spend the rest of your life like most people cant.”
- Warren G. Tracy’s student.

Reference:

Tanya Prive; Top 32 Quotes Every Entrepreneur Should Live By, August 5^th, 2013.

3 entrepreneurship failures

3 entrepreneurship failures:

It is very clear that entrepreneurship is a very risky notion, while it yields a lot of success it can also amount to failed attempts and cause entrepreneurs large amounts of money, capital, time and energy.

This blog encompasses 3 examples of entrepreneurship failures and why such attempts did not succeed.

1.     Hitem Shah the Co-founder of KISSmetrics, a revolutionary person-based analytics platform told that before this venture, he and a co-founder spent $1,000,000 on a web hosting company that never launched. He said that he and his partner were perfectionist who built something they really loved without even understanding what their customers cared about. He says they have now learned to spend smart, optimize for learning and focus on customer delight.

2.     Robin Chase, former Co-founder and CEO of Zipcar and current CEO of Buzzcar; said that she built a customer based website, completed it and then asked the customers about it. With company, GoLoco – social online ridesharing – she spent too much money on the website and software before engaging with her first customers. She says that getting to customers as fast as possible and learning from them is the best way to build a product.

3.     Michael Hyatt; a New York best-selling author of Platform and a serial entrepreneur said that when starting his company he made the mistake of borrowing money to fund the growing business. Unfortunately, he did not understand the difference between rapid growth and healthy growth. Eventually, the companies’ growth consumed all the capital and the business failed. He proposes that new entrepreneurs should never let growth exceed their own ability to fund it.

Reference:

Belle Beth Cooper; “The 13 Biggest Failures from Successful Entrepreneurs and What They’ve Learned from them” September 5^th, 2013.

Celebrities and entrepreneurship

Celebrities and entrepreneurship:

We have been posting a lot about all the theory behind entrepreneurship and the technical aspects that make this notion so important and intriguing. This post is going to be a little more entertaining as it will shed light on how even movie stars and artists have dipped their feet into entrepreneurship and succeeded in business orientated work.

There are many celebrities out there who in recent years have shown a strong liking for entrepreneurship. Whether they have invested in others or started their own ventures, they are all passionate about entrepreneurship.

This blog will talk about 5 celebrities who have taken up entrepreneurial activities and succeeded in advancing their business ventures.

1.     Ashton Kutcher: Ashton is currently one of the most renowned celebrities in the world, he is a model and an actor and so most would assume that he would not be successful or even interested in undertaking entrepreneurial activities. However to the contrary he is an adviser and investor for numerous Internet and social media startups. He has invested in companies like Air BnB and Skype at really stages of development and has now cashed in big since these companies are worth over $1 billion.

2.     Lady gaga: She has been turning heads and revolutionizing the music industry with her unique styles and musical talents. In just her early years as an artist she broke records that artists who were in the industry for much longer couldn’t break. For example she was the first artist to garner 1 billion YouTube views. She has recently dived into entrepreneurship head on by launching her own perfume lines, headphones, comic books and cosmetics line.

3.     Robert De Niro: He has been making movies for as long as I can remember, but this actor is not only an acting mongrel and TV personality, he is the co-owner of the sushi giant Nobu, which has more than 24 locations across the world. He is also the co-owner of an Italian eatery and continues to grow his empire around his passion of restaurants.

4.     Sandra Bullock: She is mostly known for being a comedic actress, she has won multiple awards for her acting achievements but has never stricken anyone as the entrepreneurial type. However surprisingly Sandra Bullock owns restaurants, bakeries, and flower shops in her hometown of Austin, Texas. She continuously speaks of continuing her entrepreneurial activity even after she retires from acting.

5.     Jessica Simpson: she may be scrutinized for her weight gain and absence from the television screen but based on what she owns, she probably doesn’t need to work a day in her life again. She has developed clothing and beauty ventures, which have reportedly generated over $750 million of sales in just one year. Her empire consists of denim, swimsuits, maternity wear, fragrance lines, shoes, purses, and more.

The beginnings and ends of Entrepreneurship – Part 3

The ends. All businesses go through a life cycle that leads to stagnation and often decline that ends with the sale of the business. Entrepreneurs often face the difficulties of a declining market, when a new and innovative idea comes along, established Entrepreneurs end up falling behind. A clear example of this is Nokia Corporation and the decline of their market share at the hands of Samsung and Apple Inc.

In the 90s, Nokia held a huge market share holding the title of the first affordable consumer mobile phones. With a dominating 62.5% market share as of Q4 2007, Nokia fell through the ranks to 40.8% in just one year. By 2010 the market share had dipped to below 30% and all was lost for the once largest player in the industry.

This is just one of the many examples of Entrepreneurs not holding the cutting edge standards that are needed to sustain market share. With most businesses ending in the same old school scrap yard, it is hard to give an example where this occurrence can be fended. All that can be done is a large expenditure on Research and Development and making sure all new products hold the same cutting edge as the product that brought the business to that position.

The inevitability of decline in markets is a bitter sweet truth, although it leads to established players blowing over in the wind, it also leads to new innovations by upcoming Entrepreneurs. Due to these reasons we can say that being an Entrepreneurs isn't just a job but more of a mindset and way of life.

The beginnings and ends of Entrepreneurship – Part 2

Entrepreneurship cannot be written about in books and given defined qualities. This is because the risk taker can take any shape or form within capitalism. Due to the endless opportunities offered by technology in the 21st century, it is too difficult to define what most entrepreneurs stand for.

With the help of the internet, any rational human being could conduct personal research on an exploitable aspect of the market, analyse how to make that aspect more efficient and finally offer that service to the market for a fee. The problem is not with the process however, the problem is with the mentality of our western culture and how we define one another. The downfall of capitalism, especially today's greatly swollen form, is the consumer mindset.

The paradigm that causes most people to not develop products and ideas into sustainable businesses but to consume the products from other businesses due to the simplicity of the whole ordeal. These consumer drivers and innovation destroyers are what our society has planted within its populace. Seeing as you only reap what you sow, entrepreneurship does not seem like it has a long lasting future into the 22nd Century. Their will be HSBC, Wells Fargo, Exxon Mobil, JP Morgan and the rest of the destructive giants and their subsidiaries humanity let roam around.

Other then these established companies , there is no room for large scale entrepreneurship. There is only room for small time, smash and grab ideas that make the most out of a situation and get out of the industry quickly.

Entrepreneurship in China

In the last 40 years, China has experienced rapid economic and social development. With a 9 trillion US dollar GDP economy and a hard working and dilligent population of 1.5billion people, it holds economic growth averaging about 10 percent a year, which has lifted more than 500 million people out of poverty and has easily placed itself as one of the most thriving economies in the world today. 

China is also one of the most entrepreneurial countries on earth. In accordance with Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), this commentary is based upon on a range of dimensions, such as fear of failures and entrepreneurial intentions. Although, China is not yet an innovative economy, as said by GEM,  it is an efficiency-driven economy that is a cut above factor-driven economies that are a norm among developing countries.
This is where rural China fits in a place where 50-60% of China's population is. It is not over spoken that the history of Entrepreneurship in China has been written by the people living in rural areas. One interesting fact to note about the economy of China is that some of its most competitive manufacturing operations are not located in the highly urbanized regions of the country but they are found in some of the historically urbanized regions of the nation such as Hunan, Sichuan and Anhui.Some of the best manufacturing firms in China, such as Wanxiang, an automobile supplier and Geely, the firm that just acquired Volvo, were all started by rural entrepreneurs. 

One is that most of the analysts—outside of China and even inside the country—do not associate China’s economic success with entrepreneurship. This is because China's economy is not yet innovative with much of it's economic surge in recent times attributed towards the government, foreign direct investment and massive infrastructural construction. 

In China entrepreneurship is also defined quite differently.
When the western world think of entrepreneurship, they think of people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, technical geniuses who created huge business empires based on science and technology. But in a context of a poor country, technical entrepreneurship is almost by definition less relevant as all the most dynamic entrepreneurship in China is rural in terms of geography and setting.


Moreover, there are two facets of Entrepreneurship - the catch up and frontier both which are different in nature. Catch up entrepreneurship  engages in activities which are already an active force within the economy but are being copied and proposed at much lower costs. E.g. Establishment of a new mobile phone that is cheaper and has differentiated features than the product it was inspired by. With that being said, the majority of Chinese are the catch up kind and this further substantiates as to why China's economy is not an innovative one as of yet. 

The beginnings and ends of Entrepreneurship – Part 1

Entrepreneurship starts with a thought. To develop this thought into reality and more importantly cash in hand, a certain mindset must be developed. To mature as an Entrepreneur charisma, innovative thoughts and self-motivation is crucial.  Without these initial personality modifications no beginning would be able to cultivate.

After the first step of mental readiness, a jump from mental to physical elements is needed. As an Entrepreneur we must develop the ideas that will allow this business venture to occur. This edition to the process must be well thought and well prepared. It must have crucial aspects such as:

-          What will be developed

-          Where will this production occur

-          What gives your product an edge over competitors

-          Who will help make corporate and commercial connections needed to strive

-          How to do this as cheaply, easily and as legal as possible.

After these main aspects have been thought of, re-thought and developed to Entrepreneurship standard, then and only then can movements forward be made.

An Entrepreneurship decision is more complicated than most people would first imagine. On paper, it is a list of defined steps that could be completed within a month, but these steps do not entail the hardships that Entrepreneurs go through when competing with large corporations and the highly correlated politicians that continue to tax small to medium businesses larger amounts while leaving large corporate giants with tax cuts and fewer regulations.

The Necessity of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is an essential aspect of our society. It allows the growth of wealth and innovation within the economy and caused economic growth within the middle and working classes.  Without such movements within the economy, capitalism as we know it will be severely affected.

“It has long been believed that the economies driving force lies in large and established companies. However, it is now generally acknowledged that new companies do the most to promote increased economic growth. A recent multinational study shows a strong correlation between entrepreneurship and economic growth” According to the Gem Report[1].

It is known that in the Australian economy around 70% of all businesses are small to medium businesses that decided to become Entrepreneurs. Although this isn’t an easy step and decision to make seeing as in most cases the risks are weighed heavily, the Australian society has cultural tendencies to lean towards Entrepreneurship rather than ‘climbing the corporate ladder’.

There are many advantages and disadvantages to this and they can be discussed for days on end.  But most decisions to become an Entrepreneur are fuelled not by rational decisions but rather with the sense of hope. Therefore the Entrepreneurship should not be seen as a business decision, rather the overall economic position of the community as a whole. For example, a high numbers of Entrepreneurs will indicate a thriving economy, a motivated populace and a healthy country.  

For these reasons we see that Entrepreneurs are more essential than first realised by earlier ideologies such as communism and fascism.

---

[1] http://www.itfwomenict.org/digitalcity/news/w_all.jsp?dom=AAABEYFW&hir=AAAAKLLP&fmn=AAABEZOO&prt=AAABEYEZ

Nature of Entrepreneurs

So what is the nature of an Entrepreneur? Entrepreneurs are simply individuals who believe and have a passion towards some new idea that is different, innovative or completely new, and take the initiative and risk to substantiate this vision and put it into practice as a means of achieving economic success and in recent times, political or social advancement or difference. For example, development of a new political party and the latter, coming up with solutions for current social problems. In our modern society, the possibilities of enacting your self held values and ideas are endless and open; we are provided with knowledge bases, financial assistance, the environment is neutral and we in the western world are not oppressed or harassed if we wanted to express ourselves and ultimately I believe this nurtures aspiring or current entrepreneurs.The greatest entrepreneurs are those who revolutionize business, open opportunities for others and change the way we behave and think.Their impact usually resonates for generations to come. When you read this you probably think of people like Steve Jobs;notably one of the best entrepreneurs of our time, Mark Zuckerberg; the creator of Facebook, Henry Ford; the founder of Ford motor company and also King Croesus who founded the worlds first ever coinage creating the lifeblood of every business. These individuals had a deep held vision and idea and acted upon it without any foundations that would aid if the were to fall miserably, however what they would soon realize, perhaps not what they had initially intended for, is that they changed the scope of life across the globe. We use Facebook on a daily basis to connect with our distant friends or family, Ford has revolutionized the mass production of vehicles that allowed people to travel the plains and 51% of all households in the US have apple's devices to use for an array of reasons; business, games, social interaction and navigation to say a few and infact most people could not live without it. We can all agree that our lives have definitely benefited as a result.

Watch this short video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCwL7mGSKCw

Digital Entrepreneurship - Digital Divide Data

 Digital entrepreneurship embraces new businesses and the transformation of current enterprises that drive economic and social advancement by coming up with new and innovative technologies that can be used as a means to  sharpen business intelligence, create new businesses. improve the knowledge of employees both current and prospective and foster a new generation of entrepreneurs and innovators. Essentially they create jobs and growth opportunities for the future through their innovative, enriching and empowering nature. A challenge for current market leaders and small enterprises alike is to anticipate the changes that they will be facing in the years to come and how they can exploit the full potential of digital technologies. Technology in the 21st century is not progressively changing but is doing so at an exponential rate. Businesses and even countries that fail to get digitally connected will be simply left behind in the global market and environment which is hugely influenced by technology.

One enterprise, known as Digital Divide Data, an internationally recognized success in Digital entrepreneurship, has an agenda of creating jobs for talented young men and women in order to deliver high-quality content business process outsourcing services to client internationally. The business empowers staff with the skills and experience they need to lift themselves out of poverty in obviously 3rd world countries where knowledge upon computer, internet and overall technology literacy is very minimal. This involves training and employing these individuals at fair wage while offering them scholarships to attend universities in the hope that they go onto high-skilled positions in which they earn more than the average regional wage and break the well known cycle of poverty that has encapsulated their families and communities. They can send family members to school and raise their household's standard of living, increasing their social impact on their communities. Employing over 1000 people across Asia and Africa,  DDD has stated that "Every client project directly contributes to the impact we have on our staff and economic development in their communities". So this cycle empowers the people and provides them with assistance to transgress their current state of poverty and illiteracy.