What is entrepreneurship?

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When people think ‘entrepreneur’, many think inventing or dreaming up a new idea.  That’s not entrepreneurship, that’s creativity!  Sure, someone has to come up with the good ideas, but there have been countless good ideas in the world that have gone nowhere.

Entrepreneurship is about getting new business rolling and that means action and implementation.  Unless a new business starts up and becomes profitable, there is no increase in competitive advantage, there are no new jobs, no additional tax revenue available, and no contribution to GDP or the standard of living.

Getting products and services to market is the only thing that matters in the end.  And this can only be achieved by people collaborating and cooperating commercially with each other.  So connections are vital.  Finding people who access the right business channels is an entrepreneurial art in itself.

Commercial innovation is another entrepreneurial art.  This means working with existing technology and know-how and creating new applications.  As Andrew Hargadon, Senior Fellow at the Kansas City based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation says, “Most innovative leaps come from the collective creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of many businesses actively learning-by-doing and learning-by-using”.

Arguably the real entrepreneurs are the well connected private investors of the world.  These people are experienced business promoters who have access to both money and quality business connections.  Although they fund less than 5% of proposals put to them, they can identify ‘diamonds in the mud’ and get innovation to market.

Until next time!

Gary

Calling Australia’s entrepreneurs

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Everyone expects to have a job in this country but relatively few people outside of government are prepared to create them.  Inspired performance, business growth and high paying jobs don’t come from rescuing, propping up and bailing out failing businesses. They come from entrepreneurship, new business start-ups and meeting demand profitably.

The government’s GFC response aims to be a short term kick-start cash stimulus and capital works activity that is rolled out in times of economic crisis.  It’s all useful stuff but does little more than preserve existing jobs until new jobs appear in a resurgence of private entrepreneurship.

Serious financial problems are created for any government attempting to undertake such economic stimulus for a prolonged period of time.  The result is exhausted surpluses, vastly increased national debt and a shortage of revenue, which is can lead to raising taxes and removing concessions.

Thus, Australia will not be in a great financial position to enable entrepreneurship and support subsequent private sector recovery.  An environment of high taxes, high debt and rising education costs is not exactly the lush forest of opportunity from which our future business builders are likely to emerge.

Australia needs new business builders. We need educated risk takers, and there is no rule that says our future entrepreneurs must be born here.  There is also no rule that says they have to be young or male.

Some of the most talented people with the highest IQ’s and enviable experience are females who never quite get the right opportunity, or they are senior Australians who are cast out of the workforce after age 50 to make way for the younger generation.

Ultimately, Australia’s lifestyle and high standard of living is tied to the competitive advantage created by the relative few.  So wherever you are, whatever you are doing, your time is here.  If you want to make a difference and you don’t want to die wondering what might have been, get in touch.

I will do whatever I can to guide you and help you.

Until next time!

Gary