Posts

Starting up your own business – Entrepreneurial ego

/in , , , , /by

Science World, Vancouver B.C.

It takes a lot of self-belief and courage to blaze your own business trail.  It takes considerable self confidence to start up your own business in spite of skepticism; and to convince partners, financiers and other stakeholders that you are pursuing a valuable opportunity and that you have the know how and resources to make it happen.

To then market your own products and services and to constantly talk about yourself and your business usually requires more front than a bus.

These characteristics define many startup entrepreneurs.  They also define the attributes of a healthy ego if arrogance and an exaggerated sense of superiority are not present.

The shy retiring types generally don’t do as well in the start up stage unless they have a strategy to circumvent their shyness.  They just don’t have the pushing power required.  However, they often make good implementers, managers and technicians once the business is up and running.

One trait that defines a healthy entrepreneurial ego is attracting people smarter than themselves and people who have expertise that they don’t.   The unhealthy ego either tries to go it alone or hire substandard talent who pose no threat.  The problem is that substandard talent is still a significant expense but doesn’t contribute much to the bottom line.

Similarly the smart entrepreneurs know how to get the best out of other people by not feeling the need to micro-manage everything, but by making others accountable and by leveraging income and profit off their skill and hard work.

It still takes great confidence and self belief to start up your own business, take the ownership reins firmly and manage it.  Managing by being the boss is always preferable to managing by consensus or by being popular.   In my experience, employees still respect a clear job description, clear rules and a strong, fair, decisive leader.

Being a firm and fair leader doesn’t require arrogance or an overwhelming need to be right all the time.  It means ensuring that people work to the plan and to the systems in place.  Being decisive means making timely decisions; not ignoring good advice.

Starting a business and making a profit requires a healthy positive ego, not an unhealthy negative ego.  After all, the successful entrepreneur must make him or herself attractive to many stakeholders before they can even get out of the blocks.

Until next time!

Gary

For more reading about an Aiki way of life visit my Aikido Secrets blog at

http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

I have just released a new guide for any entrepreneur who is starting up a business or even thinking about it.  It’s an investment and a time saver because it is brimming with business ideas and you don’t have to make the mistakes that others do.

Visit http://www.garyweigh.com/recession-riches-and-wealth

Why do Business Planning?

/in , , , , /by

The primary job of a business owner is to manage and run a business. Managing is a lot more than telling people what to do.  It means planning, research, executing strategies, making effective use of available resources and protecting the business.

It is not always the case that a business outcome turns out exactly as planned.  Hence the concept of risk!  Put simply, a business is a risky investment like any other.

Being an entrepreneur involves risk taking.  But that doesn’t mean taking unnecessary risks (e.g. speculative risk).  Part of the business planning process should be about minimizing risk.

If you are investing your life savings, borrowing other people’s money, and putting your family’s stability at risk, it is your responsibility as a startup small business owner to not take stupid risks.

Of course there are unavoidable risks involved in a new business venture. These are calculated risks.  The business planning process may not guarantee success but it certainly decreases the chances of failure.

Your business plan also provides all of the stakeholders in your business, including partners, financiers and employees, with a succinct and unambiguous reference of your intentions and strategies.

Until next time!

Gary

What is entrepreneurship?

/in , , , , /by

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