Browsing: Entrepreneurship

Uncertainty, fear and doubt remind us that past successes are no guarantee for future ones. They remind us that what got us here may not take us there. They remind us of our imperfection as mortals. We are never above mistakes. We will never have it all figured out. We will always be subject to the laws of nature. We will always be at mercy of chance. Why? Because in life, there are no guarantees, period.

“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 result of other people’s thinking; don’t let the noise of other people’s opinion ground 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, 1955 – 2011

The simple question of ‘how is wealth created?’ is answered with another question; “how do you use your spare time?” If you’re serious about creating wealth, a good place to start is by answering the above question. Being wealthy begins with watching how you spend your spare time. Knowing how to create wealth begins with knowing how to spend your spare time. You cannot be wealthy if you are not spending your spare time on activities that create wealth. The answer to the question of whether you will be financially free [wealthy] or not; is found in the use of your spare time.

Entrepreneurs are nothing other than problem solvers for humanity. Their stock in trade is creatively thinking up solutions to the problems plaguing the world. This unusual burden is the essence of entrepreneurship. To successfully carry out this task, as entrepreneurs we must first understand fully the nature of what we are up against – problems.

Creativity is the essence of entrepreneurship. Meaning, an entrepreneur is nothing without creating. Products/services don’t fall from the sky like manna, they are created. And the one person that must bear the burden to create is no other than you the entrepreneur.

The entrepreneur’s journey is about unleashing the spirit of business within. It is about our lifelong quest as entrepreneurs of creatively coming up with unique and useful solutions to the problems plaguing humanity. It is about using your life to make an impact through your business. It is about you and the contributions you want to make through the business or businesses you establish. It is about finding and fulfilling your life’s purpose profitably. It is about making profits by making a difference [creating unique and useful solutions to humanity’s problems]. It is about using your life to build a SIGNIFICANT [extra-ordinary] business that fulfills your purpose here on earth profitably.

When it comes to competition, nothing differentiates better than results. All your marketing campaign, strategic planning and efficient activities will not compensate for a lack of result. Results are what you can point to, results are measurable, and results silence every doubt in the customer’s mind.

You’ve probably heard about the golden rule of life; “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Well, here’s the thing, the golden rule of business is no different; “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Disruptive market changes are ground breaking inventions or innovations that utterly redefine the nature [characteristics] and structure [organization] of a particular industry, niche, business or market. They are disruptive because of their enormous impact on the market; they create new trends in the marketplace. Examples are; social media, the internet, telecommunication, smart phones, iPod, etc.

For the majority of you who have gone into business nurturing only the juicy thoughts of being an entrepreneur, things are about to get very sour. I’m sorry, but there’s some really bad news I need to break to you; entrepreneurship as much as it’s celebrated also has a dark side. At least, I’ve been able to identify 8 of them Coming to terms with this dark side of entrepreneurship is what this unusual article is about.

BUSINESS GROWTH 101: How Entrepreneurs Are Unknowingly Killing Their Business Growth. I want to talk about the most important factor that determines either a low or high sales period of any business. That factor is YOU! You are the Driver of your business

Your business is like a car and you the owner is the driver. No matter how fast a car is manufactured to run, it can never go faster than the driver’s capacity to drive it.

You are dead if you’re just like the rest!
It’s just simple logic, why would anyone remember your business if there’s nothing remarkable about your business? There are a thousand and one competitions out there and people want to know what’s so unusual about your business that makes you different from all others. Especially at a time like this when the whole world is going through a financially constraining phase, people are more prudent with the way they spend. Meaning, getting money out of people’s pocket ain’t going to be as easy as it used to be.

All businesses are not created equal. Hence, there two kinds of businesses;

1. Good Companies: Business as Usual
These are companies whose customers simply TOLERATE them because they haven’t seen an alternative provider yet.

2. Great Companies: Business NOT as Usual

These are companies who don’t have customers but have fans that CELEBRATE rather than tolerate what the company does.

Entrepreneurship is a way of life that offers unlimited possibilities to those who truly believe in it and live by it. But at the same time, entrepreneurship is a way of life that can totally alter the course of your life if misunderstood. Entrepreneurship is not something you can fake your way through; you are either doing it right or not doing it right simple. There are no ways around it. To help you better make that choice, here are 7 Indicators of entrepreneurs who are headed for doom.

Many people venture into the world of business without taking the time to critically answer some very fundamental business questions that goes a long way in determining how successful the new business
venture becomes or not. In this article, I will be sharing the 11 fundamental business questions I usually use in my coaching and consulting process for start-ups.

Love is at the core of entrepreneurship.
Love is what drives true entrepreneurial endeavours.
Love is the reason why you think that idea of yours is going to change the world.
Love is the reason why you gave up everything else to chase your entrepreneurial dreams.
Love is why you are risking everything you’ve ever known and owned in pursuit of an idea.
Love is why you jump out of bed in a scurry to pen down an idea that you conceived in your sleep.
Love is the source of your passion.
Love is the fuel for your creativity.
Love is the energy we use up for creation.
Love is the source of inspiration for ground breaking innovations and inventions.

Becoming your own boss has sort of gained a global appeal. These days many people start up their own businesses for virtually any reason. Somehow it doesn’t seem to count anymore what led people to go into business, going into business has suddenly become the new mantra of the 21st century. In this article I will be x-raying some of the ways how NOT to start a business so that in the end, you can have the right mindset needed to start a business. I welcome you to join me in this exciting journey and as you go through this unusual article I want you to constantly bear this in mind, failure in business is usually as a result of how you start.

Simply put; progress means a positive and gradual but steady advancement or movement towards a preconceived or predetermined object, goal or destination. Speed comes second, what you must know and define first, is your desired destination, goal or objective. Progress is all about setting first an end; something specific that you are willing to go all out to accomplish. The manner, approach and speed at which you want to go about achieving that end comes second. Often times, the problem is not that time has gone or that years have gone by, but rather, a problem of lack of purpose, vision or goal.

Progress Evaluation For Entrepreneurs. Where did you go, what did you do, say or achieve daily out of the 365 days you lived last year?

“The content of your personal life experience is your greatest competitive edge in business!” Take it or leave it. Your most competitive advantage in business as an entrepreneur is your personal life experience as an individual. Why is this so? Because there is something unique about you and your life experience that no other competition can replicate no matter how hard they try. They simply cannot replicate your life experience. It is totally liberating to know that you have an edge over all the others in your niche just because you have a personal life experience that is uniquely yours. Your only task therefore is to find a way to add some usefulness to your uniqueness. That is, use your unique personal life experience to do some good [useful] in the world through your business.