Browsing: Start Up

The Anatomy Of Employment: Why Becoming Your Own Boss Is The Smartest Decision Of Your Life! There is nothing bad with being an employee per se. At some point or the other in our adult lives we would be engaged in some form of employment or the other. But here is the truth, a job or being employed is a transition. Meaning, it’s not the end, but only a means to an end.

There is an unusual way to marketing –the holistic way. To attain the significant level of success you desire in your business, marketing must be seen as one whole concept involving several key activities that must be carried out by everyone in your business beginning with you the entrepreneur. In other words, when it comes to marketing, no one is to be exempted!

As entrepreneurs, we are not excluded from the burden of time; rather, we bear more of this burden. As people who take on risk in order to make change happen, entrepreneurs are held more accountable for the use of their time. Because humanity relies on entrepreneurs for the provision of goods and services that can improve the quality of life, the burden of time is heavier on the shoulders of entrepreneurs. We cannot afford to be lazy as entrepreneurs with the use of our time!

All entrepreneurs create businesses.
But all entrepreneurs are not created equal.
Ever wondered what separates great entrepreneurs from mediocre ones? Ever wondered what makes entrepreneurs like Richard Branson of Virgin, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Sam Walton of Wal-Mart, Tony Tsei of Zappos and the legendary Steve Jobs of Apple extra-ordinary?

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

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.

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.”

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.

Being self-employed [doing business] is the deadliest trap of business ever. That you are small is no excuse for wanting to be a one-man army. Someday soon, you will no longer be able to do all the things you so easily do now as a result of age, so what will become of your business then? Someday soon, your small business will outgrow your capacity to meet all your customer’s increasing demand, so what will become of your business then? Then, you’ll suddenly realize that all your ‘can-do-it-all-by-myself’ attitude as a self-employed entrepreneur is counterproductive. Then you will come to terms with the universal truth that one tree does not make up a forest and that one is too small a number to achieve greatness!

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.

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.

“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.

Entrepreneurship is much more than making money. It is a calling. And like every other calling, it’s people-centered. It’s never about you, it’s all about others. It’s a calling to serve; it’s not about what you can accumulate (money/profit), it’s about what you can contribute (service/value). Why do I say this?

what is a business model?

In the words of Seth Godin;

“This classic MBA phrase describes how you set up a business so you can get money out of it. A business model is a machine, a method, a plan for extracting money from a system. Without a business model, a company can get publicity, hire employees and spend money, but it won’t make a profit.”

As an entrepreneur, if your idea of a great company is to own a business that makes you loads of money, then I suggest you find another career path for yourself, because being an entrepreneur might not be your thing. Why? Because true entrepreneurs seek to make a difference by creating something new and exciting; money is never their primary objective. Their sole objective for going into business is to build a significant company. That is; a company that is different (uniqueness) and making a difference (usefulness). To bring this significant company into existence and nurture it into greatness is the passion of a true entrepreneur. Money is never their main reason for existing, to them, money is only a reward or the result of their commitment and passion to building a great company. As a result, true entrepreneurs don’t do business as usual – they go about business in an unusual manner. In other words, true entrepreneurs are not motivated by money rather they are motivated by a cause. They go into business to make a vision, idea or dream a reality both for themselves and for others. Their passion is building a significant company and nurturing it into greatness.