Entrepreneurs Wanted

Most of what the average person reads about entrepreneurship sustains the mystique. We revere the outstanding successes achieved by extreme entrepreneurs from Edison to Jobs. Reading about these giants colors our perception of entrepreneurship. We admire their achievements but consider them beyond reach. Their stories sustain misleading myths about entrepreneurship that combine to keep capable people from embracing an entrepreneurial career. Here are some of the distortions that deceive us:
– Entrepreneurs are born and cannot be made
– Entrepreneurs are gamblers who take reckless risks to achieve high rewards
– Entrepreneurs work 24/7 and have little or no personal life
– Entrepreneurs need to fail in order to succeed
These established stereotypes derive from two specific types of entrepreneurs. First are the misfits or rebels who either cannot or will not conform; the gamblers to whom few of us can relate. Second and even more prominent are the tech entrepreneurs immersed in the world of venture capital where risk is high, failure is frequent and the rewards for success are dramatic. However Silicon Valley is not the center of the universe and these are not the definitive entrepreneurs; they are but two types of many, both removed from the traditional economy and the rock solid problem solvers that collectively form the engine that drives the economy. Those are the achievers that make things happen especially creating jobs while big business is chasing lower costs around the globe.
Let’s set the record straight
Entrepreneurship can be taught. It should be taught and it is being taught
Becoming an entrepreneur is all about the mindset not the skillset. Entrepreneurs find the way to make things happen they don’t always know the way. This is a teachable philosophy, entirely appropriate in a world dominated by change which generates knowledge and new problems at a phenomenal rate. Finally after fifty years of a flawed model focused on turning out executives for large corporations, colleges and universities have turned their attention to promoting and encouraging entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is not about the risk you take but the results that you achieve
It’s a startling paradox. Too many good opportunities die prematurely because so many potential entrepreneurs are risk averse. At the same time businesses are failing because of absurd risks fostered by the idea that being an entrepreneur is nothing more than a gamble. Entrepreneurs succeed through determination not by taking unwarranted risk. Managing your risk as you embrace it is critical. Not all ideas are opportunities and every opportunity is not viable.
Entrepreneurs need to find balance and will make mistakes and have regrets if they don’t
Having a work ethic is critical. During your startup phase and later when you encounter bumps in the road you will work long hours with great satisfaction. But as things progress and you don’t find balance you are missing something – failing to build your team, keeping too much control or limiting your own development. Both you and your business will suffer. Never forget: you are your most valuable human resource. Balance is a subjective decision but dividing your time does not preclude you from succeeding as an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurs do manage their risk and avoid failure – if they fail they learn and move on
Describing failure as an essential part of success is pure rationalization. Admittedly many entrepreneurs are motivated by the fear of failure more than the rewards of success. Avoiding failure is a powerful source of determination. We do learn from failing because we take the time to analyze it. Success is elating and it masks our faults. Entrepreneurial infallibility is another myth that leads to bad decisions and setbacks that result from forgetting the basics.
What is an entrepreneur?
Most of us will never reach achievements like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. That does not demean what we do achieve. Society needs to recognize a broad definition of entrepreneurship at every level and value entrepreneurship of every type because in a world dominated by globalization and technology the one thing that we can count on is change across every element of our economy. Resilience and adaptability are important entrepreneurial qualities that allow us to embrace the ongoing pressure for change. In the simplest terms entrepreneurs are problem solvers who consistently make things happen. They are agents of change in an era of change. They are disruptors at a time when the status quo is a moving target. Do you want to be part of the solution or part of the problem? We can all become more entrepreneurial in our beliefs, break out of prison thinking and think outside the box. The alternative is personal stagnation and uncertainty evolving from lack of job stability, declining upward mobility and the shift in income distribution toward the rich. The most important skill you can develop is the ability to create and manage your own career,
Do understand: we can’t all be innovators but for every innovation there will be thousands of entrepreneurs finding applications for it that solve everyday problems producing jobs and independence in the mainstream economy. Being first is over rated. Doing things better and different often brings greater opportunity. Remember that coffee shops existed in London in 1650 but Starbucks found a new appeal and a great market niche for this old product that resonates in today’s economy.
Believe in your own ability. You can establish the mindset of an entrepreneur. You can eliminate the word ‘can’t’ from your vocabulary. You can approach problems by skipping right over the question “if” it can be solved and skip directly to the question “how” it will be solved. You can find opportunity and you can analyze to make sure that opportunity is viable. All of this can be done within the context of the traditional economy and you don’t have to be a tech genius to do it. Technology is not a threat but offers a great tool for you to use. We are entering a new era of entrepreneurship which means it really should be an option for almost anyone.

Quite a number of my friends are professionals. Often they let me know how lucky I’ve been to own and operate companies with employees who keep churning out results even when I am at the cottage or on the golf course. For them time is money-they generate the revenue. They have to be there or nothing happens. I don’t even have to show up.

The traditional idea is that once you get to be the boss, you coast while others do your bidding. Maybe that idea’s grounded in the reality that most people get promoted to their level of incompetence where performance falls off. Of course it’s delusional to think that you start your own business and find a gravy train of financial success, freedom and success, all with little effort. This rarely happens but we do revere examples when it does like some the instant successes that have materialized in the tech world. Frankly that type of success is equivalent to winning the lottery which isn’t going to happen for many. Unfortunately this is the romantic side of entrepreneurship- rare but appealing.

If your goal is to get to be the boss and then take it easy , perhaps you should look to the public sector where that is at least a possibility. Being a true entrepreneur means living in a revolving door with each turn bringing a new problem to solve. If this lifestyle is meant for you , it’s like getting the business equivalent of a runner’s high, every day, all day. If not welcome to chaos. The faster the problems come the more you must thrive on the process. The last thing entrepreneurs want to do is sit idle while others do the work and get all the fun of problem solving.

That’s why they succeed in startups but struggle in managing established businesses even though they may have built those same businesses. No matter how great your innovation, converting that project to a successful business requires entrepreneurship. Success takes determination, adaptability, resilience, commitment and the certainty that you will take the project to completion and make that project happen. It is not the project that makes an entrepreneur. It is definitely the process! Very few are content to level their business and enjoy the fruits of success. So if you are all about power, money or prestige maybe entrepreneurship isn’t for you. Being the boss is just a necessary evil.

Our economy can best be characterized as fast and furious. The combination of globalization and the technological revolution ensure that the one constant in our economic lives is change. This is an environment
well suited for entrepreneurs who by definition are flexible, adaptable and resilient, unlike big business which has become entrenched and slow to adapt. Big entities grow through acquisition increasingly depending on entrepreneurial enterprise to produce start-ups with potential to feed their growth needs.

Small business entrepreneurs need to get in on the action. Most think that global trade opportunities accrue to the large corporations that can deal in the volumes required by manufacturing giants like China. However there are large numbers of likeminded entrepreneurs in countries like India, Malaysia and Viet Nam that want to network and connect with entrepreneurs here in North America. Entrepreneurship starts with opportunity and there are many around the world that big business will miss or ignore. Oh they will capitalize on the obvious ones like cheap labour in certain countries but it will take energy and determination common to entrepreneurs who disrupt and challenge the status quo to find the myriad of less obvious opportunities.

‘Everyday Entrepreneur’ encourages entrepreneurs to strike out and look for these relationships. They are there to be had. Anecdotes outline experiences in dealing off shore and give insight into different economies and some of the advantages on which entrepreneurs can capitalize.

Praise for Everyday Entrepreneur:
“I just finished reading [this] book and enjoyed it immensely. [Fred has] pulled together a wealth of knowledge and advice crucial to the successful entrepreneur in a highly readable fashion. It is a
must-read for aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs who are facing today’s complex, volatile, and uncertain world. I especially appreciate the emphasis on thinking globally and adapting proactively.
We have seen too many examples of yesterday’s winner relying on old models to their detriment. It isn’t easy … but it is exciting and gratifying to create your own business and work to see it flourish. The summary at the end of the book should be bookmarked on every entrepreneur’s computer.”
— Dr. Sherry Cooper, former executive VP and chief economist for BMO
and author of three books, including The New Retirement: How it Will Change Our Future.

The appeal and benefits of pursuing a global economy lie in the theory of comparative advantage whereby global completion will ensure that goods and resources will be allocated in the most efficient way, ensuring the most cost effective production of goods and services to the benefit of all. Yet the more we open ourselves up to globalization the greater becomes the discrepancy in wealth distribution which contradicts the theory. Oh to be sure there is a growing middle class in the highly populated eastern countries like India and China but in effect we are just averaging out the wealth of the poor – improving in the eastern world and declining in the west while those at the top accumulate huge fortunes. Upward mobility  on any kind of scale may be in jeopardy.

Life should be getting better for all of us. Instead large corporations are controlling the marketing of most products largely through effective branding  which allows them to keep the lion’s share of the benefits of low cost production in the form of huge profits rather than either paying a fair price or passing along the benefits to the end user. At the same time the demand for labour is shrinking in relative terms through technology and mechanization undermining wage structures around the world. These large corporations have abandoned their identity as national firms in favour of becoming global entities. They are routed in a culture of control and increasingly rely on acquisitions and outsourcing to give them the innovation and flexibility needed in a fast paced world economy immersed in rapid change. As long as they can control the market they retain control of the profits.

So how do we break this system and allow the mass sharing of the efficiencies being gained? The hope lies in entrepreneurs digging in the corners, finding comparative advantages and getting low cost products to market. The problem is that there are barriers to get products to market and if you manage to break through your company soon joins the club bringing in huge profits.  Rather than breaking the system, those that succeed are embracing it. Greed is a powerful motivation in the face of dynamic achievement. So as it stands now entrepreneurial success lies in pursuing startups and selling out or by leapfrogging through this stage and becoming one of the Bigs. Neither of these trends will break the current trend on wealth distribution which is moving back towards the historical norm.

On a macro level entrepreneurs are the main hope to break the culture of control but there are no guarantees that will happen. On an individual level, pursuing a career as an entrepreneur may be the only ticket to upward mobility. That is why the most important skill anyone can master today is the ability to create and manage their own career. We must all adopt the mindset of the entrepreneur.

Much as we would like to, we never really love our parents as much as we do our children. Your business is exactly like a child. In the early or startup years it will depend completely upon you, looking to you for all the answers. You will always supply them with confidence, belying the uncertainty that you may feel as a first time owner just as you do as a first time parent. The child will look to you 24/7 in sickness and in health and as the parent you will always be there regardless of the problem, dropping everything else in the process. Your business and its components from customers to your team will do the same and like the parent you will be ready and willing to oblige. You cannot easily walkout on your children. Oh some due but for the majority it’s a non-starter. Same thing with your business. You are your business but try to remember your business is not you.

The middle years are the best when you have become comfortable within your developing family and confident in the decisions that must be made. Neither your child or your business will question you during this peak period. Things do get into a groove on both fronts but then comes the maturing years, the transition from total dependence  to independence. Tough for the parent to admit it’s time to let go and let the child mature  developing all of it’s capabilities, finding new methods and learning new things that the parent doesn’t know or understand.  So difficult to do but you the parent do it willingly in the best interest of your child. And so you must with your business. At some point you will become the limitation in your business. The day will come when it has outgrown you. It will not mature and reach it’s potential unless you let go. Easier said than done but be ready.

Like your first born that first business must move on to a new future. But then remember you can do it again. Maybe you already are. The second child is easier. There are tried and true practices that you know and understand. You can take that second child from gestation through birth to adolescence from startup to a thriving healthy entity. You can do this as many times as you can handle. And so you can with business. That’s what makes you a parent and that’s what makes you an entrepreneur. There are many mentors that can steward your child and your business into full maturity who cannot deal with the early years. You are the one who launches them from nothing and starts them along the path to maturity.

So recognize the need for that end game- when it is time to move on and begin again. It’s what you do best. The child will ask for you opinion. The business may ask you to consult. You will learn to enjoy both, but you will find your happiness doing it all over again.