Entrepreneurship needs guts. In order to provide a solution to a problem area that impacts many people around the world, one has to be creative. All the glory and financial profiting is a side effect of its success. Starting small is crucial for aspiring or budding entrepreneurs.
One can learn the ropes and quickly adapt to come up with better ideas and strategies. Bootstrapping one’s own business is not only a method to rapidly learn and grow in the respective domain but it’s also like an engine for self transformation for the entrepreneur.
In the medium to long term, the rewards outweigh the risks and painstaking efforts. Remember, Amazon started as a small online book store, Facebook as a college pet project. Richard Branson started his adventure with the creation of a student magazine.
One idea that is unequivocally stressed by all successful entrepreneurs is that even though we may be playing small at the moment, we must always think big. You can study how Amazon transformed into an e-commerce giant and a cloud infrastructure provider. Learn about how Richard Branson ventured into music records label company and airlines among many businesses.
In this modern technology pervaded society, the entire planet is like a playing field for the knowledge entrepreneur. In this age of dramatic information overload and the constant churning out of new research, trends and tools and techniques employed by people all over the world, the need for constantly learning rapidly and trying to stay relevant is a growing challenge.
Entrepreneurs must invest time in learning religiously to become self reliant. Needless to say that building a great team of smart individuals in a way that their skills complement that of the founder is a clever proactive strategy.
Marketing for wide reach of one’s products and services is one herculean task to be tackled by all entrepreneurs. Small business owners do not have the luxury to spend lot of money so unless the value of their offerings are truly great and unique, the chances of business survival are low. Big corporations spend millions of dollars on advertising and marketing and try to force themselves into the mindshare of consumers. One possible solution for small business owners is to become enough tech savvy to leverage technology like internet and apps, have a content strategy and build a loyal customer base proactively.
Whatever business area one is involved in, execution and taking action swiftly is supreme. In our history, we have seen so many businesses and organizations that were shut down as they could not adapt and scale. At the same time many others that are nimble have survived economic downturns and continue to operate to this day.
What are some of your favourite companies or businesses? What are your takeaways from the founders of those businesses?
