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Want to start a company? Now hear this:
"An Entrepreneur is a person who jumps off a cliff........building a parachute or developing an aircraft on the way down" 25% of start-ups crash in Year 1 50% are out of business by Year 5 Less than 20% survive 10 years. Contrary to common belief, Venture Capital (VC) does NOT improve the odds of success. Only 7% of the fastest growing Entrepreneurial companies had VC. 16% of start-ups were founded on the Credit Card of the Entrepreneur. "If opportunity does not knock, build your own door". First create and develop your idea, be judged by strangers, then test, adjust and improve IN THE MARKET (not by your friends nor family members. They don't tell you the truth.) Optimism and feeble planning models fail in the real world of chaos, uncertainty and naysayers. 80% of Business Plans however also fail in their objectives especially business plans developed for Banks. Don't trust them. They will give you an umbrella but will take it back as soon as you really need it. (I have been there!) Survived, and learnt a great but nearly disastrous lesson. Best idea: BURN THE BUSINESS PLAN ! - by Carl J Schramm Compulsory Reading before you start your venture. 1) Most Entrepreneurs understand what they do when they start. 2) They copy ideas, modify, improve existing and successful ideas and exploit the niches that the big companies "don't want". 3) Probability of success for Entrepreneurs increases with age and experience. There are more Entrepreneurs at 55 years than at 35 years. It is not a Law, but it has a good reason. 4) You can learn much in the first 6 - 10 years inside a large organization before starting your own company. 5) Budding Entrepreneurs have subconsciously prepared for this event a long time ago. They carry their experience and awareness of the world acquired in the corporate environment with them and are now ready. Some great examples: Steve Jobs at Atari, Wozniak at Hewlet-Packard, Elon Musk, Richard Branson and others. (do your own research) 6) Entrepreneurs with Engineering and Sciences background understand analytical thinking and improve the odds if they become Entrepreneurs in a technical / scientific field. 7) Recruit Talent, not family! Don't give away equity / ownership in the new venture before you earn ANY money. (that would be called the death-spiral by the experienced ) 8) Sales are everything. Before the sales happen, the following serious action is required: IDEA GENERATION & INNOVATION, EXCEPTIONAL AND REMARKABLE DESIGN, & SHIPPING (SALES). It goes together. Remember: Profit is relative. CASH FLOW IS FOR REAL. 9) Make thought connections between already existing stuff, issues and problems and future answers. Innovation is an organic process where your experience and exposure helps. Experience and Exposure is important and beneficial due to having been through a lot, learnt much during difficult situations and developed insight and wisdom. Entrepreneurs are also strong on situational awareness, agility and resilience. Most importantly they have a great appetite for self-learning, exploring and reading widely in many fields and disciplines. They are curious about the world around them, they successfully synthesize diverse ideas, yet there is a healthy dose of humility and humour, but also persistent, consistent and intentional action. It can be a long road. Stay in the Game. Another important aspect to urgently know about and understand is "The Dip" and "Purple Cow"; two helpful thin books with much wisdom by Seth Godin
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So you struggle to find work that suits your skill-set, your experience and talent?
Maybe instead of finding work you should INVENT your work in accordance of your attributes, passions and future vision. Do you currently have a JOB? Remember that "j.o.b." stands for "just over broke" and is at best comfortable and boring, at worst frustrating and a dead end. If it is boring now already, how would you feel about staying in such a j.o.b. for the next 20 years? Have you ever thought of being a Freelancer or a Business Entrepreneur? Both a Freelancer and the Entrepreneur want to start their own business, but each has a different set of characteristics and personal ambitions. What is the difference between the two of them? What are their major characteristics? The Entrepreneur wants to start a business, establish it in a long-term sense, make it sustainable and profitable. It is usually driven by a specific idea, invention, product, business idea or innovation. An Entrepreneur wants to build a business and wants it to grow - possibly even sell it once it is a lucrative business and then possibly move on to another great idea. In my next blog I will focus more on this. But many people wish to become Freelancers. Freelancers can choose the industry they want to be active in. The Freelancer is then also free to choose the specific client and task. In an internet-connected world this may make it easier - but sometimes more challenging for the freelancer. The Freelancer can cover a wide range of activities, skill levels, passion and display their craftsmanship. 1) At the bottom range, the odd-jobber manual assistant, may land a casual opportunity job and these are very crowded, ie much competition. Such Freelancers are usually in "a fight to the bottom": to be the cheapest, once-off tasks for which few, if any, advanced skills are necessary. You do what you are TOLD to do, get paid little, build no relationship for repeat work, no marketing or referrals etc. It is mainly the desperate bottom. 2) The handyman (handyperson) in the widest sense can do physical and digital tasks and if specialised on specific devices (fixing kitchenware or TV Screens or PCs), or tree-felling etc can achieve more repeat work through recommendations. 3) If you are a craftsperson, ie a carpenter, violinist, photographer etc your options increase manifold but you might still be involved mainly in a highly competitive environment. The higher the level of your craft, the more negotiating in terms of prices and conditions comes your way. Clients may appreciate your craft ie restoring an old desk, chair, building a special PC for you etc. 4) If you are UNIQUE in your craft, potential clients are looking out for you. A good example would be design of very creative, unique jewellery design and manufacturing for big asking prices because YOU are making it. Word of mouth will probably the best method to acquire services. Figure out what makes you unique in your craft and build on it. 5) you are REMARKABLE and and clients want YOU because your name is your brand for your craft or niche. You are in demand and can demand your price. You might be a coach, an industry specialist, business consultant book author etc, and your clients are raving fans of you. There is a lot more to be said of course. These are simply categories. Now you must apply thinking what special skills you have, which level of craftsmanship you are and wish to achieve in the Future and How you will do this. Once you have developed a road map for yourself, put your stuff in place, then GO! Look at your areas of expertise, craftspersonship, special talents and gifts etc etc Remember it is a learning curve. It may still be better than a J.O.B. It is said that "Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but only if it is based on facts."
Unfortunately we live in an era where opinions seem to matter more than "the DATA" shows. The consequence is really IRRELEVANCE, like it or not. Opinions are great in story telling but unfortunately incorporate bias, preferred solutions, uncorroborated "facts", perceived trends and conjured perceptions which cause much confusion. This era is saturated with fake news, straight intentional lies and gets mixed with selected data that suits an opinion or is deliberately discarded if an inconvenient truth as it were. The more relevant data available, in strict conformance with the Laws of Physics, the more our thinking must be based on solid knowledge and defensible facts. This will be much more valuable for progress and innovation especially when it involves different disciplines or perspectives. Often data from different disciplines can lead to new ideas and innovations when seen within a bigger picture, or systems thinking context. This often crosses multi-disciplinary bridges and creates new solutions to existing problems. It certainly would not be based on opinions, although it would also not necessarily guarantee success as the Laws of Physics cannot be falsely applied. Hence the shifting of "scientific" viewpoints are also occasionally changed. Mainly because all the facts, or DATA wasn't in yet. However, it is clear that before an engineering design (aircraft, bridge, process) is validated based on facts and measurements, it would certainly not be operated simply on "opinion". The same should be true on chemical, biological and even financial grounds. Think about it: Would you operate a new process, device, machine based on your opinion or would you prefer having real DATA? The more complex the situation / innovation, the bigger the potential risk where you should prefer FACTS to an OPINION. Think about it in the context of medical protection from pandemics and children diseases for example. Inoculations or not are very topical today. Or Climate Change, or ......... Think about it when observing opinionated CFOs as they spin the financial numbers of last year to suit imagined future performance. The imagined financial future is almost never the case if you have any experience of the practical world. The financial world especially. Think about it. The CFO is story telling based on an opinion - not based on reliable DATA. The Past is past, there is no accurate / reliable financial DATA forecasting. Economists and Financial officers seldom factually predict the future; especially not in a volatile, speculative, fast moving type environment which is dominated / manipulated by a large array of persons with unknown motives. The question is: what do you trust more? Knowledge, Insight, Research, reliable DATA or self-appointed experts with great OPINIONS? Think about it. When you arrive at your work place, whether employee, freelancer or employer, do you create or destroy value with your activities?
You create through innovation, awareness of trends, thinking on how to improve things and what's needed, through constructive collaboration, who of typical clients values your work and why? Then there are the value destroyers who don't care, sabotage by doing nothing constructive or innovative. Who by not even "showing up for the collaborative task" are obviously irrelevant on the growth and development side and should be encouraged to rather go to the competitor! Many such destroyers are consciously and proactively mainly complaining, start rumours and build a culture of bitterness and dirty politics. They are also experts at poisoning the team spirit and lower the degree of collaboration in the organisation. They not only cost much money to keep day after day, but in this fashion they burn many assets, anger many colleagues and scare off good clients. A Transformational Leader will notice such destroyer personalities very clearly and must be intolerant to such behaviour. After appropriate robust discussions, such people must be dismissed or encouraged to go by themselves. Fast. In getting your business ready for the future there is zero tolerance for such misfits. It does not matter what smart education you received and rare skills you may have developed and applied over many years.
The clever products and services you developed and successes you achieved may still be inside the business on a shelf.....with no new original ideas. Alas, the market for your once great products and your learning and your skills is GONE. Sounds harsh, but it is likely true. Unless you have continuously imagined, developed and changed yourself and your business. And with Transformational Leadership inspired your people to follow your NEW ideas. Don't fall in love with your past ideas and products but look at the Future. Rather let your clients fall in love with your products. So now what? THINK. Think sideways. Think Innovation. Look at the present and post-pandemic future. Collaborate and shape something original. Where are the opportunities and ideas for for repeating the success of Sentence 1 above? Can you be playful in a serious business? Especially in our high performance success-focused modern world. Where success is generally very ill defined and varies according to culture, industry and specific type of business.
Strategic Intent, Vision, Transformational Leadership and Innovation are surely serious business. Serious business can still be playful; in fact it will work much better when an element of playfulness is involved. Let me attempt to elucidate what I mean by "playful". Most things we learnt well, we learnt during the first 10 years of our lives: like walking upright, speaking and communicating effectively, reading body language correctly, using our imagination in play, building relationships, imposing our will in negotiations with parents and friends and many other early necessary skills. We all sharpen our Awareness, Agility and Resilience during this early development. This also shaped much of our Mind-set. Sadly much of that we lose or get more insensitive and the skills get blunted. How many of our CEOs, Leaders and Managers rely instead on a two dimensional metrics consisting of money and product output, efficiency and competitiveness? Especially when they operate and make decisions mainly on financial spreadsheets which point to maximum share holder value, rarely the ultimate beneficiary who should be the customer. What happened to true innovation, company culture, transformational leadership and collaboration and shipping? Where is the deeper thinking in terms of those factors, in terms of a generational horizon, not quarterly; radical change based on innovation and not stability? Embrace the freedom of play, experimentation in finding out WHAT WORKS! Some parts of that are Future Minded Leadership, Transformational Leadership - which aligns every person, every project, every endeavour to advance in a "remarkable way" with imagination even at the risk of "failure", yet constantly trying again. Showing RESILIENCE. Only organisations that embrace some risk similar to what we all took when we grew up - simply to grow up and learn - will have a reasonable chance to survive and grow into the Future. Potential is the key word here. Potential has by definition an uncertain outcome. Look around at companies that excel and are breakthrough in character. High risk, long term vision, alert, resilient - causing a revolution! The others will die from "bore-dom".
Again, I simply want you to think about this. In your business and mental framework and specific circumstances. No matter if you are a developer, manufacturer, a tertiary institution, a freelancer or an Entrepreneur or anything else who wants to be relevant in the future. Think sideways with a fresh mind-set that is truly FUTURE orientated. Today, not tomorrow! Thank you for reading my blog. Dietmar Some people thrive on MEETINGS. Especially those meetings involving a "dead horse" - .... by flogging it, discussing it, putting band-aids on it or asking the rider to dismount. Somebody smart once said: "Meetings are indispensable - especially when you don't want to THINK or DO anything." Examine your own attitude to most of the meetings you have to attend, especially those YOU preside over. No EGO-boosting drivel sessions where no value is created. Value for the customer. It is not about money only either! Just think back how much value is being destroyed in most meetings! Minutes spent on important decisions, yes, but man-hours and woman-hours WASTED. In every formal meeting. Most Meetings are more like a STANDING COMMITTEE rather than a MOVING TEAM with the emphasis on standing or not moving! What we want during most relevant meetings: Short time limited discussions, pertinent value contributing, confined to those who have a) an important input or b) require information or c) have the authority to sign off - with everybody understanding what is being discussed and relevant to them. The best way to find out if that is true in your company, is to read the past three or four protocols / minutes of that same regular meeting and see how much has actually changed or has been accomplished. Now consider:
How can these "forums" be more productive, innovative, value creating, .....and finding out WHAT WORKS? Any Business operates on knowledge, innovation, leadership and shipping the Products to the right Clients. Try it sometimes. I haven't even started discussing Ethics and Governance and internal value system....... Thanks for reading my blog. Say you are a Baker. Excellent at your craft and employed as a Master Baker for 10 years. Now you want to do your own thing as an entrepreneur or business person. Baking is YOUR passion.
First decision: What type of business do you wish to be in? 1) Baking and Selling bread in your own local bakery? 2) Starting a large factory-based bakery delivering to many retail outlets? 3) Selling Bakery Equipment as an Independent Supplier to Bakeries? 4) Special Consultant to the Bread Baking Industry? 5) Creating a subscription service for pertinent aspects in the Baking Industry 6) Become known as an INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY Baker. The KING or QUEEN of Baking. Writing a book about it, start a TV show or more appropriate a YOU TUBE Channel concerned with BAKING. You could become well known for thinking up innovative ideas with regard to Baking in terms of RECIPES, BOUTIQUE OUTLET LAYOUT (like Apple or Starbucks), or anything that is related to baking bread for commercial reasons. (or not?) The point here being that you should think in which area of your niche you should focus on in terms of your skill set and your passion. Each of the 6 examples above will require a new skill-set over your present one. Different expectations and competences: employees, running a business, higher stress levels, finding customers at the start, internet savvy new skills, venture capital etc I selected BAKING as an example. This holds for any sector. What about the craft or profession where YOU are working every day and you wish to make such a change? Think carefully WHAT TYPE OF BUSINESS YOU WANT TO BE IN. Your approach will be different for each example and the outcome as well. Building a piano is not the same as playing a piano or selling a piano! The enemy is found within - not externally.
This very intelligent enemy is very predictable, subtle, consistent and affects almost everybody. Procrastination is not simply laziness but rather rooted in self-doubt and possibly fear and is thus a much more serious internal enemy. This enemy is with you 24/7 and is relentlessly trying to keep you from achieving your dreams and goals. Laziness is simply wasting time and doing nothing useful. That's an attitude thing and a choice you make. Procrastinating is when we DO have tasks, a project, a goal maybe even driven by a personal vision, but we simply don't get started. We don't even prioritize the tasks or figure out what is worth pursuing. Maybe we fear the disappointment we will feel when our project does not work out? Let's say you want to write a book, loose some weight, start a freelance career, become an entrepreneur or buckle down to that artwork you wanted to create for years already? Any pursuit that requires a long-term commitment coupled to action with an uncertain or delayed outcome will almost always turn to self-doubt or fear on that road. Now the enemy can strike. The risk factor is not in terms of money or time invested but the risk is when we complete the project and it fails in our own eyes. That's what the enemy within will keep on telling us. That internal resistance produces the procrastination with a certainty like the force of gravity and thus prevents you from achieving your long term goal. One of the best little books I have read recently in this regard is Steven Pressfield's DO THE WORK. This booklet is not simply about procrastination but reaches much further. Don't be discouraged by "hitting the wall" of your internal resistance but grab this book and read it in an hour or two. Then get started. It might save your creative-work career. Coming to think of it, it might save your professional life! Dietmar Thanks for reading my blog. Ask yourself: "Why are you going to work?"
Alternatively you could,
OR in times like these, Be free as in Free-lancer with the opportunity to practice what you love, be yourself, be your best and people pay you for your effort. You already have the skill-set and knowledge. Maybe even insight and experience. Maybe you are on an exhilarating journey already. Sure it's not for everybody. But it is a choice we can all make. Your behaviour, your mind-set and generosity to others.....already shows and will improve as you start. Are you ready for, tilling instead of toiling. exploring and discovering new opportunities? Find JOY when you practice YOUR work as tilling with passion. Can this be done? Start with Mind-set ! Get thinking. |
Dietmar Winzker?
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