| Dear Budding
Entrepreneur, |
| |
| Look for great ideas outside the box. |
| |
| Entrepreneurs come from all walks of life. Successful ones have the
ability to find great ideas and turn them into profitable venture. |
| |
| A few lucky individuals are born with this capability, but most
acquire it through trial and error. Great ideas come from thinking outside the
box. |
| |
| There are some key things to consider when looking for your great
ideas. Understand that they are everywhere. But your own world view will
determine which ones you can easily see. From an early age, each of us has
absorbed paradigms - conceptual frameworks that determine what we believe to be
acceptable. |
| |
| For example, if you were brought up to believe a salesperson
dresses conservatively, you may think a candidate for a sales job shouldn't be
sporting casual clothes. Your paradigm does not allow for the possibility that
person could be great in sales. It's the same with great ideas. They may be all
around you, but your standpoint prevents you from seeing them. |
| |
| Your paradigm is a kind of box that permits ideas to enter that are
in line with your expectations, while other concepts are rejected. To open
yourself up to all ideas, you have to think outside this box. |
| |
| For example, may would-be-entrepreneurs believe their dreams of
fortune lie in knowledge-based industries, such as high technology. In reality,
very few high-technology. In reality, very few high-tech companies make any
money. Most entrepreneurs who achieve success do so by finding a better way to
satisfy customers at a profit. |
| |
| One entrepreneur realized a number of years ago that with the
coming technology boom, companies would want a single place to shop for
computer supplies and accessories. He built his company by satisfying one
customer at a time. The business has expanded each year to current annual
revenue of more than $20-million. |
| |
| Here's another old paradigm to break free of - that you start your
business, expand it and stay with it for the rest of your life. Most business
concepts only last about 18 months. Many have a very short time span from
concept to demise. |
| |
| One manager perceived the need for timely delivery of information,
so he created a service to provide data to clients by fax. He made a lot of
money until e-mail came along and reduced his margins. |
| |
| So he moved on to look at another venture. This is the pattern of
most business these days. So constantly look for new opportunities and keep
moving. |
| |
| Fortunes can be made from mundane products. for example, one
entrepreneur saw that restaurants needed a regular supply of sharp knives.
Kitchen staff didn't have the time to sharpen them, or didn't do a good enough
job. Now, most kitchens in that region use the entrepreneur's service, which
provides sharp knives once a week. The founder saw a customer need that was not
being satisfied, and figured out how to do it at a profit. |
| |
| Most opportunities you find will not be far from your life's work.
One hair stylist noticed his clients kept asking for tools of his trade to do
it themselves. He started a company to supply beauty aids in addition to the
hair styling business, and now has 10 locations. |
| |
| Published to the Globe and Mail - April 12, 1999, Larry
Ginsberg |
| |
