It's really cool to be the one in charge, running the show, dictating the pace and basically calling the shots
as a business owner or better still an entrepreneur. . . Owning a business is no biggie, keeping it alive and
growing it into an established and profitable enterprise in the long run is the main issue. Anyone, i repeat anyone can start a business but are you really equipped with managerial skills and the visionary quality of an entrepreneur needed to efficiently run and grow a business? Please be told, not all business owners are really entrepreneurs. Starting a business =Owning a business, but Owning a Business = Being an Entrepreneur?
There is this entrepreneurial frenzy going on among the minds of youths nowadays. Green minds are innocently contemplating dropping out of schools because "Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Jobs etc. were dropouts" so skills/talent is enough to pay the bills. Motivational trash is in the air everywhere, encouraging youths to be entrepreneurial without equipping them for the task ahead. Motivational speakers always omit the fact that these above-mentioned men were not mere business-owners but Entrepreneurs Extraordinaire.
Your skills/talent sure gives you technical competence but to run a business you need more than this. You need managerial skills and most importantly Entrepreneurial Skills which Gates, Ellison and Jobs(My personal favourite) had in abundance.
Managerial skills ensures smooth operations and this leads to growth on a daily basis.
If you dont have it, learn it or hire a manager to ensure the smooth running of your business processes. Entrepreneurial skills ensures vision and innovation.
You MUST be an entrepreneur if you must own a business. Entrepreneurs are innovative, visionary and they keep re-inventing the business because one good business idea IS NOT enough to sustain your business till eternity. You need to be constantly innovative and re-invent the business at all times. An entrepreneur generates a plethora of ideas; he is a constant thinker. One product/idea is never enough! He keeps thinking about new ideas and better ways of doing things.
Apple Computers is a classic example of innovation and vision.
Steve Jobs= Entrepreneur and Chief Innovator (before he resigned)
Management Personnel = Managers
Brilliant Programmers/Developers = Technicians
MY ADVICE
If you are a technician i.e. someone with specific skills/talent, find people who will be willing to pay for your services.
A gifted singer could sell records
A good programmer could find an IT firm willing to pay for his/her services
A CC person should find firms who are willing to pay for that skill.
etc.
If you are a natural and/or trained manager of people and resources, many firms need your services, find them.
Only Entrepreneurs are allowed to start a business, don't start a business if you aren't! (strong language deliberate)
If you've got vision, innovation and a dreamer, start a business but you need
technicians and managers to translate your ideas into a profitable enterprise. Hire them and ensure you acquire technical and managerial skills.
NB-Its possible to be have d qualities of more than one category, however, IF YOU MUST START/OWN A BUSINESS YOU MUST BE AN ENTREPRENEUR.
I shared this thought on Nairaland today under the business/money forum--
