The Successful Entrepreneur

Here we go again. The root cause of small business success or failure is not due to a lack of knowledge or capital, it is due to a poor fit between the owner and the chosen venture. The successful entrepreneur always enjoys a good relationship with the business.

Now, there are only two ways to achieve a "good fit" between an entrepreneur and a business. The first is pure luck (which is most often the case). The second comes from consciously exploring who we are and how we might connect to the world of self-employment. It's really no different than analyzing one's career options or choosing a mate. Oh boy, what an analogy; a true one. In reality, 75% of adults don't like their jobs, more than 50% of all marriages end in divorce, and three out of five businesses fail. All of which means we don't do a very good job of analyzing things that are important in our lives. Nevertheless, in business, if we spent half as much time getting ready personally to undertake a venture as we do writing business plans and visiting with attorneys and accountants, we would succeed far more often.

When you reduce anything to its essence, the concept of fit is what life is all about. Why do certain marriages last while others fail? Why do our true heroes linger long in years doing what they do best, and all the while being observed with vigor and enthusiasm? It's simple. There exists a good fit. Albert Einstein and Mother Teresa most likely were not daydreaming about blissful retirements in the Bahamas. They found their work, their mission, their purpose, and they stayed with it. Entrepreneurship is no different. You have to find out what you like to do, what you were born to do, and then do it. It is a simple, but overlooked notion that people do better with activities that utilize their natural skills and talents. Understanding who we are and what we are good at will direct us toward more logical life choices. When we take the time to travel the road of self-discovery and act on the things that we come to learn about ourselves, we simply live more productive, satisfying lives.

The very first step toward success as an entrepreneur is recognizing that we possess enough independence to leave the perceived safety of traditional employment. The second step is giving ourselves permission to reflect deeply on what we want out of life and out of a particular venture. As just stated, marriages, businesses and careers are failing all around us, and it is only in the "minority" of cases that we find success. Shame on us for being so stupid when all that is required is forethought and gut wrenching self-analysis that simply ends with one question. "Given all that I can find out about the business, career or mate I am considering, am I honestly excited about performing all the tasks associated with that relationship?" If the answer is "NO", there is NOT a good fit. Let's assume that you want to open a restaurant because you love to chop, trim, broil, bake and sauté. OK, apparently you are great in your kitchen, and all your friends insist that the world should have access to your culinary talents. But what happens if you are not blessed with people skills? Well, folks the restaurant business is first and foremost, a people business. If you don't enjoy interacting with them, you better take a hard look at catering. Get the idea?

Various members of my family have been involved with restaurants, manufacturing, real estate, insurance, building, printing, and consulting, among other businesses. To be sure, each one of these ventures that proved successful involved a loving relationship.

Playing ostrich when preparing for business ownership normally results in a death sentence. In order to achieve success as an entrepreneur we must first know ourselves. This is the first step. The Focus Program for Emerging Entrepreneurs was developed for just that purpose – helping prospective entrepreneurs know themselves better “before” leaping into business ownership.

copyright: Nicholas A. Bibby