Robert Kiyosaki - inspirational words of wisdom

Can Entrepreneurs Be Made? by Vivek Wadhwa

Silicon Valley investors often have a picture in their heads of the type of person who is worthy of funding: young, brash, stubborn, and arrogant. They believe that successful entrepreneurs come from entrepreneurial families and that they start their entrepreneurial journey by selling lemonade while in grade school. Angel investor and entrepreneur, Jason Calacanis said as much in his recent talk to Penn State students. And after meeting Wharton students, VC Fred Wilson expressed shock when a professor told him that you could teach people to be entrepreneurs. Wilson wrote, “I’ve been working with entrepreneurs for almost 25 years now and it is ingrained in my mind that someone is either born an entrepreneur or is not.”

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The Business, Investment & Entrepreneurship Triangle Paradigm – The Context

While studying the Robert Kiyosaki articles & Rich Dad series, and other business managerial literatures I came to know about The Business, Investment & Entrepreneurship Triangle Paradigm, which is necessary to keep development in growth track

Every business & entrepreneur venture is defined its organization context & working content. The organization context can be described as a structured boundary wall within which every contents has to lie down in and shaped the content accordingly.

The most successful business organizations prefer that the context should be in Triangle. The primary intention to retain the organization in one unique form, as the triangle has tightly coupled. If the content in triangle will try to exceed itself then the shape will disorder and it will become another shape unlike to triangle. Other diagrams (e.g. circle, triangle etc) are having loose coupled characteristics, they can be stretched out if the content in it try to increase and this will affect the entire organizational working behavior, productivity & final output.

There will be 3 components that are essential pillars of the any organization, if it bound itself in triangle context.

· Mission:

The mission of any organization is the most essential part to it’s survival. The reason the mission is so very important is that it serves to keep the organization focused and guided toward a specific end result. The mission of one organization serves as a guiding light during all stages of the company’s growth and existence. The mission sets the entire organization’s collective efforts and operations

· Team:

When each member on a team is driving toward the same goal, the collective attitudes, knowledge and philosophies of the entire group begin to mesh together and act as one mind. It is a collective conscious entity that runs through the entire group.

· Leadership:

The leadership has a vital role in any organization. It moves the team(s) with single-minded determination to achieve their mission.

(The Inspiration is from Robert Kiyosaki (The Rich Dad Series) & Financial Freedom Library)

The Entrepreneurial Individual Part III (Final)

In connection with the previous post (The Entrepreneurial Individual Part II), the entrepreneur also needs to have some set of Skills besides the Attributes.

THE SKILLS NEEDED BY THE ENTREPRENUERIAL INDIVIDUAL:

ANALYSIS:

The entrepreneurial individual who succeeds does so because they know what is going on in the world. They are able to acquire information either personally or through others, analyze it and then use it to move towards.

The SPECTACLES analysis:

The SPECTACLES acronym stands for: Social, Political, Economic, Cultural, Technological, Aesthetic, Customer, Legal, Environmental, & Sectoral. It is these areas of the external environment that the entrepreneur needs to examine for their impact on his or her plans. From them will be generated a set of threats and opportunities that can be acted upon.

Analysis is a skill that requires discipline. Any business analysis needs to be carried out in a logical, planned way. Part of the analytical discipline is not rejecting information that does not seem to fit in with the entrepreneurial individual's plans—such information is often the most important as it may point to deviations and variations.

Successful business activities also require careful analysis of the internal aspects of the individual entrepreneur's organization including finance and his or her own personality—a crucial factor when considering individual entrepreneurship.

NETWORKING:

Individual entrepreneurs tend to know a great number of people. The ability to network is crucial to their business.

Networking skill includes communications, conversational, and vocabulary skills. The individual will want to build up a relationship as fast as possible and access information in the most efficient manner. They also need to put across their own charisma as expeditiously as possible.

The more the individual entrepreneur is aware of themselves, the more they can network with others and gain the synergy that can be developed from a combination of efforts.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS:

Linked to networking is the importance of relationships. By studying motivation and other aspects of human psychology the entrepreneurial individual is in a better position to influence those who they will need to assist them in making their vision a reality.

NEGOTIATION:

The process we undertake to get somebody to do something (without using physical coercion) is known as negotiation. There are many texts on negotiation and all-important art of compromise. The better the networking and the stronger the relationships, the easier negotiations usually are. Compromise is nearly always required and a key negotiating skill that the entrepreneurial individual must develop is that of knowing precisely how much they can afford to give when compromising and assessing quickly and accurately the bottom line of the other partner in the negotiation.

SELLING:

Selling is, in essence, a form of negotiation with similar concepts. There are two things, however, that the entrepreneurial individual must sell long before there is a product or service to offer to customers.

The first of these is the vision and second is the entrepreneur themselves. It is a characteristic of individual entrepreneurship that the entrepreneur may be as important a factor in making a deal as the nuts and bolts of what is on offer. If you are, or aspire to be, an entrepreneurial individual then you need to be packaged, promoted, and sold in a manner that will gain you maximum coverage. There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking publicity (provided the means and the actions are legal)—it is, after all, nothing more than personal advertising.

FINANCE:

No business can survive without the resource we call money. Whilst the entrepreneurial individual does not need to be an accountant (there are plenty of accountants around whose services can be bought-in), they do need to understand the financial concepts that are used in business.

Sources of finance:

The entrepreneurial individual also needs to know where finance and assistance can be acquired. Banks and venture capitalists are useful sources. Governments often provide tax breaks and free advice to those starting or expanding business operations. This is where the networking skills can be put to excellent effect— find out who will put money in and what help the government or other organizations can provide.

The role of occupational skills:

It is not necessary for the entrepreneurial individual to possess any particular occupational skills. Some knowledge may be required for credibility but often those closely associated with an occupation may be too close to its traditions to see new possibilities. If an entrepreneurial individual has an idea, they can always buy-in the relevant professional expertise.

SUPPORT & HEALTH:

Discipline not only applies to work practices; it can be just as important in respect of food and drink. A healthy body aids a healthy mind, as the old saying goes!

It is important that the entrepreneurial individual has the support of their nearest and dearest. As the vision can consume much of an entrepreneur's time it is vital that space and time is made available for family relationships—they are just as important as, if not more important than, business ones.

Do not neglect those who care about you. If all goes well you will want to share the success with them. If it goes wrong, you will need them more than ever.

(Roger Cartwright)

The Entrepreneurial Individual Part II

It was discussed in my last post (The Entrepreneurial Individual Part I) about the basic structural information towards entrepreneurship. Here are some Attributes needed by the Entrepreneurial Individual.

The Attributes needed by the Entrepreneurial Individual:

Vision:

Everybody, it seems, who has ever commented on entrepreneurship mentions vision. Without vision it is impossible to be an entrepreneur. It could be described as a dream with direction. The visionary not only dreams about something, they almost experience it in real time. A dream is experienced, a vision is lived in.

William Heinecke says that entrepreneurs should "set goals about go easy on the vision thing." Setting goals is important but without vision the daring step are never taken. As the author has written when considering customer relations (Mastering Customer Relations [2000]), goals and objectives should be C-SMART:

• Customer-centered
  
• Specific
  
• Measurable
  
• Realistic
  
• Timely
  

Vision can be individual entrepreneur-centered as long as it is then translated into a customer-centered approach to business. Indeed, vision is individual. One of the hardest things an entrepreneur has to do is to communicate their vision to others in such a way as to fire enthusiasm.

Vision does not have to be realistic-it needs to push back borders and it certainly does not need to be agreed with anybody, save your own imagination.

The entrepreneurial individual or potential entrepreneurial individual need to ask themselves, "What is it I want from life, not just in financial, but in social, cultural, family etc….., terms?" Once that is articulated they can begin to build a vision around those ideas.

Entrepreneur appears addictive towards his vision!!!!

Commitment:

Commitment means head work and an approach to the business that borders on obsession.

The entrepreneur must be prepared to commit to their vision. They must commit in the sunshine and the rain, on the really good days and on the awful ones. Commitment is the fuel to take the project or business to the vision.

The commitment of the entrepreneurial individual must be long term. Patience and tenacity are needed to see a business or project through to success. There will be failures as well as successes and it is an important part of self-belief to be able to deal with both. Failures should not lead to giving up but to learning lessons and there should be no complacency or diminution of commitment when success occurs. Success is the platform for moving on to the next challenge.

Self-belief:

Entrepreneurial individuals believe in themselves. Not only that, they also possess another linked attribute that makes self-belief work: they know their limitations.

Self-belief requires success to sustain it, which begs the question, how can success be guaranteed? One method of making success as certain as possible is a technique known to teachers all over the world and is that of "chunking". Within the overall vision, a series of goals can be set, success in one leading to work on the next, and so on. By chunking in this way confidence and self-belief can be built up. Start small and in stages and work up with each success.

Knowing one's limitations is also very important. The person who knows their limitations well not try to accomplish something they know that they cannot achieve success at until they have acquired some new skills or resources. This does not mean that they give up. If the task is important to the vision they will go out and either acquire the skills or resources for themselves or find somebody who can help.

Discipline:

The entrepreneurial individual is there for the long term and that requires a considerable degree of self-discipline. Entrepreneurship requires focused effort and that requires discipline with human, physical, financial, and time resources. Nothing should be wasted, especially time.

We all have a degree of discipline – we have to in order to survive in a society that lays down rules. This discipline can be worked on to make us more disciplined. To some it is more natural than others but with effort it is available to all who want it.

Now the picture is being built up:

VISION à SELF-BELIEF à DISCIPLINE

Entrepreneurship is not one single attribute or skill; it is a mosaic of a number of them combining to assist in reaching the vision.

Risk-taking:

It might be thought that risk-taking is a negative attribute. However, in the case of the entrepreneurial individual it is the taking of calculated risks after a careful analysis of the factors involved and an assessment of the chances of cusses that is important. Without risk-takers there would be no progress-somebody has to take the first step.

It must not be thought that risk in these terms means a lack of caution. Entrepreneurial individuals weigh risks very carefully and then after a careful analysis of all the internal and external factors may take a risk that a more conservative minded individual would eschew, but only if the pay-off is high and risk is not likely to endanger the vision or their financial survival. Risk is very much a relative term.

Creativity:

The individual entrepreneur has to see the possibilities and devise strategies for achieving them. Pushing the envelope has to become second nature of them.

For every possible course of action consider alternatives. What could be done if …. ? Thinking is as important to the entrepreneurial individual as doing because it allows the vision to be clarified into actions. Entrepreneurs, being at the cutting edge of whatever business they work in, have to be creative. In many cases they are rewriting or even the breaking the rules. Christopher Price has said, "Business rules are good: break them." Perhaps this should be changed to: business rules are necessary so re-write them to fit the changed circumstances. To do that one needs to be creative.

(Roger Cartwright)

 

How to Flee an Ailing Industry

by Diana Middleton
Monday, June 1, 2009

With the unemployment rate hitting a new 25-year high Friday, many workers and layoff victims in the worst-suffering industries are looking for safer sectors.

Industries including autos, financial services and retailing have been hit especially hard during the recession, shedding tens of thousands of jobs. Even as the overall job market shows signs of stabilization, companies in some of the worst-hit sectors may recover more slowly, and job-seekers may be better off looking at new industries.

But making that change can be tough. We asked career coaches and human resource experts how to navigate into a new sector.

Redeploy your current skills.

Look for growth industries – or less hard-hit ones – where you can put your current skills to use. If you're an accountant at General Motors, for instance, look for companies in other industries that need accountants. "People often don't want to leave their industries, because they're comfortable there, even when they're miserable," says Trudi Schutz, a Connecticut-based career coach. She suggests job-hunters look for "careers that use those same skills they love, but in a new way." She worked with a former car salesman, for instance, who found work within the last six months as a pharmaceutical salesman.

Which industries to target? Consider employers in healthcare or "green" technology, which are both experiencing growth, said David Lewin, a management professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. Education and government are also stronger than most.

But, be willing to learn new skills – in new locations.

Adaptable people who are willing to retrain themselves and relocate will be the most attractive to potential employers, says Max Shapiro, chief executive officer of PeopleConnect, a California-based staffing company.

"Companies want people who can multi-task," he says.

Ms. Schutz suggests going back to school or earning certifications to bolster a resume. "The more senior someone is, the more likely it is that he or she will have to repackage the skills that they already have," she says.

Build a network outside your industry.

Many job seekers have been recruited their entire professional lives, and don't know how to successfully nab a job on their own. Go beyond your usual professional network, says Paula Marks, a career coach and executive recruiter.

Ms. Schutz suggests making a list of your closest contacts, people who "you can trust to brainstorm your wildest ideas." Then, keep talking with people in your network, and asking for them to put you in touch with others. "Chances are, someone will lead you to someone else who will lead you to someone else," she says. "I have a very high success rate when people just talk to every single person they know about opportunities."

Utilize social networking sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and join professional organizations, particularly those that don't define focus on just one industry. Consider religious groups too, says Dee Soder, founder of CEO Perspective Group, an executive coaching firm.

Research other industries in newspapers and online to become familiar with the lingo as you network. "I tell my clients to spend some time reading articles and learning buzz words and slang for different companies," Ms. Soder says.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/107156/How-to-Flee-an-Ailing-Industry?mod=career-leadership

The Entrepreneurial Individual Part I

Entrepreneurship can be defined as a business philosophy that is concerned with growth, is proactive rather that reactive, customer-focused, accepts the risks involved in a venture and then takes risks that seem likely to bring sustained growth and market share, is prepared to tolerate failure, and lastly, has a large number of its employees who share the vision and believe in the same values and ideas as the entrepreneur him/her self.

The attributes are:

• Vision
  
• Commitment
  
• Self-belief
  
• Discipline
  
• Risk-taking
  
• Creativity
  

Whilst the skills on:

• Analysis
  
• Networking
  
• Building relationships
  
• Negotiation
  
• Selling ideas
  

It is well-known that skills can be learnt and developed but what of attributes? Are they innate or can they also be developed? It is fair to say that there are some who could never be entrepreneur, and those for whom it is a natural state of affairs. However, in between are a large number of people, perhaps the majority, who have latent attributes that need bringing out and developing for them to become entrepreneurs, perhaps in a small way but entrepreneurs nevertheless.

(Roger Cartwright)