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I received an MBA from Babson College world renown for its entrepreneurship program. The program is always ranked #1 in US News for its excellence in entrepreneurship. However, entrepreneurship isn’t a science or an art for that matter. So, can it be taught? I just stumbled upon an interesting CNN Money article that tackles this very subject. At first glance, it doesn’t look very promising. Here are a few quotes from the article. Continue reading ‘Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?’
Archive for the 'Entrepreneurship' Category
From Eminem to Enterprise
Published April 21st, 2007 in Entrepreneurship and Young Investors. 0 CommentsWhat were you doing when you were 15 years old? Jasmine was discussing her million dollar business on Oprah.
Source: Financial Times
Two years ago, nearly all Jasmine Lawrence’s hair fell out after a chemical perm went horribly wrong. Today, partly because of that accident, she is at the helm of a haircare products group whose sales could top $1m this year.
Not a bad achievement for someone who cannot yet drive, drink alcohol or sign most legal documents: Ms Lawrence, the founder and chief executive of Eden Body Works, is 15 years old.
At the age of 15, she has already learned the difference between a life of financial independence and one tied to a 9 to 5. A 9 to 5′er would have filed a lawsuit - she saw an opportunity.
Read about her days leading up to the Oprah show here….
Source: Smart Money . com
Ask yourself these six questions to find out if you are ready? My answers in purple.
- Are You Starting a Business by Choice, or Necessity? Necessity, I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else.
- Do You Like Risk? No, I love it!
- Do You Have the Patience of Job? Job took it to an extreme, but I don’t need everything to happen today. Tomorrow is soon enough.
- Are You More Flexible Than a Yoga Instructor? I was a sales-guy. No one is more flexible than a sales person at the end of the quarter. BTW, always buy your cars the last week of the month.
- Do Your Organizational Skills Put Martha Stewart to Shame? Speaking of extremes - I am organized enough to stay out of jail.
- Are You Prepared to Tap Your Inner Workaholic? Sleep is over-rated.
Quotations from Famous Entrepreneurs on Entrepreneurship
Published March 1st, 2007 in Entrepreneurship. 0 CommentsGet up and make your own opportunity!!!
Source: About . com
“The cover-your-butt mentality of the workplace will get you only so far. The follow-your-gut mentality of the entrepreneur has the potential to take you anywhere you want to go or run you right out of business–but it’s a whole lot more fun, don’t you think?”
- Bill Rancic
“When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. Go that extra mile that failures refuse to travel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.”
- Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics
“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”
- Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s
“Entrepreneurs are risk takers, willing to roll the dice with their money or reputation on the line in support of an idea or enterprise. They willingly assume responsibility for the success or failure of a venture and are answerable for all its facets.”
- Victor Kiam, best known for his “I liked it so much, I bought the company” ads for Remington electric shavers
“I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them!”
- Madam C.J. Walker, creator of a popular line of African-American hair care products and America’s first black female millionaire
This one is my favorites.
“My son is now an ‘entrepreneur’. That’s what you’re called when you don’t have a job.”
- Ted Turner, broadcasting entrepreneur
Top 10 Ways You Know You’re An Entrepreneur
Published February 24th, 2007 in Entrepreneurship. 2 CommentsHere is a great list that I stumbled upon. I agree with most of them.
Source : Startup Spark
- You’re passionate. Passion counts for a whole lot when it comes to being an entrepreneur. Without it, you’re dead before you even start.
- You’re always looking for opportunities. Entrepreneurs are opportunity-seekers. Everything is an opportunity. Failures are even an opportunity.
- You always think to yourself, “I can do that better.” You might know nothing about the retail business, but every time you walk into a big box store you have a thousand ideas on how to make it a better experience. Combined with your eye for opportunity, you can’t help but believe there’s a better way of doing things.
- You want to live your work. Work isn’t a means to an end. It isn’t a way of collecting a paycheck and going home. You’re dreaming of something more than that, where you can live and breathe work. Not because you want to work more, you want to work smarter. You want your work to mean something. You want to experience something more than shuffling to the office at 8am, leaving at 5pm and forgetting what happened for that day.
- You’re dreaming miles ahead while focused on what you’re doing right now. You’re a dreamer, but not a daydreamer. You’re dreaming a plan ahead while working constantly at achieving success on the details today. You’re a big-thinker but you don’t lack the ability to focus on details. Accomplish the little tasks is moving the ball forward for you…towards the big dream.
Continue reading ‘Top 10 Ways You Know You’re An Entrepreneur’
Women Entrepreneurs and Risk
Published February 9th, 2007 in Women and Money and Entrepreneurship. 0 CommentsThis article is was written for women, however its conclusion applies to all. “When we stop looking at ambition and risk as an enemy of life balance and see it instead as a way to achieve it, then perhaps we’ll be ready to start thinking big.”
Kristi Hedges
Entrepreneur . com
A thought-provoking Harvard Business Review article I once read by Anna Fels asked “Do women lack ambition?” It found that women pursue their goals only after they’ve satisfied the needs of their family, including caring for children and elderly parents. It also found that women underestimate their abilities (while their male counterparts overestimate them) and are therefore less likely to pursue lofty career goals.
Here’s what else studies repeatedly show us:
- Only 1.8 percent of women-owned businesses in the U.S. have revenues above $1 million per year, according to the SBA.
- Women lag behind men in their willingness to seek bank financing for their ventures.
- Women are far less likely to receive venture capital. In my own experience, I’ve only seen two women receive it, and one was replaced shortly after the check cleared.
Whether or not you buy any of this–and certainly there are always exceptions–the fact remains that female entrepreneurs are less likely to take the big risks to get the big rewards.
A Business Without Sales is a Hobby
Published January 26th, 2007 in Women and Money and Entrepreneurship. 0 CommentsMy first business failed, because I had no clue about Marketing and Sales. I had the “Field of Dreams” mentality. If I build it - they will come. That’s a common trait amongst many first-time entrepreneurs, especially ones with technical backgrounds. Graduating with a Bachelor and Master Degree in engineering, I believed that the world evolve around my designs. Little did I know - if the world didn’t know about my designs - there would be no need for my designs.
It’s simple a fact of entrepreneurship - the fastest track back to a J.O.B. is no sales. Before launching my next venture, I would go on to attain an MBA and make a career change to Marketing and then Sales. I will always be able to leverage my formal and on-the-job training, however some sales skills can be learned from everyday life.
Here are four sales lessons Mary Cantando, a Business Growth Advisor for Women’s Entrepreneurs Inc., learned from her family:
Passion and Profit - Don’t Settle for Anything Less
Published January 26th, 2007 in Entrepreneurship. 0 CommentsI discovered Steve Pavlina, an up and coming personal development guru, about a year ago. He is currently not on the same level as a Tony Robbins, but he may be one day. If you go to Google and type in personal development his website shows up on the first page. There are literally millions of websites, but his is listed long before Tony Robbins or any other guru you may know. Do you realize how difficult it is to achieve such high placement?
When he started his website a little over two years ago - he noticed that none of the gurus had leveraged their notoriety on the web. Yes, they had book deals, seminars, etc, but none had claimed the Internet. So, he set out and claimed the space. Today he claims to have over 1.5 million visitors each month and is making 6 figures from his website alone.
He just updated his top 10 list of lessons learned as an entreprenuer. I wanted to share two with you and the rest can be read at his site.
Continue reading ‘Passion and Profit - Don’t Settle for Anything Less’
Inspirational Words of Wisdom from a Billionaire
Published January 5th, 2007 in Women and Money and Entrepreneurship. 0 CommentsWe learn from those who have achieved. Here are some words of wisdom from Oprah Winfrey.
- The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.
- If you believe you can only go so far, it is an obstacle.
- Take five minutes to centre yourself in the morning…set your intention every day…if you don’t have five minutes, you don’t deserve to have the life of your dreams.
- You get in life what you have the courage to ask for. Always continue the climb.
- Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you’re going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus.
- My constant focus is on being better. Should I be doing multimedia video production? Or seminars on the Internet? How can I do what I’m already doing in a more forceful way?
- Continue reading ‘Inspirational Words of Wisdom from a Billionaire’
Oprah’s Success Factors
Published December 20th, 2006 in Women and Money and Entrepreneurship. 0 CommentsThe fastest way to accomplish a goal is to find someone else who has achieved your goal and do what they do. Simply copying is not sufficent. You must understand the process behind the sucess. Let’s take a look at Oprah’s process.
Source: Motivation and Strategies for Entrepreneurs
Oprah’s success has not come easily, but rather as the result of a number of crucial factors:
- A Goal-Oriented Focus: “You become what you believe,” says Oprah. “You are where you are today in your life based on everything you have believed.” Oprah’s single-minded focus allowed her to concentrate all of her time and energy into achieving the life of her dreams.
- The Ability to Overcome Diversity: Having experienced much abuse and adversity as a young child, Oprah developed the survival instinct at an early age.
- The Ability to Recognize and Seize the Opportunity: “I don’t believe in coincidences,” says Oprah. Listening to her gut instinct has allowed Oprah to take advantage of numerous opportunities, which otherwise might have gone unnoticed.
- A Sense of Responsibility to Others: Early on in her career, Oprah asked, “How can I be of service?
- The Courage to Follow her Passion: “I was called to talk, to use my voice in some way,” says Oprah. From the very moment that Oprah discovered her natural flair and passion for broadcasting, she directed all her energy toward feeding that passion. It was her passion for what she was doing that drew people in and made her so appealing to audiences worldwide.
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