– A Business: What is it?
–Why do you want to start your own business?
–4 qualities for a successful business start up
A Business: What is it?
First of all, what is a business? What does it actually mean? What does it entail? How can it be defined?
1- A business is an organization where people work together.
2- The word business comes from the word busy and means to do things.
3- A business is an economic system where goods and services are exchanged for one another or for money.
4- A business is the activity of earning one’s living or making money by producing or buying and selling products like goods and services.
5- A business is a person’s regular occupation, profession or trade.
Why do you want to start your own business?
Why do you want to start your own business in the first place? The fact is, the personality of a would-be entrepreneur, is much more important than the idea of starting a business itself. The person’s personality is the major determinant of success or failure as far as the new business is concerned. Most of the time, many start up businesses fail simply because enough due diligence was not done per the budding entrepreneur’s psyche before forging ahead. What is key and serves as a predictor to the business’s future success or failure is this million dollar question: What is motivating or driving you to start a company?
For example people start businesses for different reasons and sadly a good many of them are for wrong reasons:
1-You want more money: Some individuals believe they are underpaid in their respective jobs and simply want more money. They discuss with family, a spouse or a friend and after that decide to just start a new business.
2-The business seems to be the trending thing: There was a time in the country when selling pure water (water sold in polythene sachets) was the in thing. People believed it was easy to just join the bandwagon and become rich in a relatively short period of time. Alas many were proved wrong.
3-You were fired: Stories abound of individuals who lost their jobs, started a business and later came into millions, making them wealthy. However, what most people fail to find out, is the statistics of those who lost their jobs in a similar manner, jumped into business and failed woefully. The number figures for failures equal if not surpass those of successes.
4-You are currently unemployed: Our society is replete with accounts of graduates roaming the streets who never worked a day in their life with the academic certificate they laboured for so tirelessly. After prolonged bouts of frustration such ones go into business.
5- You believe you are being underutilized: In some other cases, people start a business simply because they believe they are being underutilized in their current place of work. This can become an obsession because the person may feel he or she is being unfairly treated at work. If the individual feels he or she is being limited, relegated or ignored, such a person can decide to start a business of their own as a solution.
4 qualities for a successful business start up
What then are the 4 qualities required for an entrepreneurship to be counted as a successful business startup?
1-A winning attitude: A business man or woman more likely to succeed must have a relentless passion to meet and overcome challenges. Every business will eventually encounter the inevitable storms of life. When tough times come (as they surely will), and challenges confront you, will your passion propel you and keep you going without giving up until your breakthrough comes?
2-Leadership skills: There is a difference between been a great leader and a great manager. What is needed here critically are leadership skills. Great leaders have the ability to generate big ideas, communicate them, motivate and persuade people to believe in that dream. Have you been successful in convincing people in the past on sundry issues?
3-Entrepreneurial intelligence: There is a difference between an inventor and an entrepreneur. An inventor isn’t interested in the commercial aspects of a business while a salesperson on the other hand is. An entrepreneur in this sense comes closest to striking a balance between the two. There are different entrepreneurial archetypes. Andrew Grove the founder of Intel is a great strategic manager. Larry Ellison the founder of Oracle is a great competitive athlete. Bill Gates founder of Microsoft is a great business modeler while Steve Jobs of Apple is a great business visionary. These 4 men represent types of archetypical entrepreneurs. The question is which one of the 4 do you most closely identify with?
4-Business-related Knowledge: This is the least important of the 4 qualities. However, you must have some degree of knowledge related to the business you want to set up. Have you gone out of your way to acquire such knowledge through avenues like training or mentoring?
Conclusion
In conclusion, this then are 4 indispensable qualities, needed for starting your own business. You must have them at the very least in varying degrees. Some of these qualities can be acquired. However it is wise to set modest goals which can be gradually scaled up with the passage of time.