Allen Pane was not the first to publish a paperback; but he was the first to bring out quality work on quality paper. His version of paperback was priced at six pence each. During first year, 3 million such paperbacks were sold in a country with a population of about 38 million. Soon there was a Penguin (the company Pane founded) Paperback in almost every home with love of reading.

You all, lover of big ideas and dreaming of making millions or billions; can you do an “Allen Lane”? Can you bring about a disruption like that? If you are able to do that you will fulfill your dream and be able to reach out to a large population.

Technology industry is replete with companies that made their business based on disruptions they brought about – Netscape, Google, Facebook, and EBay etc. But technology is not the only space where companies have used disruption to make improvements and win market share. NetFlix did it with DVD rental business and zoomed past Blockbuster. Pixar did same with animation. Look what Cirque du Soleil did with their unique mix of circus art and street entertainment. Openness can create disruption. MIT did through their open courseware (OCW) initiative.

Single individuals like one Salman Khan of Khan Academy are creating disruption and showing the world a new path through the way he teaches – harnessing the power of technology.

For Walmart it began with “we sell for less”. Heineken has done it with DraughtKeg.

Why think about disruption?

Because that is where there is real money and growth. In today’s fast paced world it gives companies a chance to stay in business, gain new ground and move ahead of competition. New entrepreneurs and enterprises thinking of entering into market – gain a perspective on creating better products than what exists in the market.

Think about better delivery, better pricing, better ownership experience – and you are in for a large scale disruption in existing product categories or the real bonanza – the creation of a new product category.

Where to drive innovation through disruption?

It is about creativity, understanding of market dynamics. Innovation can thrive in most unlikely of places. It can be done in a space where people least expect.  Those on a cautious path can do it as an experiment. Possible areas where mass can be benefited like – healthcare, power, automobiles. Few more ideas;

Food and food services: Think of a restaurant where people can invite their guests and join the chef couple of hours earlier to cook themselves. Think about a healthy food alternative for travelers – light to carry, can be mixed with cold water, to make a complete meal that fulfills all requirements of body. Go to the jungles (or hire somebody to do it for you) and find a food with same nutritional value, size, ease of carrying as almond.

Education: Think of a weekend school for adult learners where students take turn to teach and be taught with participation from across the world (web-enabled).

Technology (Human-Computer Interaction): What about a computer screen that changes illumination depending on the light in the room or place where you are using it or a computer (notebook, iPad) screen which can be used in bright sunlight especially for the lovers of beach.

Web: A medium like web is highly disruptive that is why huge opportunity lies there. Think about faster apps, mash-ups, market places, aggregators of content. Look back in the history – see how it has progressed so far – directories, search, social networks, what next? Think about it.

How you can do it?

Can your business help from this idea? Can you think of a similar intervention where masses are benefited?  You can make these billions if you do something like what Allen Lane did. He changed the price point of a product providing similar experience as the higher priced product (Hard-bound books). Allen Lane did it with books when he brought the contemporary writing and classics at a price point to enable easy access for masses.

How to create disruption?

Keep your ears and eyes open: It is good to live an alert life and not as a zombie. It helps you in every walk of life. The idea is not to try and poke our nose in everything that we come across. But it is good to have a holistic view of things that interest you.

Think about the possible change: How can you make a product better? Can you offer same or better quality at better price? Can you deliver it better? Can you offer an exceptional guarantee (think Zappos, 365 days return guarantee and both way shipping by company). So innovation can be on quality, price, delivery, and ownership experience – any aspect of the product which customer can see value in.

Do not always think price: It is good to be a premium priced product or to charge a healthy margin. But if there is a compelling reason or a big opportunity for disruption based on pricing then no harm in pursuing it.

Think big, think to innovate: The promise of long-tail and power it has given in the hand of individual producers of products and services – makes sense for many. Still there are ambitious and tremendously capable souls of 21^st century – who live with dreams of making hundreds of millions and billions. Good. It helps to be true to oneself. To fulfill such dreams – you need a product, service with a mass appeal; and you should be able to deliver it efficiently. Research, exploration all contribute to disruption.

What is in it for you?

An opportunity to make billions (potentially): Those who create big disruption are talked about and if they convert this disruption into business proposition – then they are in for a lot of wealth in a short span of time.

Chance of reaching out to the world: This has bigger implications. Think about all the dollars following social causes – working on eradication of hunger and disease. If a disruption can reduce the cost of a vaccine into half then the impact of same dollars will double. World will be a better place with effective but cheap vaccines; clothes to save poor from heat and cold and with One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).

What can businesses do?

Can you increase the reach and profits by keeping the value intact and decreasing the price. It can in fact save an entire business or help it take a lead. See what Heineken did with DraughtKeg; it has helped it find it a unique position in premium segment – getting better margins and less undercutting based on price by players like Budweiser.

Future

I foresee a possibility of a worldwide distribution super-way; where everyone can put their stuff up for distribution at the cost she wants.

Long tail and web has given the power in the hands of people to produce and distribute. But the mechanism can be made more efficient. It will probably need a core – in an open source environment – which will provide foundation and execute suggestions just for the fun of doing it or for name, fame or possible wealth. There will be evangelist, do-gooders, opportunists and some people trying to pull down the system like in every great cause; but the market will take care of them. This will take time but may be a reality sooner than we expect.

Till then distribution platforms like iTunes store and marketplaces like Amazon will rule the roost. All stakeholders will have to be happy with the guidelines of these behemoths. Guess, most will be happy till they get their fair share.

Nothing in this world is permanent. Old always makes way for the new – by choice or by condition. As we go along their will be takeovers, tie-ups, partnerships and mash-ups. Who knows Facebook will offer some intelligence to Amazon – which may use it to power its recommendation engine.

Have you noticed an area where disruption can help your work and make a mark? I am very keen to listen.

Photo Credits

Let us explore the habits and lifestyle of happy entrepreneurs to understand how you can become one.  (I have written these tips with entrepreneurs in mind but these can help most of  us to be happy and effective.)

Simplicity & Productivity

1. They single task.
2. They do meetings on specific days and not every day.
3. They do spring cleaning so they have less clutter in life and work.
4. They have a start and end time for a meeting and for their work day.
5. They do not work seven days a week.
6. They are more of 4×4 people.
7. They believe in being transparent.
8. They delegate.
9. They monitor and suggest; but do not micro-manage. For them making mistake is acceptable.
10. They think on paper.

Happiness & Energy

1. They eat right.
2. They exercise.
3. They take daily breaks.
4. They take time to nourish body, mind and soul.
5. For them happiness comes from seeing others happy – clients, family, and friends.
6. For them being happy means keeping their actions aligned with their soul.
7. They sleep with a feeling of having contributed to the happiness or growth of the world.
8. They are always game for fun and look for ways to be happy.
9. They take time to be with friends.
10. They have a happiness ritual – like singing, mimicry, pottery, long walks or exercise.

Self, Reality & Openness

1. They take time to know themselves.
2. Work for them is not something to fill a void in life.
3. They stay in touch with their feelings.
4. For them human touch is important.
5. For them social media is just an extension of their personality and everyday life.
6. They experiment – like a day when they observe silence or when they watch 3 movies in a row.
7. They accept that life has ups and downs.
8. They are open to new ideas and people.
9. They are open to seek help and advice.
10. They are not ashamed of accepting that they made a mistake.

Money, Growth and Success

1. They know the basic – earn more, spend less.
2. They are old world. They use old till it is working and serving the purpose.
3. They are not penny wise and pound foolish.
4. The respect and love money and do not think it is evil.
5. They understand that money is a mean to many goals.
6. They also understand that money is not above relationships.
7. They are in it for the long haul.
8. They believe in giving.
9. They go out to places where they have never been before to gain new perspective.
10. They are not scared of doing the new – trying out new things.

Habits, Character & Communication

1. They do not pull a short one on people.
2. They do not make too many promises.
3. They keep the ones they make.
4. They do not talk about people, they talk about ideas.
5. They know it is human to err but do not use it – as an excuse to commit a mistake.
6. They stand for their word.
7. They try to get into the shoes of other person.
8. They trust people.
9. They are assertive.
10. They do not say yes to everything that comes across.

To our happiness and growth. What do you do to stay happy and calm while your pursue success?

Photo Credits

There is value in this dialogue. If I ask you – what is more fun – chasing your dreams or living them? What do you say? My answer – “I love living dreams but one need to chase them before living them.”

Big ideas first make an appearance in our dreams or thoughts. Then the chase begins. It makes sense to get out of chasing mode soon otherwise many of us will lose the interest in chasing and also the chance of living that dream. Here are some ideas that may help one do that.

Lock yourself in: Literally if it is possible. This will help avoid distractions and expectations. Distractions like possibility of engaging in mindless gossip, or spending an entire day running errands. Expectations come from friends and family about being with them and becoming part of their celebrations. No one should negate the importance of family and friends; but when the stakes are high – you need to make some sacrifices – only for a little while.

In such a situation tell your loved ones that you are taking time off to focus on some big goals and will be back soon. Those who really care will be ok with it. You need not worry about those who are not concerned about your goals. This will also include saying good bye to unwanted communication – online or offline.

You need to invest long chunks of uninterrupted time – to achieve something really big. You can accomplish this better in solitude. If you are working on building a start-up with friends, create a hub at home of one of your friends. Better if you all can live and work at same place.

This is why you see so many successful young entrepreneurs these days. These young entrepreneurs created successful enterprises living in a college dorm, few distractions and almost no expectations – a good mix for success. Facebook is the better known example but there are many. Y Combinator encourages the members of its famous Startup School to stay together. This also works for a group of students working on getting into a big school – say Harvard.

Around 5 years back, I wrote about starting and finishing a task successfully. That writing is more focused on completing a task with an extended timeline – something like writing a book, or seeing a startup through various phases – like launch, growth, consolidation etc. The current piece is more focused on activities like – building an application or a product; or launching a start-up or cracking a big examination. Still the earlier article should give you some worthwhile ideas.

Sweat it off: When working on something really big, you have some expectation from yourself. Such expectations are best avoided as it can get to your nerves. Spend some time out in the woods doing rigorous activity or just take a long walk. This will help you release nervous energy and keep you on track. In such moments you also get some interesting ideas. At least I do. Try it out and see how it works for you.

Live and breathe your dream: One of my seniors at school shared this during one of our regular midnight discussions – “Any idea that lives with you all your waking hours – will become a reality.” I totally believe it – when you are working on something big immerse yourself with the thought of accomplishing it. Before you set out to achieve it, read, interact and do your research and try to learn as much as you can. Being prepared makes sense.

Try to spend most of your time on pursuits you are after and you will accomplish it sooner than later. I have tried it successfully at least once. The success came later than I expected, in fact after I had stopped expecting. Still it worked.

Think on paper: We only have one head – sometimes it finds itself not capable of coping with everyday demands. This single head has – stuff to remember, plans to create, and memories to hold. With the help of this head, we need to hold on to ideas to make them becoming a reality.

If we can free the head of ideas, and things to remember we can give it more space to think, plan and execute. Head can be free if we think on paper – record any useful thought or idea as soon as it gets into your head. When you record – you get free from the hassle of remembering things.  You can also review the ideas you record and move ahead with the ones that you find useful. If you think about a great idea and then forget it – it is wasted time, energy and a possible loss of opportunity.

Focus on shipping: Your only focus should be to ship. Work to a timeline. If you think you can accomplish your goal in 40 days – work to finish it in 30 days. Ship and if possible take your product to market or at least to beta users. Improve as you go along.

Get a mentor: Find somebody who has done it before. Get them on board as advisor or mentor. This will help you stay grounded. You will also be saved of possible pitfalls and mistakes. It is good to be able to get up after falling. Still it is smarter to avoid falling to the extent possible. An experienced mentor can help you do that.

I am sure that you have a big dream that can use some of the ideas above.

Do you have a thought to share? What helped you to accomplish something significant? What is your big idea?

Photo Credits

Change is the only constant in life. To stay viable and appealing to clients, it is important for businesses to embrace change, innovate and grow. Here is how?

Stay Lean

Keep your fixed costs down. Real estate and talent costs together make for the biggest expenditures for most of the businesses. Growth-oriented businesses should not compromise on talent cost but should look at ways of keeping real estate costs at minimum.

You can choose to work out of co-working space; which is nothing but sharing work space with a company that complements your work and work culture. Co-working in addition to reducing your real estate costs keeps the spirit of collaboration alive.

If you are working out of a highly priced corporate tower try shifting to a green residential neighborhood if land of law permits that. If you are renting workspace then pick one with a furnished option. This way you will save on set-up costs.

It is also important to understand that cost reduction should not be at the cost of delivering quality to clients.

Empower employees

Provide your employees an identity and a voice. Help them start a blog, create a website. Encourage them to write for industry publications. Motivate them to start a company newsletter. Make the most interested one – the editor.

Give them an opportunity to find a parallel path for themselves. This will make sure that they are not on the lookout for new opportunities all the time. When you offer such opportunities to employees you make that both left brain and right brain side of brain are active. It is for the benefit of your employees and your company. In such a scenario, your employees will then be your brand ambassadors. It will be easier for you to attract new talent. Try to get into the shoes of the people that work at your company. Focus on creating a workspace – where, if you were an employee; you will look forward to come to work day after day.

Provide enough opportunities to your employees to utilize their full talent at workplace. If their skills are underutilized then the money you are paying them is not getting back the worth and work it deserves. Also in such a situation employees tend to get bored and start looking for new opportunities.

Want to be more innovative. Offer people to work 2-3days at office and 2-3-days at home opportunity. This will save a part of their cost of commute; and also give them some stricture and space to be tuned into the company.

Find Inspiration

If you are a company where you need to rely on the talent of hackers and creative people – then Google’s “20 percent time” is good idea.

From Google’s Jobs Page

“We offer our engineers “20-percent time” so that they’re free to work on what they’re really passionate about. Google Suggest, AdSense for Content and Orkut are among the many products of this perk.”

Read about Zappos if you want to learn how to create a company with great customer service.

Partner for growth

In recent times a lot has been written about outsourcing and the benefits it offers. No doubt – with today’s crowd sourced innovations like 99designs.com – outsourcing has made it possible to get good work done, at a reasonable cost.

Outsourcing can be a starting point but for businesses to be able to scale – it needs to convert into partnerships. You can find your potential partners from among your outsourcing partners.

By partnering with people and companies you show that you trust them more and are willing to share more value and money with them.

If you are serving businesses that are moving ahead with times and providing them good service – chances are that they will come to you for solutions outside your business portfolio. In such a situation you have two choices. Either you can refer them to credible companies that offer desired service or partner with these companies to create a consortium. In addition to serving your existing clients’ need you also get a chance to be exposed to a new set of client through consortium partners.

Keep the human element alive

In current times, because of all technological innovations – there is a little need to be in front of your clients.  People think why phone, when you can email. In most cases email is more specific than a phone call; still it is good to get on phone with your clients once in a while.

In fact, when businesses are hiding behind technology – you can create a unique space for yourself by visiting your clients regularly and keeping the human element alive.

Have Fun

Last but not the least it is important that you have fun building your businesses. Get away from your office desk whenever you can, make sure that your team members are relaxed and not overworked. Make celebration a way of life at your company and you will see employees’ Joy Quotient and productivity increase by leaps and bounds. You see, happy employees are engaged employees.

To implement some of the above ideas, you may need to change how your run your business. The change need not be as drastic as Ricardo Semler brought about - when he fired 60% of senior management – the very first day he got the opportunity to run Semco, the company his father founded. You can read about his adventures of building a unique company that questioned established rules and created a company that stood the test of times for long – in“Maverick” bestseller written by Semler himself.

If you are running established operation then 100%-change at one go may not be your idea. Do this with a part of your business and then move on.

Do share any ideas that resonate within you after reading; and and also your learning by implementing something similar or different at your business.

How are you growing your business?

Photo Credits

Then there are those who wake up to the thought of doing their own thing a little late in life. Somebody who is 30 or 40-plus, in a job, have a family to take care of and have a latent desire to become an entrepreneur. What to do in such a situation?

Options are plenty. Accepted there are benefits for those who start early but the late bloomers or experienced folks are not at total loss. Let us see how?

Network: It has been said that “WHO You Know is More Important than WHAT You Know!” I would say that it is important to possess right knowledge. If you have that – your network (the people you know) will help you leverage that knowledge for business profits or social good; choice is yours.

Nobody is born with a network. You acquire it over a period of time. If you have been working for some time then chances are that you would have met people at work and outside. If you are the one who waters the plants of your relationship – then day by day you create a network of people who become your sounding board, potential partners, and well-wishers.  Your network can help you make the right connections, compliment your individual strengths as business partners and associates and very importantly provide emotional support when things are not going your way.

Skills: It makes sense to start your first venture in a space that you know about later when you become established you may choose to diversify by hiring people with different skills. It takes years to develop significant skills in an area of work. For some these may be technology skills; for others sales, marketing and negotiation skills. Working in a large organization also helps your understand processes something that you can also implement in your venture when you scale. So it helps to have done your time at a job before you take the entrepreneurial plunge.

Funds: Many a wannabe entrepreneurs cite lack of funds as one of the reasons of not starting-up. If you come with this mindset and have a focused on becoming an entrepreneur for some time; then working for couple of years can help.

You can use this time to save start-up and survival funds. People say it is ok to have money equal to 3 times your monthly expenses in the bank. I suggest that you shoot for 8-12 months of living expenses plus your start-up costs in bank if you want to have a real shot at entrepreneurship.

Ability to bring life into your venture: There are many husband and wife duo that have created successful ventures. It helps when your life partner bring a complementary expertise to the table. Your life partner may not be an active contributor in your venture but can help financially by working in a job while you focus full-time on making your venture a success.

So when you start after working for some time you have a lot going for you. It is up to you – to make the best of it and see your dreams taking shape.

To our success.

Photo Credits

Entrepreneurs have existed on our planet for a long time. But it in recent times, entrepreneurship has gained popular acceptance as a career choice. Thanks to our transition into knowledge economy where individuals with little material resources could go out in the world and create something really big.  Advent of web has made it really cheap to start a venture. No need to create a factory with millions. Just create a website, see if it works and scale as the need be. Not as simple as the written world but simpler than earlier days.

Media also glorifies entrepreneurship on a regular basis which adds to positive impact. Entrepreneurs are seen as people who drive the change and make something significant out of nothing. At least a part of it is true.

World needs individuals who take an idea; risk their time and money, and convert it into something real. New enterprises are hotbeds of innovation. Even in existing enterprises, changes are driven by individuals with certain appetite for risk and their willingness to do something different.

Despite all these positives, not everyone becomes an entrepreneur. The perceived reasons that keep away people from becoming entrepreneurs are known to most of us – lack of money, fear of failure, no experience etc.

You must have noticed that I have written perceived reasons in above paragraph. There is a way around all these reasons that deter people from becoming entrepreneurs. Also the difference between who makes it as entrepreneur and who don’t – is these reasons. Those who make it somehow find a way to – overcome their fear; find money or start something without it – yes that is possible; and make up for lack of experience through innovation.

I also make a point that young students at business school and at engineering institutions are better positioned to make it as entrepreneurs, as they have many things going for them. Let us explore.

More time

More time (to learn and experiment): As a student your only focus is study – at least for most young students. Of course there will be other things like friends and fun-time. But still you will have more time to yourself than somebody who is in a full-time job.

Once in a full-time career, people find it difficult to find time for their dreams. When you are in studying you have more time to read about topics that interest you and explore options that can be converted to profit making businesses. There are endless list of success businesses that were started on campus. You sure know of Dell Computers and more recently Facebook – both started in campus dorms.

More Time (to fail): A big hindrance for people dreaming to become entrepreneurs – those who keep sitting on the fence – is the fear of failure. When you start early as a student, you need not worry about failure too much; because you have less at stake and time to start afresh.

So when you start early it will be easy for you to take failure as a stepping stone to success. You fail and you still have time to start again. That may not be the case with people who start at a later stage in life.

Get to – 10000 hours – faster: Malcom Gladwell in his book “Outliers” shared 10,000 hours-rule. If you devote 10,000 hours to a pursuit you become highly proficient in that area. This is true for entrepreneurship. If you want to be a proficient entrepreneur, devote 10,000 hours to the cause. While at school you have a better chance of finishing these 10,000 hours within 3-4 years when you totally immerse yourself in the cause.

When you get into a job your only shot at entrepreneurship, will be as a part-timer. This will take you longer to finish 10,000 hours and may be more time to succeed.

Less pressure: Pressure comes from expectations – from your own and of those related with you. As a student – people do not expect much out of you. May be your family wants you to get good grades and that you get a good job after getting out. This set of expectations increases many fold when you go out in the world to make a living.

Fewer expectations mean less pressure on you. In such an environment it is easy for you to be productive and get in the flow. When you are in the flow your ability to create increase and this is an important recipe for entrepreneurial success.

Ecosystems: Most proactive educational institutions offer some kind of entrepreneurship incubator facility. The infrastructure in the incubator can be used to initiate your enterprise. For those who stay off-campus, the apartments also are a form of an extended ecosystem. When you are living with your friends – who are on same line of thinking as you – you can easily bounce your ideas off them and move ahead.

It is also easy for students to form teams and get into various business plans competition. Such competitions offer a good platform to share your idea with wider audience who have been there and done that, get valuable feedback and mentoring. There are also chances to get a head-start in terms of getting prize money and also useful free publicity –for those who make the cut.

Fewer liabilities: When you are young you need not run a house, your parents also may not be your responsibility, and you have no bills to pay. Fewer liabilities also will mean better focus and a good chance of succeeding at whatever you do.

So start early and just do it if you want to have a real shot at entrepreneurship.

Good luck.

Photo Credits

Let us be more specific. Think of a business situation – will you hire and work with a person with your capabilities and attitude as a boss, colleague or client.

Enterprises – big or small – are an important part of world’s economy. They always have been. Only the form changes moving from big traders to factory model to knowledge economy.  An enterprise or a company runs on profits. It has to make profits if it wants to stay long enough in business.

What is a company’s route to profits? Providing a solution to a customer pain point, offer better solution than others in the marketplace for the same pain point; proper communication (branding and marketing); taking it out to market (sales channels – online, offline or both).

Who drives all these – finding pain point, delivering solution, communicating and getting stuff to market? Individuals – You and I.

Without competent individuals in a company, the company will not turn profits, and chances are, will struggle to stay in business.

Companies like SEMCO of Brazil have made a mark and thrived in turbulent economic environment because of individuals who continuously question the status quo, the way things are done; and continue to move into unchartered territories with courage, hope and success.

Going back to where we started. If you were a business owner or a supervising officer, will you hire somebody like yourself?

Will you work with somebody who struggles to deliver on time, goofs up at work often, smells bad, goes to client meeting without preparation, fails to meet reasonable targets very frequently, fails to connect,  somebody who cannot deliver work as per specs and to the satisfaction the receiving party.

Or somebody who is on time mostly, over delivers or matches the targets, speaks with a smile on face, is good to talk to you, easily comprehends and executes on what is expected of him.

The answer is simple for anybody with a little commonsense.

Businesses should work with people who care and who can deliver – a creative person capable of bringing new ideas to the design, a sales person who can revive a low-performing territory, and strategists who can find blue oceans and define a new course of action. Business also need front office executives who smile an lot and are courteous and housekeeping staff member who takes pride in looking at sparkling clean office floors. It is not about title it is about involvement, attitude and capabilities.

Agreed, nobody is perfect. But your capability is a mix of many traits not one. So of 10 traits – if you are good at 5, ok at 2-3 and even poor at 1-2; you will sail through a situation with flying colors and most of the people will be happy with you and your work.

Many a times, employees scoff at their bosses and business scoff at their clients for being unreasonable, demanding too much. Stop next time you do that and think about what we have just explored. If you are ready to recommend yourself then chances are there will be only a few people who can be unreasonable with you. For such people, take action, document your progress, share and let the results speak.

If you have an iota of doubt recommending yourself then go enrich yourself, learn new things, get new attire, work on your communications kills and be the person that you will recommend to yourself and it will make all the difference in the world.

Photo Credits

Readers may notice the question mark in the title. Some may find it strange; but truth sometimes is strange. The truth is that you must first ask yourself some tough questions before you jump on the entrepreneurial bandwagon. 

You need certain readiness. By readiness to become an entrepreneur I mean – whether are you disciplined, motivated and organized enough to become an entrepreneur. 

Next obvious question will be how to assess the readiness to become an entrepreneur? Try asking yourself, following 4 questions. (Be frank and honest when you answer these questions. I have assumed that you have the necessary skill set required to set up your enterprise.) 

1. Are your ready to slog? If you want to create a successful enterprise, you should be ready to work for long hours. You may have to slog it out in front of your computer, waiting at the office of a potential client and writing proposals to potential partners. Till the time you attain the size to afford a facility manager you will have to run errands yourself. These are what I call the Perils of being the master of your own destiny.  You will have to work hard to make a mark. And once you succeed, you will have to slog hard to maintain your position against competition.

Entrepreneurs hanging out in Page 3 parties, going to expensive cruises, owning a yatch may not become a reality for you any time soon. (In fact owning a yacht is not suiting Oracle honcho Larry Ellison too much). Going to hip parties, and getting interviewed by media, all may happen but not when you start. It is possible after you have done your bit. 

2. Do you have the energy levels to pursue entrepreneurship? It calls for high energy levels. You need the energy to sail through long hours of brainstorming. You need to think about new ideas and create plans. There may be instances when you will have to greet clients with a smile even when you are tired. If you plan to take a bootstrapped approach in building your business then you will have to wear various hats (strategy, sales, PR etc.) Better if you can find a partner who compliments your abilities. If you are a good hacker then find somebody who can do customer interface or somebody who can evangelize your product. 

3. Are you a good finisher? People start business because they feel strongly about what they are planning to do. At that point motivation is high and mostly the bright side is visible. But there can be times when going gets tough. In such situations, more than motivation the discipline and commitment to face complex situations is required. Such attitude is called the finisher attitude. It goes beyond the initial level of excitement which prompts one to start something new. Realize one thing – “For an entrepreneur the expenditures are most likely to be more than expected and profits will always arrive later than expected.”  When you start an enterprise on the above footing, you will stick to it and eventually succeed. This is a very important trait if you want to succeed in any part of the life. As somebody has said – One needs to stay long enough on course to arrive at the destination.  If you doubt about your finishing skills then find a partner who compliments your skill-set and who is a good finisher. 

4. Are you motivated enough to do it? What is your motivation to become an entrepreneur? Do you want to become an entrepreneur because a young Haravard drop-out is being offered a reported $ 1 billion for a company he started 2 years back or because you saw somebody on the cover of Business Week magazine or a young boy with a simple idea made a killing in a short span of time? Is it because one of your distant relatives made a little fortune as an entrepreneur? Ask three gentlemen (Mark Zuckeberg, Kevin Rose, and Alex Tew) in question above, did they do it because they were aware of the market potential of their respective ideas. I doubt. They did it as a hobby in one case and as a small gig to make some money in another. With some luck and lots of slogging they became what they are now.  These are good examples for taking inspiration; but chances of you success will increase if you are doing something because it gives you satisfaction to create. Another scenario that has chances of bringing success – you realize that What you did last summer (the project work… I mean) can be a potential spin-off and start working on it.  Now let’s move to what arguably is the most popular reason of people wanting to become entrepreneurs. Don’t you hear so many individuals showing their distaste for taking orders from their boss? They cite this as the primary reason of their willingness to become entrepreneurs.Are you doing it because you do no want to take orders from your boss? For a change think about taking orders from a client. What about taking order from an advertiser if you are a media owner. 

Learn to take orders early in life without compromising on your self-esteem. When the time comes to take order from your clients towards the success of your enterprise, you will be ready to serve them happily. This will pave the way for a grand success.  So now you have answered all questions. Hope you found yourself ready to take on the next opportunity. Even if you realize that you are missing some ingredients from the list and your heart asks you to go ahead; then my suggestion will be to just do it. It is better to play in the field and loose than to be a fence sitter thinking that you could have won the game if you were in it.  Who knows you will defy all rules to win the game. This is the best situation to be in; because the satisfaction that a win against odds brings, is immense. This can become one of the most cherished memories of your life.  So, whether you start today or take you time to get ready, my wishes are with you. Let the success be yours.  Stay tuned for more.

Photo Credits