Successful entrepreneurship
Andrew Brown, SFEDI accredited as a Business Adviser, believes that planning and preparation are only the starting points for a winning business.
It is too easy to start a business!
A life event often triggers an idea that suddenly becomes 'This is what I must do'. It seems so simple... but you just don't know... that you don't know!The Government allows you to start a business, refers you to numerous websites, rules, regulations, advice and guidance by this or that organisation. The result? Around 80% of businesses fail in the first 36 months. The experience is painful - psychologically and financially.
For example, in many office complexes and shopping malls, businesses come and go every 24-36 months because they believe customers will change their habits and buy from them. They don't!
So, what will be special about your business, to avoid all this? 
The key to successful entrepreneurship is to learn three main business skills:
- Management
- Marketing
- Finance
Use these skills to develop:
- a clear and detailed vision of your goals
- an analysis of the skills needed to achieve them
- an analysis of reality: the skills you actually possess
- an understanding of the practical differences between Leadership and Management, how they affect daily business operations.
Many business owners fail to understand the basic responsibilities of management:
- Planning
- Leading
- Organising
- with practical Monitoring and Control in fundamental operational areas such as:
1/ focusing on results
2/ customer interactions
3/ consistency of purpose.
Winning businesses place emphasis on:
- leadership
- management style
- customer involvement
- external and internal communication
- sound and practical values
- running the business efficiently.
Pursue never-ending marketing research: it is the level of quality time, effort and energy invested in such continuous research which will turn your vision into reality.
Core values: What are yours?
The key emphasis is the relationship between the business and its customers. You must integrate your values into every process influencing:
- customer care
- internal team-working
- continuous improvement in all business areas.
Bland and misleading values create cynical staff and dissatisfied customers. Even meaningful values are useless unless you enforce them throughout the business. Develop your staff and encourage their involvement through continuous learning, innovation and improvement.
Remember:
- What I hear - I forget:
- What I see - I remember:
- What I do - I understand.
Prepare thoroughly and meticulously, and enjoy your success as it materialises.
