The Hindu Business Line : Check if your entrepreneurship engine is alive and kicking

FOR Adam Smith, there were only three factors of production — land, labour and capital. Then somebody said, let's give credit to enterprise. As a latecomer, perhaps, enterprise gets talked about less.

But the entrepreneur is the hero of capitalism, according to Robert Heller.

"He is the object of envy and admiration, the stuff of commercial legend, the source of new companies, new products, new industries," writes Heller in Goldfinger: How entrepreneurs grow rich by starting small, published by Profile Books (www.profilebooks.co.uk).

The single most important asset of the entrepreneur is not a fat bank balance but "persistence in the face of obstacles and setbacks". It is this that separates those who plod on and the rest that break down. "When it comes to ingenuity in the face of adversity, you cannot beat a truly determined entrepreneur."

Intuition is a great help for the entrepreneur. Intuition is not "the shared preconceptions and misconceptions of the mass". So, don't go with the herd.

Entrepreneurs look for venture capitalists, but they keep looking for ideas that would sell. VC vultures are `greedy', aiming "to multiply their money no less than ten times in five years".

Ah, you gasp, but "that's their cushion and they need it badly, to make sure that the successes outweigh the inevitable failures.

How to survive in a saturated market? The book offers Adams Technology of the UK as example. "When PCs need upgrading, Adams doesn't charge for the installation, just for the hardware. It telephones customers to tell them when new developments, like the latest advance in microprocessor speed, are coming their way." Service is promised within eight hours of notification.

A small company, but the Wall Street Journal ran a story about Adams. In comparison, our outfits seem to be too myopic in business.

If you have the fire to be an entrepreneur don't bog yourself down with notions on the `one right way to manage a business'. Heller writes:

"Finding the right way for yourself requires trust, trial and error, and heresy. Time and again, inspired eccentricity pays high dividends, which is one major advantage of owning your own business."

Fear of failure, or going bust, is top on the minds of most businessmen. "Paradoxically, though, you can be too fearful," notes the book. "Avoiding financial risk altogether can also mean missing opportunities."

The safer option — of launching a `bootstrap' operation and then growing organically "only as fast as resources will allow" — may not be the best one always.

A stern challenge, however, is getting the customer. What's the solution? Master a language that is transnational, "the lingo of persuasion."

A smiling voice is worth trying, by putting a mirror before you, when you are on the phone. "Smile at it while you talk," as Heller suggests, and see the effect.

So, you have customers, but to retain them, your service will have to turn from good to excellent. Also, hunt for overseas markets because the firm would be exposed to local and overseas rivals there.

"The latter will swiftly show up any failures of performance on any front — and those failures, especially if foreign competitors invade the market, are just as dangerous at home."

Exporting is both a learning experience and a survival tactic, so overcome export-phobia.

"Transcending that debilitating illness is a major step across the frontier of entrepreneurial success," points out Heller.

Go, touch things and see if your fingers are like Midas's.

ManageMentor@TheHindu.co.in

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Make place for Master Balak on the board

Apply standards to problem situations

At a loss to understand how a loss can be an asset

Check if your entrepreneurship engine is alive and kicking

Living expenses, bulging bills and dented budgets

Opposites

Numbers need to make sense in financial reports

Cartoon Corner