By Justin Draplin, Chief Executive Officer — ECLIPSE Cottages
- Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote of the very rich: “They are different from you and me.” The same can be said of entrepreneurs, some of whom become very rich, though not all — or even most. Usually, we risk-takers are driven by more than the profit motive. We are curious and passionate and, perhaps, a little weird. How else to explain working so hard for so long, for so little, in the hopes that an idea that magically popped into our head will someday blossom into a successful business?
As someone who (proudly) considers himself 100% entrepreneurial, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to endure and even succeed — and what it doesn’t take. Your idea does not have to be original or even incredible, but you will need to create a competent business development plan. Here’s some tips:
Being an entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs are often described as visionaries, but two of my most successful ventures were things that I initially thought could never work. Success is not simply acting on a hunch or jumping into whatever we feel passionately about. Entrepreneurs may not even have better instincts than anyone else. As serial entrepreneur-inventor Thomas Edison once observed, “genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” Above all, starting and running your own business just requires a huge amount of work, including planning.
Growing a business as an entrepreneur
My background is in marketing and business development. Both have served me very well as an entrepreneur. I’ve learned to look beyond the initial idea or product because once your foot is in the customer’s door and you have their attention, you can usually sell them a lot of other stuff. Welcome to Branding 101.
As a warning: one common definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result. A lot of unsuccessful entrepreneurs confuse laser focus with myopia and insanity. A scrappy business owner should always be thinking about product extensions and incremental revenue, like merchandising opportunities, partnerships, and add-ons. With enough experience, you can take your imagination to the bank, but listening to your customers is typically where you’ll get the best ideas for growing your business.
The most famous example of this is Star Wars creator and entrepreneur George Lucas. Lucas turned a brilliant idea for a “spaghetti western in space” into a merchandising powerhouse that he sold to Disney for billions of dollars. Another offshoot of that original, weird idea was a special effects and sound design giant called Industrial Light and Magic, which he still owns today.
Managing people as an entrepreneur
One of the hardest lessons for an entrepreneur is that, especially in the beginning, they will spend a lot more time managing people than creating or selling their great idea. The skill sets required of a manager and an entrepreneur are totally different, and there are so many examples out there of brilliant entrepreneurs who are terrible managers and vice-versa.
Before starting a venture, it would benefit any entrepreneur to take a class and/or read a book or two about management. If you weren’t born with the empathy gene, you’ll need to learn it fast. Always keep in mind that the people you hire may not share your passion, but they will make or break your business.
It is a little-known fact that Berkshire Hathaway founder Warren Buffett dropped out of the Wharton School of Business, a first-rate business school with a first-rate management department. Later, he enrolled in the Dale Carnegie School of Public Speaking. Of the two, Dale Carnegie’s “school” was far less prestigious, taking place at night and involving all kinds of strange physical exercises to draw introvert-geniuses like Buffett out of their shells and teach them how to connect with others. Buffett eventually got his bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska, but it’s the Dale Carnegie School of Public Speaking Completion Certificate that hangs, framed, in his office. Indeed, Buffett has said that learning how to speak was probably his best investment. It’s also a terrific lesson for aspiring entrepreneurs: if you want to succeed, investing in yourself as a manager should be part of your development plan.
Maintaining success as an entrepreneur
Success is overrated. Everyone wants to grow into a multi-billion dollar success story, but success is often much harder to manage than failure. For that reason, Sam Adams founder Jim Koch recently stated that he often wishes he had stuck with his original plan to be a micro-brewer rather than the billionaire owner of a mega-successful brand. His advice: “Forget about rich.” Well, good luck with that.
All entrepreneurs hope for success, and many are terrific at marketing for success, but few of us sufficiently plan for it. For example, I’ve heard of many small apparel manufacturers that finally get their first order from a major retailer and think that they’ve hit the jackpot. Had they thought it through, however, they often would have realized that a big order, which they will be forced to float for months or even longer, was actually a business destroyer rather than a game-changer.
Better to start small, remain flexible and consider the consequences of too much success too quickly. It may seem counterintuitive to someone with big ideas, but an entrepreneur’s job is learning how to think small and do more with less. These are essential components of any business development plan, and just as important as having that great stroke of genius.
