Entrepreneur top common skills (5) – Persistence and Resilience

I am going to finalize my selection of top common skills with what I have called persistence and resilience.

I haven’t seen a single venture in business that is exempt of obstacles. They will appear sooner or later, in an unpredicted or predicted manner, but it is certain that they will show up.

An entrepreneur is always ready to face difficulties. Somehow the entrepreneur is expecting them. He (or She) develops a sort of “battle mode” that allows a quick and determined reaction against a new obstacle standing between him and his objective. He battles and eliminates the obstacles just to keep going. This is the nature of entrepreneurship: keep going toward the objective regardless of how many trenches you have to overcome.

It has been said that men become great mariners when sailing in troubled waters, not in calm seas. Every venture has a number of storms ready to hit the entrepreneur. These storms will be typically weathered with limited resources but in most of the cases with successful results. The crew becomes stronger and continues the voyage…

Entrepreneurs really become tough people; tough fighters. As a result of all these battles they develop significant strength, self-confidence and maturity.

There is a motto that I learnt years ago which I find inspiring: “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”. I have repeated it to myself so many times since I learnt it…

All that said, in some cases the best (and toughest) decision is to turn out the lights and close the doors. Unfortunately this is how many business ideas end up. For those persistent and resilient entrepreneurs that we are talking about this doesn’t mean defeat. It means a great opportunity to learn invaluable lessons. Lessons that will be applied to the next venture.

At the end of the day, entrepreneurship is a lifestyle. It is a mindset. It is about a strong desire to succeed; a compelling reason to keep going.

Next week I am going to start evaluating some of the most common mistakes. I am going to speak about those mistakes that should be avoided in order to be successful in a new venture.

Keep reading!

Entrepreneurs top common skills (4) – Creativity and Adaptability

We have been making good progress reviewing the skills that are commonly found in successful entrepreneurs. Today we are going to look into creativity and adaptability. These two concepts come together when we talk about entrepreneurship. We live in a changing world. Our modern world is changing more quickly than ever and the ability to create new ideas, adapt ourselves and adapt our ventures to this changing world is key to being successful.

Probably one of the most unique traits that every entrepreneur has is the talent to recognize opportunities that others do not. They are able to understand a problem that exists for consumers or a need that has not been yet resolved and they “create” a solution. Usually this solution requires to be adapted as it is being implemented. Here is where creativity and adaptability tie together: the entrepreneur has to be creative again to adapt the original idea taking into account the new circumstances as they appear.

I recently read an article in www.businessnewsdaily.com that presented the idea that creativity is a bigger indicator of success in life than intelligence. This is an interesting concept although it is clear that not too many institutions or business are worried about how creative their future students or employees are. It is true that creativity is something difficult to identify and even more difficult to quantify.

Something also interesting to be mentioned is the fact that creativity needs some structure to gain traction. Not really too much structure, as it may jeopardize the spontaneity, but enough to guide the process toward the correct result.

I am going to list some of the most common techniques used to stimulate creativity:

(1) Brainstorming

(2) Brainwriting

(3) Method of Creative Orientation

(4) Method of Creative Confrontation

(5) Method of Systematic Structuring

(6) Method of Systematic Specification of Problem

I will write a post in the future to review these methods. Very interesting ideas if you want to become a little more organized in your creativity process.

Finally I would like to share with you something that I find remarkable. In many cases creativity appears best at the intersection of disciplines. Most impacting discoveries occur when two or more disciplines work together. Usually more than working together is arguing together. Looking at the same problem from different angles frequently creates conflict. This conflict may bring the inspiration for a new solution. Had it not been for the fusion of these different opinions and knowledge the new solution would have never been imagined.

So don’t avoid the difficult discussions with those who disagree with your ideas. They may have the key for your success. You just have to listen carefully and give them a chance to tell you how they would improve your venture.

Next week we will tackle the last skill of my selection: Persistence and resilience.

That is going to be a good one…

Entrepreneurs top common skills (3) – Team Building

Many of the best examples of successful entrepreneurs I know about started their ventures with a DIY concept. They got the idea, they mulled over it, they created a vision for their project and they started working on it. Eventually they generated revenues and they were able to prove that the idea was profitable and it had a chance to become a real business.

This is a very exciting moment for an entrepreneur. You have worked hard, usually just on your own, to demonstrate, usually just to yourself, that IT’S GONNA WORK!!!

Up to this point everything has been handled by the entrepreneur. But there is a whole new world from this phase to the next one: if you want to increase your revenues, you need to grow and you definitely need PEOPLE to help you. You need to start hiring employees.

This is a threshold that every startup has to tackle and it seems to be easier than what it really is. Bringing great people on board is one of the most critical requirements of every company to be successful. The entrepreneur has to identify, attract and select the employees that will help him to expand his business.

Finding the correct technical skills and education is not usually the problem. The key factor is being able to find people who match your company culture and values. The entrepreneur probably has not formally defined at this point a set of values and a culture description for his project. But without any doubt they already exist. They exist as they are intimately embedded within the entrepreneur’s personality.

So, here is the challenge: You have to find skilled and educated people for the job and they have to perfectly match your culture and values.

Most of the existing hiring methodologies are focused on the first part of the challenge but they almost ignore the second one. I am going to present two examples that are just brilliant in identifying the alignment between the candidate and the company values and culture.

Let’s have a look at Zapoos. For those who are not familiar with this company it is one of the greatest examples of successful online retailers in the world. They started selling shoes in 1999 and nowadays the company sells a wide variety of products.

If you have the time, watch Zapoos’ CEO, Tony Hsieh, in this video explaining how they hire people for their organization. I hope you will find it self-explanatory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BpWz-vw35M&app=desktop

Southwest Airlines is another great example of a company that has been able to create and maintain a unique culture for many years after its creation. Every new employee who joins the company is expected to contribute to this culture. For them the costumer is the most important part of the company and they demonstrate it on every possible occasion they have.

A couple of quotes to finalize today:

“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." - Henry Ford

Coming next week: Creativity and Adaptability

Entrepreneurs top common skills (2) – Excellence in Sales

There are many reasons why people choose a sales career. For some of them, a sales job is the best option to use their social and business skills. Others decide to work in sales because it allows them to travel on a regular basis and, at least in the short term, it is fun and interesting. A sales job is usually well paid, which means that valid candidates who are not sure if it is the career for them end up choosing this option.

For entrepreneurs, deciding if they want to be in the sales business or not is not an option. It is a must. “Selling” is part of every entrepreneur’s DNA. Before even thinking about a new product or service they are thinking about how to sell it. They will start creating a sales pitch before they know exactly what they will finally deliver. It will be the feedback that they receive from potential customers or friends what will help them to refine their first ideas.

Successful entrepreneurs excel in sales. They don’t need a very sophisticated training. They eventually don’t have an elaborated Marketing Plan for their business. But they just cannot stop selling! Their passion, creativity, self-confidence and persistence will boost them to sell whatever they are working on.

Great entrepreneurs are those who are able to give customers what they want. In some cases they are even able to let the customers know what they want. They are constantly following up their ideas and they build strong and trustful relationships with them. This allows them to cement long lasting relationships.

In some cases I have seen entrepreneurs use a motto that they use as a “mantra” when talking to customers. Some examples are:

“Let’s talk about building our business together”

“Our goal is to help make your project a success”

I have even seen some of them using a motto as a signature of their emails (I love this one):

“Success is helping others to succeed”

Next week team building abilities…