Why you don’t need a big idea to be an entrepreneur
By Chrissie
If you ever have the opportunity to
see serial-entrepreneur Sara Murray speak, she is likely to
champion the view that you do not need a big idea to be an
entrepreneur – you just need the drive. Yet many people who speak
to me say they are waiting for their big idea before they start
their entrepreneurial journey. So, which shoud come first? The idea
or the entrepreneurial spirit?Here are a few businesses that started out by being entrepreneurial before they got their big ideas.
- The founders of Sony started out fixing radios in a bombed-out department store in Tokyo, and their first ‘idea’ was a rice-cooker which didn't really work.
- Nokia started life as a wood pulp company in a tiny town in Finland.
- Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve ‘Woz’ Wozniak started out together in 1971 selling electronic ‘blue boxes’ that made phone calls for free.
- James Dyson’s first invention was the ‘Ballbarrow’, created long before his iconic vacuum cleaner idea ever existed.
- Nintendo originated from a small Japanese family business that made playing cards.
These entrepreneurs didn't wait around for the perfect big idea. By stepping out and trying one thing, they were best placed to discover something even bigger. Dyson identified the need for cyclone technology in his Ballbarrow factory, and Masaru of Sony discovered a gap in the personal radio market on a chance trip to the USA.
Idea vs. Drive
I believe that your drive will lead to finding your big idea. Whether it is because that entrepreneurial drive is in the blood, as Gu Puds founder James Averdieck describes it, or whether it's what James Dyson calls a “healthydisregard for the status-quo”, there is undoubtedly a mindset that goes with being entrepreneurial. It is a mindset where one is constantly seeking out opportunities, or looking for the problem to solve in peoples’ lives. Find enough people that share that pain and you have a business.
References - How They Started: How 30 Good Ideas Became Great Businesses and How They Started: Global Brands
, by David
Lester
.By Christina at The Nurture Network: the marketing department for start-ups and entrepreneurs – making expertise and resource available just when it is needed.
How do you deal with the doubting days?
By ChrissieSo you have spent many months thinking about ‘your idea’; you are half way towards having an up-and-running company; it is hard – your brain literally never switches off – but your personal energy keeps you going. You have a feeling in the pit of your stomach that this is ‘worth doing’… that it will work. So what of those doubting days?
Every person I have ever met that has set up their own business or left the security of a full time job to do something completely different has them. So what does it?
After several somewhat animated discussions on the subject of late, consensus is that when starting-up you exist on a more emotional plain: A great deal of time and emotional energy is committed to starting-up, and inevitably the boundary with your personal life blurs. Often you are trying to start-up in your ‘spare’ time around full time work, and conversations with friends and family inevitably turn to your ‘great plan’. The adrenalin is what keeps you going – but the slightest hint of challenge or defection has a greater impact than normal – and you ride the emotional-rollercoaster every day.
Sometimes the defector is you: “What on earth am I doing?”, “this is madness”, “I can’t afford to do this”. More often it is someone else that tips the balance as you are going around ‘networking’ everyone you know. In fact the only danger with networking is that not everyone is going to share your vision, or bravery.
Motivational speaker Adrian Webster wrote the book ‘Polar Bear Pirates and their quest to reach fat city’ in 2002 and it has remained one of my go-to books on a doubting day since I met him in 2004. He characterises all the different stereotypes you might meet on your adventure (whether you are starting-up, or leading the way in a big company). My favourites are Webster’s Neg Ferrets – “intrepid warriors of doom... highlighting the negative side of life, as they machete their way through all things positive” whose sentences tend to start with “It’ll never work... I’ll give them three months... we’ve tried it before.”
I also like Chris Guillebeau’s idea of the Gatekeepers whose purpose it is to control or withhold the flow of information like “old-school security guards”, hindering the progress of innovation or change. Chris’ ‘A brief guide to world domination’ is also a good snippet to have to hand in times of need.
When you now encounter a Neg Ferret, or a Gatekeeper, let a wry smile grow with these images in mind and try not to get mad at them. 99.9% of people you confide your plans in will have the best intentions at heart – but may find the idea difficult to imagine, or fear for you. If you get an underwhelming response from someone, just consider it from their perspective and try your very hardest to take some constructive feedback from anything they say. I think there are nuggets of helpful hints from everyone I have ever spoken to – even if hidden in concerned noises!
So muster all your energy not to lose your balance for too long - take solace in the words of serial entrepreneur Sara Murray “the longer you are in a conventional career, the harder it is to go” and keep going! And if you need a bit more to keep you going – here are a few things that others have found useful when those doubts start creeping in:
- Focus on the bigger picture
Take a moment to remember why you are doing it – and visualise the future as you want it with a successful venture running in the future.
- Crunch the numbers
Many of us hate it or fear it – but not knowing just feeds the fear! Give yourself the peace of mind by knowing just how little you can actually live off – and use that to work out how much you need to sell to hit that.
- Scenario plan - what is the worst that can happen
Not one that suits those fond of hyperbole, but if you are feeling fearful of a decision or action – it can help to think through what the worst end result could be. Often the result is not as bad as you think, and you can consider contingency plans that make you feel better in case they do go wrong.
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Take time out
Finally, it feels impossible to think clearly when you are flooded with fear or anxiety. So stop for 15 minutes to walk around the block, dance to your favourite tunes or make a hot cup of tea to clear the mind. It makes a world of difference.
Keep calm and carry on!
Please share your ways of coping – or funny stories of your doubting days here.
The Nurture Network exists to make business strategy and marketing expertise accessible to entrepreneurial start-ups and brands, creating an on-demand marketing department just when it is needed.
Is 2011 a year of revolution for entrepreneurs?
By Chrissie
Member Chrissie senses change in
the air in 2011 for amitious entrepreneurs
I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel there's a fervent
murmur of revolution around. The time is now for entrepreneurs
and start-ups.
Last week I was a ‘distinguished guest’ (I’m not sure I make the grade?!) at the Commonwealth Foundation lecture – where Sonia Gandhi spoke of women as agents of change, within social, political and economic circles. The night before, I had the fortune to attend another of the British Library Business & IP Centre events – Mothers of Invention. At both events the air was electric with passion and optimism for what the individual can achieve.
With a panel hosted by Natasha Kaplinsky, the speakers were Shazia Awan, former PR specialist, and now founder of Peachy Pink; Sara Murray, serial entrepreneur who created confused.com and now Buddi; Sian Sutherland, co-founder of Mama Mio; and finally Vanessa Heywood founder of Tiny Mites.
All their stories were different: Vanessa was pushed to entrepreneurism through adversity when her husband left her with two small children. Sara is a self confessed serial entrepreneur who champions the view that you do not need to wait for a brilliant idea – if you’ve got the passion, just go out and find one - citing great examples such as Sony who started out fixing radios, and Hewlett Packard, whose founders' only starting point was they wanted to work together. Shazia similarly had the desire to be an entrepreneur before finding her product, and two years ago found that product – her cellulite-reducing underwear. Sian had perhaps the most conventional route, with a background in branding and advertising – but, like the rest of the speakers, no-one in Mama Mio’s founding team had experience in the skincare / cosmetics area in which they now succeed.
This was just one of the many powerful commonalities in their stories. Irrespective of their starting point – or whether they got outside funding or not - they were consistent in what it takes to make it happen. There was animated discussion around genius being 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, and how it is absolutely vital that you love what you do and do what you love, because at the end of the day it is your passion and commitment that will make it succeed or otherwise.
That room was full of that passion and commitment – and it is this that gives me this strong sense of imminent revolution. Men and women alike are standing up and leaving the organisation behind to follow their own path, lead more flexible working lives and seek out the fulfilment that they desire. With the Coalition championing the Start-Up Britain campaign and the budget update this week dropping corporation tax by 2%, and increasing tax relief, perhaps 2011 is indeed the year to take that leap of faith. If you have it in you, get on and do it.
The Nurture Network exists to make business strategy and marketing expertise accessible to entrepreneurial start-ups and brands.
Inspiring women
By ChrissieIt was the third Stylist Magazine event for aspiring female entrepreneurs, and once again the room was full of beautiful, fascinating and visionary women, all sipping champagne.
The speakers for the evening, hosted by acting editor Susan Riley, were Chrissie Charlton, print press designer who co-founder Harrington & Squires; Claire Martinsen, the brains behind ‘posh pop ‘ Breckland Orchard; the internationally-acclaimed designer Donna Wilson; and Emma Goss-Custard who has created the inspiring business Honeybuns out of delicious cakes. Have a look at their websites - they have all done such amazing things!
They spoke emphatically about their ventures – about the love and passion you need to get it going, and about the often rather entertaining lengths you sometimes go to to bring it to life.
Claire spoke particularly about planning, and the ‘business plan’ topic received much air time. Emma, Claire and Donna all spoke about how daunting an idea the business plan was, empathising with the many budding entrepreneurs so intimidated by the long list of business plan content, suggested by some, that they end up doing nothing.
It can be made easier if we stop thinking about them as ‘business
plans’ – and start thinking about them as a personal vision: In
one of the workshop I do, we talk about what you want to do; who
does something similar; how you are going to be different; who
will want it; and where you will find those people to tell them
about it. Suddenly it is a less daunting task – and entrepreneurs
have a vision for what they want to do.
Irrespective of the each speakers approach to planning at the
start of their personal journey – they were united on stage - it
was their vision for the future that drove them, and gave them
the confidence to start-out.
Truely inspiring stuff. I'll try and recount some more anecdotes
from them soon.
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