I really enjoyed this video. I think it articulates the difference between good and great really well. In the world of entrepreneurship, as in most other aspects of life, the stars are always the ones who are able to achieve that extra something and make that last concentrated push when everyone else has given up. I sincerely believe that many people give up just when they are about to break the barrier that is holding them back. Tenacity is  a defining and valuable quality.

If only we knew  the threshold levels  we are supposed to break before we get through! Would knowing such a level motivate you to stay on a little longer ? Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers, states that 10,000 hours seems to be a good measure. Just the thought of 10,000 hours helped motivate a lot of people to reassess their progress in their profession or skill set. When the intangible becomes tangible, we seem to be able to focus with a lot more clarity.

Look at yourselves and evaluate your current skill sets and the stage your business or career is at. Are you satisfied? If not, what are three goals you need to achieve to assist you in taking you to a higher level? How is each goal going to help in your personal development, and get you closer to that level of greatness? Start making the intangible … tangible today!

©2009 Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur. All Rights Reserved.

I hear and read a lot about business plans and ideas on a regular basis. I am still surprised to hear about businesses that are supposed to start generating revenue only when they have enough users. This wait and see strategy drains the most precious resource your start-up has…cash. When that dries up, and you have failed to attract the 10 million users you need to generate a decent revenue stream from your advertising based revenue model, it becomes time to pack up your bags and blame it all on how the market was not ready for your mind blowing-industry disrupting business model. The fact of the matter is, that there are very few start-ups that manage to generate the sort of numbers it takes to make it big using this strategy. Wanting to be the next Facebook, Twitter or Wordpress is all very well, just not an advisable route to follow unless you have a ‘Great’ idea along with a substantially large war chest.

The simple fact of the matter is, the longer it takes you to generate a substantial revenue stream, the faster your morale decreases, along with the faith your angel or seed funder has in your model, and ultimately it will be, game over. The question you should be asking yourself every single waking moment of your day is “How can I generate substantial recurring revenue for my business?” The focus has to be on the “recurring” aspect. Do not chase large accounts until you have established and developed a stream of revenue that pays the fixed bills. This  requires you to test many permutations of your initial product or service. In which cases are customers willing to pay more? What are some major hurdles you face? Can you provide a cheaper service initially, to get your foot in the door so as to sell a more complex offering later?

Constantly asking yourself these questions will help focus your thinking on the most critical aspect of your business model. When you have fixed your revenue model , raising funding becomes easier, hiring better resources becomes possible and the morale of the entire set-up is boosted. If you have not figured out how to generate regular revenue for your business as yet, I suggest you get onto it as soon as possible.

Rather than waiting for things to happen….make them happen!

©2009 Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur. All Rights Reserved.

Ever thought twice about whether you will be able to deliver on what your client is expecting of you? I know I have, many times! This is the point when entrepreneurship becomes real. I think experiencing fear at this point is a lot better than  blindly taking on work without thinking through what is required in real terms, to actually deliver on the client’s requests. Biting off more than you can chew with limited resources is a guaranteed way to disappoint initial reference customers, who will then unfortunately, become ambassadors about how you were not able to deliver.

However, unfortunately there are no perfect deals that will match the resources you have when starting off a new business. If you happen to get them, consider yourself to be part of a fortunate minority. For the rest of us, we will either get deals that drain our resources, while not contributing adequately to our bottom line, or we may be able to land a large account that puts our reputation on the line. You often find yourself torn in sticky spots, and this is perfectly normal for an early stage business. The key in both situations is negotiating up or down depending on the client requirements and your capabilities. Don’t hesitate to offer changes to the requisition depending on what you can actually deliver within your constraints.

Don’t let larger account managers intimidate you, and never underestimate the amount of work that smaller accounts can provide you with. Most importantly, have confidence in your ability and your product or service. If you don’t, the clients will sense it the first time they meet you, and that will result in not winning any business at all. When you step up to be an entrepreneur, you do in fact break away from the rest of the pack,  daring to be different. To be different you need to have confidence in yourself and what you bring to the table. If you have that …. making the right decision will be a whole lot easier.

©2009 Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur. All Rights Reserved.

Image by minxlj

Products and services that stand out from the rest, are those that pay particular attention to detail. That is what makes them stand out and demonstrates to the customer, that they are really cared for. I have noticed that too many business owners are focused primarily on making the sale, and moving on to the next one, without really completing the product or service cycle they are supposed to deliver. I understand that deal flow is paramount to the survival of a small business, however, not delivering a product or service to the best of your capabilities or in line with a clients expectation, is being short sighted in the larger scheme of things.

A key principle of business success is delivering a product or service that is in line with, or above the client’s expectation. We all know this, yet, many of us fail to honor that statement. Long term relationships can only be built on solid foundations. This is a mixture of the trust, reliability and credibility the client has in your product or service. Even the slightest crack triggers the customer into exploring other options. If you want to retain your customers and keep them loyal, pay attention to the final delivery of your product or service. Elicit feedback and strive to improve continuously. The future of your business depends on it!

©2009 Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur. All Rights Reserved.

Image by joshdamon

In order to minimize waste of resources, during the initial phase of your business development, it is very important to map out exactly what you want to achieve with your business, and how you plan to achieve it. A lack of initial planning will, in most cases, leave you with your resources spread too thinly through your business. This is a dangerous stance for any company, especially a start-up. I have committed this mistake a few times, and it has cost me fairly substantially. There are a couple of questions you need to ask yourself when you begin your business, to ensure that you can build a solid framework and concentrate your resources in the areas where you need them the most.

1. What goals do you need to achieve for yourself, to consider the venture a successful one?

2. What is your competitive edge over other players in your space?

3. How will your business make money? Where do you need to concentrate market & sales efforts?

4. How will you acquire new customers?

5. Who are your main competitors and what is the best way to enter the market?

6. What resources do you need in place to achieve your primary objective?

I ask myself these key questions whenever I access a new opportunity. It is very important that you have a good understanding of the competitive landscape you are about to enter, before you do so. Once you have the answers to these critical questions, you will be able to devise a focused strategy. It is important that it is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time specific. Once you have it, you are off to a far better start than most haphazardly planned businesses that just get into specific spaces without fully understanding them.

©2009 Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur. All Rights Reserved.

Image by David Gómez-Rosado

Getting that one big reference customer during the initial launch phase, can be huge for any start-up. It literally has the capability to put you on the map, and get you noticed. However, unless you have some industry disrupting, mind blowing revolutionary product or service, adoption by larger businesses takes a fair amount of time. Some challenges you will face when you pursue large accounts earlier on, will be:

1. Very long sale cycles: This is linked to the complexity of your product and costing. However, whether it is a complex sale or a simple one, the cycles will be far longer than your average cycles. This drains the limited resources of your business fairly substantially, and has the capability of lagging revenue generation efforts which are critical to a start-up’s survival during the initial phase.

2. Tough Negotiations: There is definitely an unbalanced relationship dynamic when you pitch your business to a large Fortune 500 or 1000 business executive. This usually results in contracts and terms that are not very favorable to the smaller company. Before signing your start-up’s life over, make sure you read your responsibilities well and assess whether you have the resources to deliver.

3. Customizations: Much of the time, substantial customizations will be required by the larger account, to make it easier to integrate your offerings. This is another challenge that needs to be assessed internally, to figure out whether it is worth doing. This depends on your  margins level, whether additional resources will be required, and the time it will take to complete the customizations.

I am a strong advocate of developing a small and medium account base before going after the bigger accounts. This will give you the chance to gauge your customers-products/services interaction, iron out the kinks, and give you the confidence to sell to bigger companies eventually.

“Hit many singles and doubles, not just home runs. While home runs provide the opportunity for a quantum increase in the growth trajectory, they are unpredictable and don’t happen all the time. Singles and doubles, however, can happen every day of the year. They result from a determined, day-in and day-out improvement in the activities and social processes of a company; they form the drivers of profitable revenue growth. Increasing revenues through singles and doubles build a growth mind-set throughout the business, so that when the opportunity for a home run does come along, you’ll be better prepared to take advantage of it.” Ram Charan

©2009 Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur. All Rights Reserved.

Image by DonnaGrayson

There are a lot fewer people complaining about the recessions these days! The mood is turning to one of optimism as we begin to move out of this major glut that we hit. There has probably not been a better time to take the entrepreneurship route than now. Employers are still not hiring as much, and pay scales have come down, or contain a hiring variable component on performance. If you are someone who has graduated recently, or exploring options, take this opportunity to discover what you truly want to do in life. At the moment you probably have few responsibilities and a lot of the energy. Around you are broken pieces, and no one seems to be going about fixing them. Find one of these pieces that you do or may enjoy fixing, and pursue it like there is no tomorrow.

I am sure you are thinking that it is a lot harder than that. Actually, to tell you the truth, the only factor separating someone on the sidelines to those on the field, is that the person on the field made a conscious choice to take action and put him/herself out there. These last two weeks have been absolutely crazy for me. It is like everyone I talk to has discovered a rapidly growing niche which is presently unfulfilled by the current providers. Discussions these days revolves around how to find the right people , get some seed funding, and begin executing these ideas. These are the  people, who, instead of seeing a doom and gloom scenario, see million dollar opportunities all around them.

For an idea to take shape, it requires to be bounced around, to get feedback. Anyone reading this blog, who has the opportunity to pursue what they have always wanted to, and needs a sounding board for their idea, please get in touch. I will do my best to connect you with whoever I can within my network and assist you in whatever way possible. Take the first step and ask! Times like those we are living through, do not come about very often. We have to do whatever it takes to capitalize on the opportunities on hand, before someone else does! I look forward to hearing from you soon.

©2009 Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur. All Rights Reserved.

They say there is no better teacher than experience. By personally going through something, we get a much better understanding of the underlying processes which then becomes an incomparable learning experience. Entrepreneurs need to go through the motions of setting up their own businesses, facing challenges and setbacks, and ultimately the wins themselves. There is no course, book or training program you can enroll into to bypass the learning that takes place as you go through the steps yourself. What you can do for yourself however, is read and learn from the many entrepreneurs who document their journeys. I personally really enjoy reading and listening to entrepreneurs tell their stories, and do my best to take away advice and learning that I can implement in my own businesses. Young Guns is such a book. Written by a young and successful entrepreneur it is an extremely easy-to-read and information-rich book for those who are sitting on the fence and wondering whether they should take the plunge.

I read the book in a single sitting. It is an extremely well laid out book and flows seamlessly from chapter to chapter. The entire book is based on one very powerful question ” Why not me? ” It is a question everyone should ask themselves on a daily basis. If you are not pursuing the life you always imagined, and know many individuals who are, what is stopping you from following that path? The book starts out with some foundational chapters on the importance of selecting the right idea and rigorously testing it to make sure it is something you are truly passionate about, and want to pursue. It is not a question of ” I could do this ” but rather ” I really, really want to do this “. The next couple of chapters discuss some very pertinent points on selecting the right business partners and getting started.

There are three chapters that really got my attention in the book. One of them is setting the correct priorities for the first year of business. This is something that is often not given adequate and substantial attention to, what with the euphoria of starting-up, when things are often fairly muddled and disorganized. This chapter provides a seven point checklist to assist you in getting organized which is a great help. The next chapter that I really enjoyed reading was the importance of backing up your sales. This is another area where first time entrepreneurs often make critical mistakes. Securing business and important client accounts is very important. However, maintaining the accounts  you have won is of even greater importance to sustain growth and stability. This chapter has a lot of good points on this topic. The last chapter that got my attention was the one on the importance of calculating the numbers. In the end we have to structure our businesses in a way to maximize upside potential and create realistic projections for the future. Getting a good accountant is something that even I had not given enough importance to till earlier last year. Lots of good tips within this chapter to help you get started!

In conclusion this is a great book for individuals who want to make that leap of faith, yet, are still unsure about what lies ahead. By telling his personal story and adding many great insights from other entrepreneurs, this book by Robert Tuchman provides a great overview for you to get started on the right foot.

©2009 Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur. All Rights Reserved.

Whichever business you are in, there will always be simple ways to put in that extra effort to change a normal experience into an exceptional one. In a world which is quickly losing the human element and being replaced by technology,  processes are becoming robotic, and efficiency is being given a higher level of importance over the customer’s holistic experience. In such a space, efficiencies and processes are easily replicable, and differentiations between your competitors and yourself are becoming increasingly thin. This is when switching costs become negligible, and the ability to retain customers becomes more challenging. In such spaces, we have to be able to think a little out of the box on how to make the customer’s experience a more pleasant and enjoyable one. The video below shows a very apt example of how going that extra mile can cause a domino effect across the business.

In the end it all comes down to the value you create for your customer, and how you make them feel through the entire transaction period. To create this something extra, one does not require to go very far as the example above clearly displayed. It does however need one to understand our customers on a much more personal level. Through  better understanding we will be able to gauge what they expect from our product or service, and how to make incremental changes to make the experience a more personalized and enjoyable one. When you guarantee your customers a certain level of service it drives your entire organization to keep fulfilling on that promise by doing whatever it takes.

What are some of the small things that you do in your business to go just that little bit further for every customer?

©2009 Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur. All Rights Reserved.

Just two kinds of people, two only, I say.

Not the good and the bad, for its’ well understood

The good are half bad, and the bad are half good.

Not the rich and the poor, for to count a man’s wealth,

You must first know the state of his conscience and health……

No the two kind of people on earth that I mean

Are the people who LIFT and the people who LEAN!

Wherever you go you will find the world’s masses

Are always divided in just these two classes.

And strangely enough, you will find that there are rifts:

There are twenty-plus LEANERS for each one who LIFTS.

In which class are you? Are you easing the load

Of the world-changing LIFTERS who pave their own road!

Or are you a LEANER who lets others bear

Your portion of worry and labor and care!

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox -

Which one are you?

*Poem has been copied from Robert Tuchman’s new book Young Guns.

©2009 Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur. All Rights Reserved.