Starting a Business QuickStart Guide. Ken Colwell PhD MBA

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СКАЧАТЬ Decades later, Buffett—in addition to being considered one of the most successful investors in the world—is worth over $80B. Despite his outsized wealth, Buffett famously lives frugally and is a noted philanthropist. His success has been built on building a plan, sticking to it, and repeating that process.

      Contrast this approach with that of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg was born in 1984 in White Plains, New York. At a young age he became interested in computer programming, and by the time he graduated high school he had developed a reputation for being a programming prodigy. He attended Harvard to study psychology and computer science, and it was from his dorm room there that he famously created the first iteration of Facebook. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to lead Facebook and has championed an approach to success that largely consists of the ethos “Move fast and break things.” Unlike Buffett, who sticks to the course he has laid out for himself, Zuckerberg channels what has become the Silicon Valley mentality of constant change, growth prioritized above all else, and what has been called “the hacker mindset.”

      In 1847—eighty-three years before Warren Buffett was born—inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison entered the world as the last of seven children. He received only a small amount of formal schooling; he was homeschooled by his mother after attending public school for only a few months. After working for the railroad as a young man, Edison struck out on his own and obtained the exclusive right to sell newspapers on his local railroad. This endeavor morphed into a series of jobs that provided him income while he continued to dabble in his true twin passions of reading and experimenting. Edison’s legacy is that of a prolific inventor with over 1,000 patents to his name, but he was also a shrewd and successful businessman who founded fourteen companies. The most notable of these is General Electric, which to this day continues to be an internationally successful company. In his personal life, Edison followed a strict doctrine of nonviolence and lived as a vegetarian.

      All three of these men have made an indelible mark on the world despite the differences in their background, education, and personal style that got them to their lifetime of accomplishment. All three worked hard, but, more importantly, a common thread that ties them together is a deep passion for the path that they chose.

       I Don’t Have Any Business Skills

      News flash—most entrepreneurs don’t have a business degree, and often their first experience in the business world is when they start their own venture. Business skills do help make the process an easier one, however, and will be required once you become established. This means you will have to acquire them yourself, create a team of people with the right skill sets, or hire experts. The contributions of your founding team are critical, and I cover founding teams at length in chapter 12.

      Business skills aren’t a must-have, but there are two major skills that you will need. The good news is that, though some people are born with a natural aptitude for these skills, anyone can learn them. Even more good news: learning these skills won’t just help you become a successful entrepreneur. They are the foundation of a healthy and happy life regardless of your career path.

       Self-Awareness

      In what is sometimes called “the paradox of leadership,” effective leaders must balance humility and confidence. These two character attributes are often seen as opposites that are incompatible with one another, but that assessment leaves out a critical component of the equation—self-awareness. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus sums up the need for humility thusly: It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

      A healthy level of humility and self-awareness helps you to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Life in general is a long learning process, and the undertaking of starting your own business even more so. Humility is an expression of self-awareness that allows us to say, “I do not yet know enough.” Humility is what allows us to be willing to ask for and accept help when needed. No one does anything significant in life alone. We all need help and support along the way.

      Successful entrepreneurs know that they don’t have all the answers, and they actively seek out advice and good ideas. The worst characteristic for an entrepreneur to have is suspicion and paranoia that everyone is out to get them and steal their great ideas. Not only is this behavior unbecoming, it also reflects another major misconception regarding ideas and opportunities. As discussed in the previous chapter, ideas do not have inherent worth. Only when they evolve into actionable opportunities do they develop a value, and this evolution is due in no small part to the composition of your entrepreneurial thumbprint.

      Confidence is also an expression of self-awareness. Not to be confused with arrogance, recklessness, or egotism, confidence is the side of self-awareness that allows us to say, “Knowing the challenge in front of me, and knowing my experience, learning, and skills, I think I have a good chance of overcoming this challenge.” If self-awareness is something that you haven’t thought about before picking up this book, that’s okay. Self-awareness—and by extension humility and confidence—are not hardwired character traits. They are aspects of the dialogue you have with yourself and elements of the frame through which you see the world. As with any other skill, self-aware living can be cultivated through intent and practice.

       Interpersonal Skills

      Interpersonal skills such as communication, listening, empathy, and conflict resolution often get lumped into the category of “soft skills.” Soft skills are often seen as less valuable than “hard skills,” or the explicit skill sets required to execute a professional role. This book is not a debate about the relationship between hard and soft skills, but in the realm of entrepreneurship, traditionally “soft” interpersonal skills become essential hard skills for success.

      Dealing with people and making connections is an unavoidable part of being a successful entrepreneur. Successful entrepreneurs are assiduous networkers and connection-makers. This doesn’t mean that you have to be an extreme extrovert or super salesperson. What it does mean is that business is done by people, with people, and for people. Avoiding contact with humans is not a recipe for entrepreneurial success. At times it may feel as though interpersonal skills are impossible to teach someone who doesn’t have a knack for communication. Either you’re born being comfortable talking to strangers or you simply aren’t, right? Not really. Unlike hard skills such as computer programming or accounting, interpersonal skills are tough to measure and evaluate, but that doesn’t mean that someone who isn’t a strong communicator is doomed to never improve.

       I Don’t Have Enough Money to Start a Business.

      Twenty years ago, this wasn’t just a self-limiting belief—it was a reality for the vast majority of entrepreneurs. There were tremendous fixed costs in starting a business, such as leasing and equipping office space, purchasing plant and equipment assets, covering material and inventory costs, and hiring employees, not to mention numerous legal and regulatory hurdles.

      In the last two decades or so, these costs have been either eliminated or largely mitigated. The typical twenty-first century startup doesn’t require any of the above items. There are many businesses you can literally start right from your laptop while sitting in your local Starbucks.

      This doesn’t mean that you won’t require any funds. There are certainly costs associated with the startup process. Depending on the type of business you want to operate, your startup costs can run into a few thousand dollars, spread over time. Your baseline needs will include the following:

      1 ConnectivityA laptop, cell phone, and good internet connection are a must. (You probably already have these anyway, right?)

      2 RegistrationIncorporation, СКАЧАТЬ