Lecture: Oct 29, 2001
The Life of an Entrepreneur: a Description
What are the requirements, challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs? How do we measure entrepreneurial success? "What do you want to do when you grow up?"
| "An entrepreneur is someone who can produce two dollars of revenue for every dollar that any fool could generate." ** |
(** This is a variation of the definition of a good engineer- "an engineer is someone who can do for a dollar what any fool could do for two.")
1. The best way to start your own business is:
a) with at least one year's operating costs in the bank?
b) with no money down?
A money shortage encourages creativity. Money scarcity creates stronger businesses. Capital starvation is good for you.
2. The most important thing about a new business is:
a) having a great idea for a great product or service?
b) having good management and good execution?
Parker Bros. or Milton Bradley don't necessarily have great games and toys but they have good management and marketing.
3. Define an entrepreneur?
"An entrepreneur is someone who can (creatively) produce two dollars of revenue for every dollar that any fool could generate (given the same level of resources)."
4. How do most entrepreneurs get started?
a) They seek and obtain venture capital.
b) They borrow money from Mom, Dad or rich Uncle Buck.
c) They find a need in the marketplace and meet it by getting a bank loan.
d) They find a need in the marketplace and meet it by getting their first customer locked in and signed up, then scramble to produce the goods or services.
IMG Group got started by Mark McCormack with $500 and one client who just happened to be Arnold Palmer.
5. What is the difference between having a J.O.B. and being a true entrepreneur?
Creating long term value that eventually becomes independent of its creator or founder.
6. The Internet is all about:
a) automation*?
b) reversing out the work*?
c) shareware*?
d) supply chain management*?
d) e commerce?
e) e business*?
f) email*?
g) surfing*?
The net isn't all about Amazon.com. It is about intricating the web in work flow processes* eg., ESOPs.
7. I want to have my own Personal Web Site because:
a) it would be cool to have one.
b) I want to collect my personal IP over my career and eventually use it to create value while I'm lying on a beach.
c) here is my real reason:
___________________________________________________________________
d) I don't want one; it's a waste of time.
It is a very important way for you to collect and use your IP over your entire career.
8. My PWS could earn money for me by:
Eg., a PWS will go to school with you. If you are a school teacher, at some point you might start tutoring kids on the net. First, you have a few kids learning grade 12 calculus, then before you know it, you and your PWS have 500 kids a month. Intially you were earning $20 an hour per kid. But now your PWS is doing most of the work so you are charging $10 an hour four hours per month per student times 500 students, so now you are earning $20k per month and lying on a beach, most of the time...
9. What is bootstrap marketing or guerrilla marketing?
Getting your marketing message heard by substituting brains for dollars.
10. If I had to design a guerrilla marketing campaign for the Canadian Internet registration Authority, I would:
a) rely on a net based campaign because it is cheaper.
b) start a billboard campaign in RL (Real Life) because the dot CA TLD needs to get noticed.
c) devise a crossover campaign between RL and cyberspace, which would look like this:
___________________________________________________________________
Create a lawn sign program- get lawn signs up across Canada on July 1, 2002 for a month. Let registrants pay for it. Create a dot CA counter. Create a dot CA logo. Create a dot CA counter billboard on the front of the CIRA HQ. Let it spread to all RL billboards for those who want it. Put the dot CA counter on 250,000 web sites. Hyperlink back to CIRA's web site.
11. I am going to work for a large company or for the government so I don't need to know anything about being an entrepreneur or intrapreneur because:
a) I have job security anyway and a guaranteed job-for-life.
b) People who stick their necks out, generally get it cut off.
c) Big organizations don't need or want entrepreneurs.
d) I don't agree with the above because:
___________________________________________________________________
Corporations and government want intrapreneurs- team players who create new value. Example of "Art Frane" laid off by government after 27 years of post project reviews. Eventually became Subway franchisee.
12. My biggest asset when I'm 50 will be:
a) my house.
b) my RRSPs.
c) my pension plan.
d) my own business.
e) my personal IP.
f) other: ______________________________________
Your biggest asset by far will probably be your IP (including your personal reputation). Your personal reputation allows you to borrow from a bank, start new businesses, open doors and go places you can never get to if you have a bad rap.
13. All entrepreneurial activity and the best opportunities seem to be confined to tech:
a) True.
b) False
Ottawa Business News, the Ottawa Senators and the Corel Centre, Rentalex, Bushnel Communications (CJOH TV), Hickling Capital Corporation, ...
14. I need a personal mentor, someone to open doors for me and make it easier for me to make a sale or climb the ranks of successful entrepreneurs?
a) True.
B) False.
Darcy McBride (not his real name) asked me to be his mentor, a lifetime commitment. The answer was: 'no', at least not until he had started (with input from me) his first real business and proven that he was committed to being a real entrepreneur. "If you really want a J.O.B., you don't want someone like me as your mentor." Real contacts and real sales come from bottom up contacts reinforced from above; not top down direction which breeds resistance in the front lines to placing the order. Top down sales versus bottom up sales- what works, what doesn't.