|
 Entrepreneurship
is the art of finding profitable
solutions to problems. Every successful
entrepreneur, every successful businessperson has been a
person who has been able to identify a problem and come up with
a solution to it before somebody else did. Here are the five
rules for entrepreneurship.
Find a Need and Fill It
First, find a need and fill it.
Ross Perot, when he was working for IBM, saw that his customers
who were buying IBM computers, needed help in processing their
data. He went to IBM with this idea and they said they weren't
interested, so he started his own business. He eventually sold
it out for $2.8 billion dollars. He found a need and he filled
it.
Find a Problem and Solve It
4 Types of Problems
Problem
Solving Strategies: 4 Levels
Creative
Problem Solving
Turning Problems Into Opportunities: 6 Tips
The second rule is to find a
problem and solve it. A secretary working for a small company
began mixing flour with nail varnish in order to white out the
mistakes she was making in her typing. Pretty soon, her friends
in the same office asked if she could make some for them. So she
began mixing it on her kitchen table. Then, people in other
offices started asking for it, and she eventually quit her
business and worked full time creating what is today called
Liquid Paper. A few years ago, she sold her company to Gillette
Corporation for 47 million dollars.
The Tao of Customer Value Creation
Look for Solutions
Find
a problem and
solve it. Find a problem that
everybody's got and see if you can't come up
with a solution for it. Find a way to supply
a product or a service better, cheaper,
faster or easier. Clemmons Wilson saw that
there was a need for hotels that could
accommodate families that were traveling,
and he started Holiday Inns. And Holiday
Inns has now become one of the most
successful hotel chains in the world.
The Tao of Entrepreneurial
Creativity
Focus on Your Customer
 Here's
the key to
success in business. Become obsessed
with your
customer. Fixated on your customer.
Think of the customer. Think of what the
customer wants, what the customer needs. What the customer will pay for, what the
customer's problems are. Thomas J.
Watson, Senior, the founder of IBM,
taught his people and built his company
on this principle. See yourself as
working for the customer. Once you've
come up with a
product or an idea, then start to
invest your time, talent and energy
instead of your money, to get started.
Customer Success 360
The Source of Most Great Fortunes
Remember this, most great fortunes
in America were started with an idea and with personal efforts.
Most great fortunes were started with the sale of personal
services. This is called sweat equity. In other words, instead
of cash equity, put in sweat equity. Put in the sweat of your
brow to begin your business. You can learn valuable lessons
operating on a small scale.
Action
Exercises
Here are two things you can do
immediately to put these ideas into action:
First,
find a need and fill it. Look around you and search for
needs that people have for products or services that are not
being met. One small idea is enough to start you on the way to
business success.
Second,
find a problem and solve it. Look around you for problems
that you or other people have that are not yet being solved.
Look for solutions that nobody has thought of and give them a
try. One good solution could change the whole direction of
your life.
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