I attended a session this morning on entrepreneurship led by Holly Hamann, one of the founders of BlogFrog. She shared some great points about starting and building a business and I thought I would just summarize the class. Here we go ...
There are several myths she reviewed to starting a business:
1. Entrepreneurs look like Donald Trump, Steve Jobs, or Oprah Winfrey.
The truth is that an entrepreneur can be anyone!
2. A poor economy is a bad time to start a business.
In fact, given the right idea it could be an optimal time to start a business. During a recession rent and labor can be found at significantly less expensive. You will have more flexibility in negotiations which will allow you to save some money to be spent in others areas.
3. The market doesn't need one more.
Key point is there is always room for innovation. How can you be innovative? You can be innovative by being low cost, luxury, faster, smaller, stylish, high quality, special needs, or for the social good.
Holly also discussed 10 abilities an entpreneur needs to have:
1. Ability to recognize opportunity.
2. Ability to build teams.
3. Ability to drive innovation.
4. Ability to gather and process information.
5. FOCUS
6. Tolerance for risk.
7. Ability to make decisions.
8. Willingness to be wrong.
9. Network of mentors.
10. Learn to talk about money.
A couple of great quotes/statements:
100% of the shots you don't take, don't go in.
According to the Federal Resereve, equity in small business makes up the 2nd largest share of household wealth, 2nd to only home equity.
If you think your idea has no competition, it's not good enough.
These are my notes from the session.
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