Don’t punish everyone for one person’s mistake.

There are many reasons why people get into business. Some love the thrill and are actual entrepreneur junkies who are forever opening up one new business after another. Some are tired of having an 8 to 5 job requiring them to report to the boss who they happen to dislike or like. Though most jump into it because the want to be their own bosses and they have big dreams which they know they can achieve. The common factor here is that gone are their days of having too work for someone else, they are building their own businesses from the ground up.

Entrepreneurship is one of those things that you either have a passion for or you don’t. This explains why it is very easy for some people to risk everything they have for a business idea which they believe will work while others cannot risk it all in the same way perhaps due to various fears. That’s why you find that some inventors are not necessarily entrepreneurs. Similarly, just because you are good at coming up with business ideas doesn’t necessarily mean you are good at actual execution of the ideas.

Business is about sales. Entrepreneurs learn to sell their service or product and that success or failure is what brings them revenue. There are some salesmen you come across who immediately draw you in, they have you and next thing you know you are parting with money. Others, not so convincing, they try but their pitch simply doesn’t reel you in.

If you are not good at sales however does it mean you are lacking as an entrepreneur?

Here’s the thing, many people say they are bad at sales but most of the time they have never even tried it. Possibly out of fear of talking to strangers or they feel it is a demeaning role and sometimes they worry too much about what people think of them. They have convinced themselves that they cannot sell anything not even a toothbrush. Sales can be learnt, its not rocket science neither is it astro physics.

As an entrepreneur you are the mos timportant employee that you have. It is your idea and vision, you have the knowledge of how it will work and you have the most faith in your service or product. Without you, your start up enterprise does not exist. As long as you invest in yourself to learn what you need to learn then you will be investing in your business. A budding business is fragile and thats why its important to build the foundation on which it stands. Don’t be fooled into wondering where the foundation of your business is, because you are it.
I like to read a lot about entrepreneurs online, it inspires me to think big and to want to achieve greater depths than where I am at. One important thing I have learnt from all the reading is that there are really no new business ideas out there. I notice even amongst friends who are tired of the 8 to 5, they claim that they are looking out for that one perfect idea, and then…magic will happen. There are no new ideas. The minute you understand that the sooner you can get moving into your dream. The exception is only if you are an inventor of sorts, but in terms of business ideas you will keep searching to eternity. The key however is in uniquely providing/presenting your service or product to consumers. Instead of thinking of a business idea think of the differential factor that will make you stand out from others who are in the same work that you are interested in getting into.

In simple terms, what unique value will you add into your product or service that can have you be different and can have the customers prefer dealing with you instead of with your competitor. Yes you may be the new kid on the block in your industry but you have a brain and you have a uniqueness factor, what is it?

Naomi Kinyanjui is an aspiring enterpreneur, a Procurement Specialist by profession with a passion for life, writing and making a difference. Follow her on Procurement Mentality 101 blog where the talk is all about supply chain and procurement and maintaining professionalism in such a controversial field.

I know you know, by now, that very many businesses in Kenya is thinking or has thought about getting online. Unfortunately, a lot of them simply just get an expensive website and fail to achieve anything significant via their internet efforts. Why is it so? This happens because many people think that once they have a website, things will suddenly magically happen.

Let’s take the example of a coffee farmers co-operative union who want to try and sell their coffee at better prices by using a website to reach customers directly. Nice strategy, ama? So what do the farmers do? They hire a ‘web designer’ who charges them Kshs 25,000/- for a nice flashy website (sadly most so called ‘web designers’ will not even make you a nice website). The farmers receive their website with glee and sit back and wait. Three months later, they are still sitting, and waiting. A while later still, they are still waiting, and waiting…

A website will not work for you untill you understand why you are getting it. Before you even get the website, you should think about:

• Who is your target customer?
• Is he/she online?
• How can you reach him online?
• Is it possible to get other customers (who may not be initially people that you target) using the Internet?
• How else can being online help the business?

Once you answer these or similar questions comprehensively, you will be in a better position to make a successful website. You will understand that a website is just a tool in your overall internet strategy.

Here’s an interesting article:

Several decades ago, before I got interested in starting businesses, I met a friend who went from being penniless to becoming quite wealthy in a breathtakingly short amount of time. I asked him what the secret of getting rich was.

He said that you should find something that interests you and become an expert. For some reason, he became interested in turquoise and went from knowing nothing to becoming quite knowledgeable about the gem, the various sources, the market, and the players. One thing led to another, opportunities presented themselves and, presto change-o, my friend was showered with dough.

When I started my first business, which was an ice cream company, I had no money, I had no business experience, and I had absolutely no idea how to make ice cream. Five years later, my ice cream was judged to be the best in America by People Magazine. (See April and May 2005 archives of this blog for the whole delicious story.)

What drove the growth of my business was the growth of my knowledge of ice cream. And what drove the growth of my knowledge of ice cream was my love for the stuff.

When you start a business, what must lead the way should be your own interest in or love for whatever it is you want to do. Loving what you do miraculously attracts all the necessary resources, people and opportunities. You definitely don’t need money to start. Bootstrapping will stimulate your creativity and that is worth much more than money anyway.

Besides, money is overrated. I have found through bitter experience that there is always baggage that comes with investors’ money. You take their money and you get their karma too. What may seem like easy money is frequently filled with major headaches and not worth it in the long run. I vastly prefer the freedom and the control that comes with bootstrapping.

Source: http://lazyway.blogs.com/lazy_way/2005/10/how_to_start_a_.html