Having the drive to start a business and to reap the benefits of running one is something everyone wants. Especially for entrepreneurs who keep holding on to their dreams and hopes of giving their best to their community, their people, and their country.
But we often hear about, or even witness firsthand, businesses that have been running for a long time coming to a stop because they couldn't be sustained. For those of us watching from the outside, this isn't unusual. But for those going through it, it's deeply painful.
In this piece, we'll try to discuss what needs to be the main focus so that a business already up and running can be sustained and grown. Not only for those who already have a business, but also for those looking to start one.
Find the Opportunity
An entrepreneur who can spot an opportunity is one who has the confidence and conviction that their venture will succeed. They also stay open to ideas and input on how their business is run, keeping as open a mind as possible by asking themselves whether this really is the best way. Beyond that, a strong work ethic and communication skills become non-negotiable requirements.
Dr. D.J. Schwartz reminds opportunity-seekers with an entrepreneurial spirit to never be satisfied with what they've already achieved, to believe and trust that whatever they set out to do will succeed, to avoid falling into a static or monotonous rhythm, to ask themselves every day “how can I do this even better,” to always seek out more information and listen to input whenever they're unsure, and to keep as open a mind as possible.
To back up that advice, Paul Charlap sums up success in four elements: Work Hard, Work Smart, Enthusiasm, and Service. Of these four, it's the service part that we tend to forget.
We forget what all that hard work, smart work, and high energy is actually for: to serve the customer. Customer focus, again, has to be a central point in everything we do.
Alright. To make it easy to map out into a solid business plan, these opportunities need to be weighed against Threats (external, conditions outside ourselves) and Weaknesses (internal, conditions within ourselves). We can only manage this if we're exposed to, or take in, a lot of information, whether it's written information or information presented in the form of real events.
To analyze which business opportunity is worth working on and growing, we first need to install the Entrepreneur Inside mindset. From there, the analysis we have to do is making sure our interests and talents are a good fit, having a rough picture of the capital we'll need to spend, and having potential relationships and networks to carry out the business.
Simply put, apply the following Nine Stars:
- Make sure we already have the “Entrepreneur Inside” entrepreneurial spirit.
- Confident, Convinced, Open-Minded, and Constantly Gathering Information.
- Finding and Writing Down Ideas.
- Making Sure That Idea Comes from Hard Work, Smart Work, and High Energy.
- Making Sure That Idea Is Customer-Oriented.
- Doing a SWOT Analysis.
- Measuring the Gap Between Our Interest/Talent and That Opportunity.
- Roughly Calculating the Capital Needed.
- Mapping Out the Relationships/Network We Have.
Weigh the Risk
We can't take an opportunity without first calculating and weighing the risk that comes with it. There's no opportunity without risk. They come as a package. A good opportunity is one with the lowest possible level of risk. And if a high risk can't be avoided, we need to make sure that opportunity also carries a high enough level of “profitability” to match.
What Are the Risks in Business?
- Changes in Demand
- Competition
- Technological Change
- Changes in Regulation
- Crisis: Economic, Financial, Resource, and Humanitarian
So in risk analysis, the question we keep coming back to is: “how do we make sure we use this opportunity as well as possible, with the smallest possible risk of failure?”
First of all, there's our surrounding environment. We can't make use of a business opportunity that goes against the law, norms, and culture of the community around us. That's non-negotiable. Even though we often see people take this kind of opportunity despite the high risk, like selling “forbidden goods.” That will never count as a real opportunity for anyone who has already applied “Entrepreneur Inside”.
Second, there's market demand for the business idea we want to implement, and the number of competitors already doing something similar to what we've planned. Whatever we offer usually has some demand behind it.
But that's not really the point.
What we should really focus on when analyzing this is how big the gap is between demand and supply. And whether anyone else, or any other business, is already trying to fill that gap. The wider the gap, and the fewer people filling it, the smaller the risk we face.
Third, our strength to hold out through the business cycle. Talking about strength in the business cycle means talking about Assets, both Tangible and Intangible. Tangible assets are cash, inventory, and other things that are easy to liquidate. Intangible assets are things like the reliable people we have, the trademark, the business name, and the goodwill already attached to it. This consideration matters a great deal, because the fight ahead can turn out to be long and exhausting. We need to make sure we have enough logistics to see it through.
Again and again, remember: “Avoiding risk will never get us anywhere, but taking an opportunity without calculating the risk will only speed up a business's collapse.”
Rich in Skill
One of the requirements for building our staying power is a resilient workforce, well-trained and great. What does trained and great actually mean? Just use this as the measure:
- Well-Organized. Trained to Be Neat and Orderly.
- Strong Sense of Purpose. Trained to Hold On to Vision and Mission.
- Spontaneous. Trained to Act Quickly.
- Sensitive. Trained to Be Attuned to Every Change.
- Self-Confidence. Great at Believing in Themselves.
- Fun. Great at Enjoying the Process.
- Persistent. Great at Holding On and Fighting Through.
- Driven. Great at Controlling and Directing.
- Enthusiastic. Great at Bringing Energy.
This kind of well-trained, great workforce has to be built. When there isn't enough time to build it, it's not unusual for entrepreneurs, in order to keep their business going, to “buy” or “rent” that talent instead. That's normal in the business world, while a resilient workforce keeps being built in parallel. So what kind of culture does this resilient workforce bring?
– Always Learning From Failure. Never letting a failure happen without recording it as a lesson learned, so it doesn't happen again. Remember the motivation Thomas Edison used to give?
– Making Corrections. Not just recording the failure, but fixing it right away, and sharing that experience with others so they don't repeat the same mistake.
– Never once blaming other people, other departments, or their surroundings. Instead, they offer to help, to contribute to whichever area feels weak.
– Keep trying, work hard, stay persistent, and never give up. At a glance these words sound the same. But believe me, the spirit behind each of them is different. Keep trying lives in the mind. Work hard is an action. Stay persistent is what you do when the results of your hard work fall short. Never give up is what you do when, while trying to fix a setback, you run into failure instead.
These are people who weren't shaped by financial motivation alone, but by a genuinely strong character. They have both theory and experience behind their actions, and they have role models guiding their lives.
A business that wants to sustain itself has to have a resilient workforce. That resilient workforce has its creativity driven by a strong work ethic, a work ethic shaped by the desire to worship: seeing work itself as a blessing from God Almighty, feeling called to carry a mandate through from start to finish, seeing work as a place to realize one's own abilities, taking pleasure in the craft of it, feeling honored to be given responsibility, and always wanting to be of service.
If a business, whether ongoing or just starting out, has all three of these things, its ability to hold its ground is already strong enough to keep growing and become something big. All that's left is to leave the outcome to God Almighty. In the end, it comes down to our intention, our strong effort, and our prayer. God willing, our business will endure, continuing to do good work that benefits our community, our nation, and our country.
We deserve to be congratulated.
Congratulations on Enduring and Excelling!!
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