Start your own business.
A friend took me to dinner to pick my brain about her new business. She
was excited: she had a great idea, had lined up a strategic partner, and
was raring to go. She had visions of raising millions of dollars. I felt
terrible telling her that while her ambition was admirable, her business
plan was lousy. Now, that\'s not to say she can\'t raise money for her new company. These
days it seems like even the craziest idea can raise $100 million. But,
it\'s not enough to have an idea you can convince others to invest in; you
have to have the basis for a solid, real business. No matter how much money you can raise for a company, at some point,
real customers are going to decide whether they want to buy your product
or service. Even if customers are willing to buy, you need to have a
business operation that enables you to make sufficient profit to
survive. So what were the problems - and there were many of them - with my
friend\'s idea? First, like many novice entrepreneurs, her idea was too grandiose. She
had too many services, serving to diverse a market, to be able to
successfully develop anyone aspect. The single biggest problem facing
entrepreneurs is lack of focus. It\'s a big enough challenge to stay
focused on even a narrowly defined market with a clearly delineated
product; when you take on too much, especially in the early days of a
company, you almost guarantee defeat. My friend\'s business could have
easily been broken up into two or three businesses, any one of which might
possibly succeed. But she was committed to serving the whole market. Many entrepreneurs, of course, fall to the other extreme: their
business idea is so narrowly defined that it\'s actually the basis for just
one product - or just one feature of a product - rather than a whole
business. This is particularly true in two categories: consumer products
and technology. Let\'s say, for example, that you have a great recipe for a
new kind of sauce. One sauce, no matter how terrific, might not be enough
to build a whole company around; you might need to come up with a line of
sauces. When your business idea is too limited, you may not be able to get big
enough to survive. Even if you are successful, you\'re vulnerable if
a larger company later decides to mimic your idea. The good news - and
this particularly happens in technology or if you can develop a cultlike
following of customers - is that your company becomes an excellent
candidate to be acquired by a company that wants to include your product
as part of their offerings. You won\'t be your own boss, but you might get
a pile of cash. The next biggest dilemma in my friend\'s business was she hadn\'t
considered the real costs of delivering her proposed services. One of
rules is "Things take longer and cost more than planned." To be
successful, my friend\'s company depended on achieving lower costs than her
competitors. She thought she could do this just because she was operating
on the Internet. Get real! An Internet business is just like a land-based
company: you still need customer service, employees, and substantial
marketing efforts. If you\'re depending on cost savings for a competitive
advantage, prove that such savings can actually be achieved and sustained. Finally, my friend\'s biggest problem was my friend. She\'s stubborn,
unwilling to listen, insistent on getting and keeping control. (So why is
she my friend? That\'s another column.:) It\'s not enough to have a great
idea, or even great operations. A company needs leadership and management.
You can\'t build a business without building a team. You have to work with
people; not just have them work for you. It\'s not always easy to scale back your vision or your need to be in
charge. But if you want to grow a company, not just make yourself a job,
you\'ve got to consider whether your good idea can really be a good
business.
Take it into account!
Unfortunately, some potential business owners abandon their ideas too
easily believing that if an idea has flaws, the concept is unsalvageable.
To help you avoid this trap, use the five instances of idea-roadblock
listed here to determine how you can keep going if your idea isn\'t
perfect. You\'re hardly the first
Problem: Lots of people are already running businesses doing what
you planned on doing.
Solution: Examine the field and see if there is still room for you.
Often, lots of businesses cater to the same customer, but leave
some small niche underserved. For example, if you planned on starting a
dance studio and you find that there are already too many in town, there
may be a market for someone who goes to private parties and teaches large
groups of people who don\'t have time to go to a dance studio. To find an
underserved niche, look at the current offerings of your future
competitors and think about what narrow markets you may be able to serve
that they are overlooking. Too late?
Problem: You are too late to market.
Solution: Just because other companies beat you to market doesn\'t mean
you won\'t be successful. In fact, the first company to market has to spend
a lot of money educating buyers about why this new product or service is
worth purchasing. You can also learn from the mistakes of your
predecessors. For example, look at how Microsoft came into the spreadsheet
market and took over with Excel after Lotus had been dominant with its
1-2-3 product. Flat industry
Problem: Your research tells you the industry is flat.
Solution: See if you can look at the business a totally new way. For
example, a movie theater owner in Europe who recently entered a market
that was saturated and suffering from a lack of customers. However, by
starting a movie theater with huge comfortable seats, lots of parking, and
other amenities that transformed the movie-going experience, he was able
to pack his theater night after night. Prohibitive costs
Problem: Set-up costs are too high.
Solution: Start out as a contractor to a business that you want to
create. For example, if you really want to own a bakery, but you cannot
afford rent, start out by baking a few goods and supplying them to
existing bakeries. Over time you can save enough money to have your own
store. Lack of information
Problem: You can\'t find information about the industry to determine
if your idea is viable.
Solution: The best way to learn about an industry is to talk to small
business owners who are in it. Many entrepreneurs will be willing to share
a few hours with you to explain how they got started, and how the business
works. As long as you are not potentially direct competitors, you will
find many entrepreneurs helpful. You may need to call 50 people to find
five who will help.
Unknown words:
survive - выжить, уцелеть
entrepreneur - предприниматель
delineated - выраженный, разграниченный
vulnerable - уязвимый, ранимый
stubborn - упрямый, упорный
cater to - удовлетворять, угождать
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