The Role, Responsibility, and Commitment Plan in an Entrepreneur's success

When we were born, our parents started taking care of us. As we grew older, they kept on feeding us, nurturing us, sending us to school and continued to do so until the ripe old age of 18. This is the age of rude awakening, being asked by our parents to go out and get a job. Disclaimer, this is not usually the set-up in households but just the majority of the households.

So, as raw, unskilled talent, young people go out and seek employment. Some get lucky, some, well, not so lucky. A lot are doomed to become corporate slaves, others public servants. Then, there’s the unique breed of individuals who are destined to be entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs, people who possess the talent, the business acumen, the ability to make innovations. But wait a minute, people like Jessica Simpson; Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, and Paris Hilton are also considered successful entrepreneurs. It’s hard to believe these people possess all that.

What makes an entrepreneur? How does someone become an entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurs are different from your garden variety Janes and Joes because they are able to set up their own operations and businesses. They are the ones who take the leap of faith, not afraid to conquer the uncertainties and pitfalls of going into business.

Let’s take a look at some of the most prominent entrepreneurs:

Michael Dell – He started his business by selling computers from his dorm room, customizing and / or upgrading the computers of other students. He capitalized on the thought that people can save more if they directly bought from the manufacturer instead of buying it from a middle man (usually the store that sells the goods). He’s now one of the richest men in the world.

Richard Branson, he didn’t finish college, as a matter of fact, he even dropped out of school at the age of 16. Okay, he may have had the money but there are a lot of blue blooded people who are having financial problems. With his savvy business acumen and bohemian lifestyle he was able to establish Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Records.

Bill Gates – The nerdy boy who dropped out of college had set up his own company Microsoft along with his friend Paul Allen and started developing software products. He became the richest man in the world and ruled that spot for more than a decade.

Vera Wang – This American Chinese designer created a niche for the bridal fashion industry. Who would have thought that after hundreds of years of American women getting married year after year after year that no one had thought about establishing a specialty boutique for wedding dresses?

Lakshmi Mittal – He is Britain’s richest guy for five years but did you know that he was just a regular worker in a steel mill factory in India? He pursued his dreams, got an education, started up buying companies that were on the verge of closing down and he turned them into profitable business ventures. His rise to the top is truly a rags to riches story.

Same story with Carlos Slim Helu, this unknown billionaire knocked of Bill Gates from the top position. He is the first Latin born billionaire and the richest the one at that. He had the skill of turning companies into profitable ventures.

If we take a look at these people, they all have something in common – they have the guts. They gamble on their fates even when it is uncertain if they will become successful.

Guts or courage is an important trait of an entrepreneur. The major role that an entrepreneur plays is that he or she is willing to take risks investing on ventures that do not have a clear outcome if it will be successful or not.

Entrepreneurs play the role of discoverers of hidden, untapped profitable resources. They are also inventors and jetsetters, not afraid to bank on their ideas and boldly pursue them.

You will notice entrepreneurs always seem to have foresight and a positive attitude. Like the people mentioned, they have this in common – they would invest on a company, idea or an existing situation. Most of the time the stuff they invest on is either going bankrupt or the idea hasn’t been thought of yet.

I was fortunate enough to speak with another great entrepreneur, Mr. Edward DuCoin, who at the ripe old age of 18, with only $500 was able to set-up his own business from his bedroom. Ed’s secret: he had a positive attitude. He always started his day with the word, "I CAN!" He completely erased the words, "I can’t" and "but" from his vocabulary. With his positive attitude he was able to establish Impact Marketing which was named one of the fastest growing companies for 3 years in a row. It was even publicly traded on NASDAQ. Ed, who is also a motivational speaker by profession, shares some pointers on how to become a successful entrepreneur. One of the things I learned was indeed the positive attitude towards things. When you think positive good things will come to you. Also, one should dare to dream and have the courage to face uncertainty. Setting up a business or acquiring one is not an easy task. You’ve got to be ready for the onslaught of problems and hindrances that will come along your way.

Positive thinking and guts are important in being an entrepreneur. As Ed mentioned, you also have got to have a success plan, and a good one at that. To be able to have a great success plan, you have got to have a business plan. In my opinion, if you combine positive thinking, guts plus a well developed and thought of business plan; it will equate to one thing: SUCCESS.

For budding entrepreneurs, like myself, who has no clue on what a business plan is, there are a lot of materials that can be researched and sourced from the web. Some sites even offer free software so you can draft your business plan from scratch. According to Wikipedia a business plan is formal statement and/or document that states the business goals, why those goals can be achieved and what are the plans to achieve those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals.

I’m quoting this from bplans.com, "your business plan should be your roadmap to success not just a one-time document." So, we kind of get the idea that it’s not enough to just write down your goals on a piece of paper. We also need to commit on the implementation of those goals.

Based on what I’ve researched on the internet; to start a business plan, we need to outline the objectives, mission, and keys to success. We could then continue with the description of the company that we’re going to set up, this will go to the company summary. We also need to know our target market and the strategy on how to get through that market and/ or demographic. When we draft our strategies to get through our target market, we must also plan on how we are going to manage the implementation. From this point, we can now start the financial plan. It is important to take into consideration the cash flow. This is where the business plan usually fails because a lot of new entrepreneurs have the habit of counting the chicks before the eggs hatch meaning they are thinking about profits but hasn’t completely figured out on how they are going to fund the project or investment. We have to take into consideration the costs of the project and have the appropriate cash flow for it. Other things to consider about the business plan are inflation and when are we going to implement it. The worst part in establishing a business plan is procrastination, "why do it today when you can do it tomorrow?" If you want to be successful, strike while the iron is hot. And we should also take into consideration, inflation; the cost of making a product or providing a service may not be the same today as it is for the next week. We need to project possible losses and break even points in our plan.

As a budding entrepreneur on Odesk, I’ve learned that we do need to plan to be successful in obtaining projects and clients. We also need to learn about time management to be able to juggle clients so that we can give them the attention they need and want. Anyone can become an entrepreneur as long as you put your heart in it. We shouldn’t let fear of failure get in our way. With the right tools, the urge to follow our dreams and a success plan, I believe there is a very good chance to achieve whatever it is that we want to achieve. I’d like to quote Ed DuCoin for my ending, "YES, YOU CAN."



Visit Ed DuCoin's sites: http://newedventures.com

http://www.motocyclecorp.com

http://www.purifysolutions.com

http://njnouns.blogspot.com