It is always more exciting and lucrative to be an entrepreneur, intrapreneur, or freelancer than being in a secure corporate job. Entrepreneurship is a career opportunity if you want to go up the social hierarchy or economic hierarchy. Let us understand that future growth will come from new ideas and therefore we must be ready to make all-out efforts for the creation of new ideas and then to invest our time, money, and resources in those ideas – to convert those ideas into technically feasible, financially viable, economically desirable, and above all sustainable businesses.
As great entrepreneurs, we must create great enterprises. This can be done by adhering to certain basic ideas:
#1
The first and the foremost factor is the choice of people we are going to work with. Hire the best people with excellent domain knowledge, skills, and experience. They should be good team players and possess above-average interpersonal skills. They must be go-getters and know how to survive in cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary work settings. Let us not forget that only excellent people will be able to build excellent organizations.
#2
The second element to focus on is building great internal business processes for your organization. This can be done with professional help and support from consultants, and experts. This is again teamwork where your own executives work with outside consultants to develop and institute various processes and flowcharts. The presence of such established processes lays the groundwork for the smooth conduction of day-to-day working.
#3
After ensuring that you have competent people and world-class business processes – the third idea deals with developing conducive management and operational culture within the enterprise. Once you have done this – you are all set to make those wonderful decisions that take your organization ahead towards success and profitability. Remember that it is the quality of your decisions and actions that eventually drives you towards success.
#4
The fourth aspect is about instituting a system of planning, monitoring, and control. Here, you can depend upon concepts like Budgetary Controls, Gantt Charts, and other computerized software to monitor and control activities, budgets, timelines (schedules), and costs. You also must institute a robust MIS (Management Information System) to ensure that you provide all necessary information to your top management without any delay.
#5
Last but not the least – do identify a mentor who can be a friend, philosopher, and guide to you at every stage in your professional as well as your personal life. Work in close association with your mentor to prepare a grand action blueprint for your future. Carefully analyze scenarios and fine-tune your decisions and/or action plans depending upon the situation. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely and confusing journey, especially at the start. A mentor plays the role of the constant support that guides you towards your goals, towards success. The primary purpose of a mentor is to help drive your personal/professional growth. Your mentor can also help you to enhance your knowledge, and build the required skills. Mentors can also be useful to you in building your network by making introductions for you to their own contacts.
There’s more…
Apart from the above, there are many social issues involved when you’re starting a business. It’s important to structure your time and set boundaries so you have balance in your life. This makes you more productive, more present when you’re working in your business and gives your family much-needed time and attention. Network wisely and benefit from the social environment of networking by listening to others. Make a difference in your community and in the world by partnering with charities and NGOs and building a loyal clientele in the process. By addressing the social issues with starting a new business and developing useful strategies for dealing with them, you’ll feel less drained by the start-up stress and have more time with your family. And, with your full attention and smart strategies, your start-up will stand a chance of being more successful and profitable in the long run.