Think like an Entrepreneur
– to “Own your Future” – the title of book
from Soundview Summaries 08 Sept 14 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz
Changing Technology: In the past, long-standing, respected, industry-leading companies might disappear due to competition from nimble upstarts; today, as author Paul Brown describes in the early pages of Own your Future, it is entire industries that keep unexpectedly and jarringly disappearing: “Been to a music store lately? Drop off any photos to be processed? Used a pay phone? … Used a travel agent to book a routine vacation? Probably not.”
What does this mean for building careers? It means, according to Brown, that career plans are often useless. If you were an associate marketing manager for TomTom and had a plan to work up to regional manager and, some day, director of marketing, those plans ended when the unthinkable happened to the stand-alone GPS market: car manufacturers started including them in their cars. The same holds true for the ambitious low-level manager at Blockbuster.
The bottom line, according to Brown, is simple: don’t have a set plan! Brown has a better idea for dealing with the uncertainty of today’s world: a methodology known as ALBR [Act, Learn, Build, Repeat] – Wiz4biz suggests Act, Learn, Adjust, Grow, then look for new opportunities
What Serial Entrepreneurs do.
Nobody knows more about uncertainty, writes Brown, than serial entrepreneurs. Launching a company is always an exercise in terrifying uncertainty: Will my products or services attract customers? Will they be willing to pay the price that I need them to pay? Serial entrepreneurs – those who are always looking for the next business to start -thrive on such uncertainty. And for that reason, he writes, thinking like a serial entrepreneur is the best way to succeed in an uncertain economy – the path that serial entrepreneurs take as they launch their latest business.
1. Follow their Passion. Serial entrepreneurs set out to do what they want to do. Not every company launched by a serial entrepreneur was based on a passion. But at the very least, there was desire: serial entrepreneurs start companies doing something they want to do.
2. Take the Risk, ACT !!! Serial entrepreneurs don’t spend years pondering an idea. No company was thought into being. But when they do act, they take a small step toward their goal. They don’t risk everything, they take calculated risk. And they don’t become paralyzed by thoughts of “what if ” or “what might happen”. They just go ahead & do it !!!
3. Learn. After taking a small step, Serial Entrepreneurs stop and see what they have learned from that small step. Is the market response suggesting a different course? Do they still have the desire to move forward, or do they think they would like to do something else?
4. Adjust & build on what they’ve learned. After taking a small step and pausing & reflecting on that small step, Serial entrepreneurs use the lessons of the first step to develop the next step.
5. Repeat on this situation or the next, and start the Act, Learn, Adjust process all over again. This is the methodology that Serial entrepreneurs use to deal with the endless uncertainty of launching new companies, the methodology that helped organizations deal with uncertainty and, in Own Your Future, the methodology that will help individuals build successful companies & careers.
Challenging other advice that is most often seen in other books. (e.g., the oft-repeated maxim that “If you do what you love, the money will follow” is a wish, it’s a false hope; the money may not follow). From overcoming obstacles and choosing between love & money to how to act entrepreneurially. Own your Future is packed with advice and keen insight for those looking for their next opportunity -. which should be everybody !!!
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