How to be a successful entrpreneur?

[Brian Linton]

Hi all,

I wanted to start a thread here to find out what you guys think it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

I write regualarly on my website (www.brianlinton.com) about my life as a full time, young entrepreneur, and I have just recently decided to launch a how to guide on 'How to be a Successful Entrepreneur'.

I have a great list of the topics I will cover here, but I would love to get input from the YE community about what they think.

Any recommendations of topics to cover?

Cheers,
Brian


Nothing to Lose - Entrepreneurial Lessons and Adventures

[lisamommy]

I think if you want it bad enough in your lifetime (and sooner than later) than you will get it. You will do what needs to be done, find what works and learn from what doesn't. If someone gives up they will never know what kind of success they could have had.

[ActionJackson]

Your only role is to become excellent at marketing and selling your product.

Find the best strategy to find customers and sell your product and ride it till the wheels fall off

[tksays]

Becoming a successful entrepreneur is simly if only you san pay the price. Learn every thing you need to know about entrepreneurship, develop a plan, and simply go to action.
Success!

[TheBigIdea]

got to have the entrepreneurial bug - often times, i can't help looking at the angles of a business , understanding how it works, coming up with a plan to tackle it and before i know it, it's good to go and revenue starts flowing in.

anyone else have the same bug?

[SmarterGroup]

It is relatively easy to plod along managing one (or two) businesses and make a decent living although I am doubtful as to whether or not this is actually considered entrepreneurship.

I therefore strongly disagree with your comment:

"Even people who sell cat poop coffee are entrepreneurs!"

In my humble opinion "real" entrepreneurs are the likes of Richard Branson or, on a lesser scale, Duncan Bannatyne - people who can apply themselves to almost any business and still succeed.

Entrepreneurs create change. Someone who pipes up with a coffee stand near Starbucks can make a few quid, but this is not entrepreneurship. The team behind Starbucks created change in the way people think about coffee - if they hadn't, you wouldn't see one on nearly every street in the developed workd! Therefore, they are the entrepreneurs, not the chump selling "poop coffee".

I shall end my mini rant by saying there needs to be a better distinction between owner managers and entrepreneurs. I can see many an owner manager spouting entrepreneurship gospel, and it simply doesn't hold......

[drewevans]

It is relatively easy to plod along managing one (or two) businesses and make a decent living although I am doubtful as to whether or not this is actually considered entrepreneurship.

I therefore strongly disagree with your comment:

"Even people who sell cat poop coffee are entrepreneurs!"

In my humble opinion "real" entrepreneurs are the likes of Richard Branson or, on a lesser scale, Duncan Bannatyne - people who can apply themselves to almost any business and still succeed.

Entrepreneurs create change. Someone who pipes up with a coffee stand near Starbucks can make a few quid, but this is not entrepreneurship. The team behind Starbucks created change in the way people think about coffee - if they hadn't, you wouldn't see one on nearly every street in the developed workd! Therefore, they are the entrepreneurs, not the chump selling "poop coffee".

I shall end my mini rant by saying there needs to be a better distinction between owner managers and entrepreneurs. I can see many an owner manager spouting entrepreneurship gospel, and it simply doesn't hold......

I agree with you completely.

I don't call myself an entrepreneur even though i run a company and i happen to be young. However... i certainly plan to be one which is half the reason i am here, although theoretically, do you think the 'real' entrepreneurs would use a site like this?

I'm not poking fun, that's a genuine question.

[Shadesz]

It is relatively easy to plod along managing one (or two) businesses and make a decent living although I am doubtful as to whether or not this is actually considered entrepreneurship.

I therefore strongly disagree with your comment:

"Even people who sell cat poop coffee are entrepreneurs!"

In my humble opinion "real" entrepreneurs are the likes of Richard Branson or, on a lesser scale, Duncan Bannatyne - people who can apply themselves to almost any business and still succeed.

Entrepreneurs create change. Someone who pipes up with a coffee stand near Starbucks can make a few quid, but this is not entrepreneurship. The team behind Starbucks created change in the way people think about coffee - if they hadn't, you wouldn't see one on nearly every street in the developed workd! Therefore, they are the entrepreneurs, not the chump selling "poop coffee".

I shall end my mini rant by saying there needs to be a better distinction between owner managers and entrepreneurs. I can see many an owner manager spouting entrepreneurship gospel, and it simply doesn't hold......

I agree with you completely.

I don't call myself an entrepreneur even though i run a company and i happen to be young. However... i certainly plan to be one which is half the reason i am here, although theoretically, do you think the 'real' entrepreneurs would use a site like this?

I'm not poking fun, that's a genuine question.

I would jump in here and say I completely agree! Honestly I was excited when I joined this community a few days ago. I must admit it has let me down.

This site seems to have a few inherent weaknesses. I will not elaborate but simply put there are a lot of ambitious dreams and a relatively small amount of entrepreneurial wisdom.

I probably wont continue my stay here for long. But I will sneak in a few opinions that stem form things I have observed.

1- Creating a substantial revenue stream through a website does not make you an entrepreneur. Yes this especially means the folks who blog/forum/etc. for advertisement revenue.

2- An investor generates income, an entrepreneur creates a little more, ok a lot more. It appears that a lot of the people on this site want to "invest" their time until they make enough money so they can be "free". These are investors not entrepreneurs. Most real entrepreneurs commit their life to building business; usually with a significant lifetime sacrifice.

and 3- This might be more of a pet peeve than anything but in my opinion an entrepreneur needs to be governed with a certain moral standard. His businesses must contribute to the strength/progress of society. I see no reason why this site should permit any discussion relating to the 'Adult' industry. Putting aside my personal reasons this site is frequented by people much to young to even view such things, not to mention discuss, or read discussion about. It is talked about casually here and read by young people who are still learning moral standards. There is no way they can read this casual discussion and not be influenced by it. For those who think there is no problem with that just remember there are wise reasons for the age laws in the 'adult' industry.

But anyways to answer drewevens' question about "real" entrepreneurs I would have to say a pretty firm "no". PM me if you want me to expand...

[Brian Linton]

Wow, I see this thread has generated a lot of strong opinions about the topic of entrepreneurship; that's great! I love a good discussion and debate.

However, I will have to strongly strongly disagree with those who say that an entrepreneur is more than somebody who just makes their own income (such as the person who sells cat poop coffee). The person who sells cat poop coffee is an entrepreneur! How could he not be??

Let me just throw the official definition of 'entrepreneur' out there:

1. a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
2. an employer of productive labor; contractor.

You can debate 'entrepreneur' all you want, but you don't have to be a big shot like Richard Branson to be an entrepreneur. The beautiful thing about entrepreneurship is that anybody can be an entrepreneur and you can sell anything to be an entrepreneur.

To address a few people directly:

SmarterGroup - I disagree with you. An entrepreneur does not have to evoke change (although this is good), and does not have to be a big shot like, as you mentioned, Richard Branson. And sadly enough, even if some chump starts selling coffee from a stand next to Starbucks, he is an entrepreneur. He has seen an opportunity, decided to act on it, and make money from it. Yes, there are different scales of entrepreneur, but saying that they are not 'real' entrepreneurs is false.

Drewevans - You are an entrepreneur! If you are as you say you are, and run a company, it doesn't matter how young you are...if you run a company and make money you are an entrepreneur....how could you not be? And yes, I think plenty of 'real' entrepreneurs visit this site, after all, the whole premise of this site is for young, 'real', entrepreneurs to network with each other.

Shadesz - I disagree with you on what you say about those who generate revenue through advertisement revenue on their website not being entrepreneurs...online business is what Gen Y entrepreneurs have excelled in. Those who create a website that people want to come to and then sell ads on it ARE true entrepreneurs---you don't have to sell a concrete, physical product to be an entrepreneur; again, that is the beautiful thing about entrepreneurship, you can sell anything and be an entrepreneur. Also, I would love to side with you and say that a 'real' entrepreneur needs to adhere to some moral standards, and therefore someone running an 'adult' website is not a entrepreneur...however, I can't. Those generating revenue from running an adult website are entrepreneurs, and although I completely disagree with the industry I cannot say they are not entrepreneurs.


Ok, so I think this is a fascinating discussion, and I realize I am taking a fairly staunch stance on the dictionary definition of 'entrepreneur', so I challenge you all to continue this discussion. It is interesting to see the different ways people interpret 'entrepreneur'.

So let's keep up the debate...


Cheers,
Brian


check out my website for more on being an entrepreneur (even for those of you who don't think I am a 'real' entrepreneur): Nothing to Lose - Entrepreneurial Lessons and Adventures

[Kaizen]

I think you have to distinguish between SMEMS - self made millionnaire entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs in general.

Sure people sell cat poop, but if they have the drive to take it to the next level - thats what I'd call entrepreneurship.

I guess my personal idea of an entrepreneur is someone who seeks adventure, and never rests on their laurels.


K

[Shadesz]

Just finished a phone call. Heading to bed, but this was too good to pass up.

Brian,

I am impressed with the mature way you received our opinions. I believe that disagreements can spur progress and creativity, assuming both sides do not get too emotionally involved. So to that, kudos.

I would ask some questions about your two definitions of entrepreneur...

1. a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
2. an employer of productive labor; contractor.

What is a business? What is an employer?

The nature of language evolution will force any debate to not rely on formal definitions. Reason being is there are too many definitions for each word. Thus reason and personal opinion is really all that any argument may rely on.

Having said that, the reasons I believe even your definitions of entrepreneur support my position...

1- A business requires employees. A person who has created a website with significant advertisement income has not created a system that requires employees. They have built an income stream. They are an investor, not entrepreneur. You could say that the website is a file in their investment portfolio. Heck they could even sell that website to an investor. NOW if they created a sustainable company that employed (with financial compensation) people to continuously publish various content THEN they would be acting as an entrepreneur. That business (notice it is more than a website, it is a system that employs multiple people) would be worth orders of magnitude more money should they decide to sell.

2- Per your definition... "usually with considerable initiative and risk"
I will give some credit to the initiative required to create the web content requisite to generating traffic and thus cash flow... but where is the risk? To me 60 bucks, time, and a little knowledge are not things to be tagged as "risky". Again an internet add program relates more with investing than creating a business. Now add a commitment to pay your writers (employees) a set income. Writers who rely on that income to support themselves and/or their families... now you have risk... you are the writer you might try to justify... well... see point 5.

3- A technician minded person (in this case web programmer and publisher) will usually work, and work, and work, only to find that they own a job, not a business. Drewevans mentioned the book "E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber. If you haven't read it yet shame on you! It will help you understand the difference. Robert Kyosaki might help a little too. Or John F. Love. Or some things Covey has said.

4- Again per your definition.. "An employer of productive labor" Umm after you built your site, where is the productive labor? Sure you have to maintain content etc. but that takes us back to owning a job not a business. You are self employed, not an entrepreneur. Again build a company that pays multiple publishers that update content and maintain not just the website (the commodity) but all the other systems of business as well and you have created a business.

5- THE IMPORTANT PART! An entrepreneur creates a business. A business is run by employees independently of the owner. This means that should you walk away from it for a year +, and come back, you will find it functioning at the same size, or bigger than when you left. An entrepreneur builds a system that is run completely by employees separate from the owner. And i mean completely. This starts with lead generation, to sales, to service, to collections, to payroll, to expansion, to customer service, etc. If you cannot walk away form it with all these systems running on their own you do not own a business you own a job.. and with that, you have not been a "real" entrepreneur.

Sorry if scattered and poorly constructed. That is what you get when you improvise at 2 am Sunday morning. lol

Anyways in one concise sentence. An entrepreneur creates a self sustaining system run by employees completely independent of the entrepreneur himself./

Just my .02
David

[Kaizen]

An entrepreneur creates a self sustaining system run by employees completely independent of the entrepreneur himself./

- So, Branson, who works A LOT on various businesses, is only considered an entrepreneur for the stuff he has sold, or is a essentially now a sleeping partner in?

That can't be true?

What about when he had his STUDENT mag and Virgin records? He worked then and I'm pretty sure we'd all agree he was an entreperneur at that time?

[Shadesz]

- so, branson, who works a lot on various businesses, is only considered an entrepreneur for the stuff he has sold, or is a essentially now a sleeping partner in?

That can't be true?

What about when he had his student mag and virgin records? He worked then and i'm pretty sure we'd all agree he was an entreperneur at that time?

------ = -------

this means that should you walk away from it for a year +, and come back, you will find it functioning at the same size, or bigger than when you left.

If a person chooses to stay with a business (to maintain it) and not venture into new avenues they are now acting in the role of CEO/Manager, not entrepreneur. If they choose to do both they are filling both roles, at different times of the day.

My point is - the goal of the end result. Are you building a website? (commodity) Or are you building a system that employs people (other than just yourself, if you at all) who maintain a website? (company)

[RLorenzen]

The key to being successful is 25% luck, 25% brains, and 50% hard work and persistence. You have to want it more than anything else in the world and give up your entire life for it.

[Mega B]

I gave everything to build our business up and it nearly cost me my marriage of 27 years but it has all worked out and the business and wife are doing just fine