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Founders Handbook

The art of business

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I was at a summit on “The Art of Entrepreneurship”  which was attended by over 100s of budding entrepreneurs, startups and SME Business owners. I learned and shared the following:

1. As an entrepreneur you must invent failure else failure will invent you.


2. Don’t invest in business where the entrepreneur has plan B. Also don’t invest in CV.


3. What’s the lovemark that would attract your customers and stakeholders towards your business.

4. For 5 years nourish the business, for 5 -10 years care and control, for 10 to 25 years empower your business and after 25 free it from your clutch and control.


5. Unless you find a woman’s customer taking away her wallet with a smile for your product don’t start.


6. As Monalisa cannot be created in the lab so is the business- you must go out and get going unless you discover your pearl.

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Sell your customers what they want, not what they need

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Two friends walk into a boutique airport briefcase store and go in different directions of the store, one to the left and the other to the right.
There is only one salesman in the store; he has to decide whom to approach first.
He notices that one of the men already has a relatively new briefcase, only a few months out of date. However, the other man’s briefcase is practically falling apart – he needs a bag badly.
Who should the salesman approach?
If you said he should approach the man with the NEW briefcase, you are right.
Why?
It’s simple. The man with the old briefcase has made it clear that his suitcase is not important to him. Given the condition it’s in, he’s likely had many opportunities to replace it. Why would he replace it now and at such an expensive boutique shop?
However, the man with the new briefcase has shown interest. It’s clear he cares about having a stylish briefcase and may not be aware that he is already outdated.

The best potential customer is the one who has already shown interest.

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The right way to start a business

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An aspiring entrepreneur asked me during the workshop, “I want to start a business, but I don’t know how and where to begin.”

A person from the audience replied, “The best way to start your business is to start now.” The audience applauded and I wished it was that simple.

In my opinion, the ideal way to start a business is to have an idea and then ask yourself, “Why is no one else pursuing this valuable opportunity?”

Then, you need to answer three crucial questions: First, what is valuable? Second, what can I do? And third, what is no one else doing?

This will give you the confidence to move forward and build a business that validates your idea – whether you should start it or not.

As a good #entrepreneur, you should run your business in a way that enables you to generate new ideas, experiment, fail, learn and succeed.

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