Who is an Entrepreneur? A Practical Approach

   We live in an era where how many certificate you acquire to your name doesn't make you well reckon with in the globe like those influencers (entrepreneurs) who are able to change the way the world do things and think, be it either socially or educationally. Every sphere of today's world has written the name of these influencers in gold. These influencers I am talking about are the likes of Bill Gate of Microsoft Inc, Larry Page of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Steve Job of Apple Inc, Richard Branson of the Virgin group, Dangote of Dangote plc etc. These are people who have change the entrepreneur ecosystem and gave it a new meaning.     

   However, it is time to move out of your shell and realize the essence of existence which comes with the responsibility of being a solution finder instead of a problem creator, being a job creator instead of a Job seeker, being a leader instead of a follower, being innovative and far more deciding what people should do or think about.

The question that now arise is who I'm I as an entrepreneur?While undergoing a research we discovered this simple things that makes you an entrepreneur...

1. AN ENTREPRENEUR IS A STARTER: An entrepreneur is an initiator, a transformer, a challenger, and a driver. Someone that creates something new, either an initiative, a business or a company. He or she is the beginning (and sometimes the end) of a venture, project or activity. The entrepreneur might not be the ideator, but he or she is definitely the one that decides to make that idea a reality.

2. AN ENTREPRENEUR IS A DRIVER: The entrepreneur is the person in charge, the leader and the person to look to for leadership. He or she is the one that pushes forward and inspires a team to follow. The entrepreneur is the one that sits in the driver’s seat, and has the ability to change direction, accelerate, slow down or even stop a venture.

3. AN ENTREPRENEUR IS ACCOUNTABLE AND RESPONSIBLE: The entrepreneur is ultimately responsible for the destiny of its venture, which can be a company, a project, or any other endeavor. The entrepreneur is the one that has the highest stakes at the venture, thus the one that needs to be empowered to fully direct the endeavor.

 Being entrepreneur is not directly related to having an equity stake in a company, but instead showcases the leadership-related points. Why do we tend to associate entrepreneurship with equity ownership (as value), instead of understanding it as the one that has the highest stakes in an endeavor, which sometimes gets translated into entrepreneurship?

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS MORE THAN FINANCIAL GAIN

  We tend to associate entrepreneurship with direct financial benefits and risk, but not only when the entrepreneur has equity in the company, he or she is exposed to the financial upsides and downturns. Corporate ventures and corporate entrepreneurship allows “corporate entrepreneurs” to benefit of the upsides of their projects without having equity stakes.

Corporate entrepreneurship does exist

 Traditional corporate culture tends to disregard the entrepreneurial approach. However, with the proliferation of new startups and disruptive innovations, corporations have been forced to embrace the entrepreneurial approach towards running and operating their business. An entrepreneurial approach is not only more agile and dynamic, but also results in a more lean operation. By providing a strong level of staff empowerment , you create a strong sense of ownership, which results in better outcomes for any endeavor.

PASSION IS THE REAL DRIVE

  There is another element that really dwells at the center of any entrepreneur: passion! An entrepreneur possesses an interior fuel and stamina that drives his or her actions; this superior energy helps to overtake and surpass the different challenges and it injects strength to continue pursuing goals when difficulties arise. Ask Donald Trump the 45th president elect of the United States, his passion made him a billionaire and now a president.

   Lastly, anyone can be an entrepreneur and behave like one- regardless of whether or not they happen to be an equity holder. Ultimately, it’s all about the attitude when running the show. So be an entrepreneur, be a liberator, be a transformer.

Thank you.

WORK CREDIT: ISAH SAMAILA NITTE & JUAN JOSE DE LA TORREPHOTO CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK

The Essence of Risk Taking: Robert Kiyosaki Perspective (Rich Dad, Poor Dad)

 We live in a world where they exist large disparity between the poor and the rich, the inequality gets widen day by day, so we become lost in the saying "The rich are getting more richer and the poor more poorer". This can be attached to the fact that most individuals at one stage in their life became indecisive on what to spend their finance on. 

  From a realistic point of view, poverty is caused by the fear of taking risk. The art of chasing bigger dreams with the absence of risk is more of a scam, no business exist without the fear of failure but however, should we allow the fear in us undermine our power of productivity?   

  Robert kiyosaki has these to say in his book irked "Rich Dad, Poor Dad''

  "I have never met a RICH person who has never lost Money but I have met a lot of POOR People who have never lost a dime" This is because investments comes with it own risk, so never hesitate to invest in something you believe, never let the fear of loosing tie you down. 

  More so, "The primary difference between the RICH and the POOR is how they handle fear in Investment". The rich approach their fear with confidence while the poor run out of it. Don't be a coward, learn to tame your fear, invest in the right place at the right time and in the right quantity, though never be irrational in your investment decision in the name of being bold.

  Moreover, "Have positive mindset about investment. You can NEVER be Rich if you are too SCARED of losing Money." Always be optimistic as far as you believe you made the right investment decision, don't allow your mind to be crowded with fear of loosing, remember the sum of the things running in our mind often becomes our reality. 

  Therefore it is good to note that "SALARY alone can not solve your money problems. You need a Secondary Source of income to balance. SALARY is the MEDICINE for managing POVERTY, it doesn't CURE it. Only your BUSINESS or INVESTMENT Cures Poverty." Learn to be innovative, learn to take risk and turn your passion into business and only then you can break from the vicious cycle of poverty. 

Remember “In today’s rapidly changing world, the people who are not taking risk are the risk takers.” So why take a risk, continue visiting Richminers Blog to explore the world of wealth discoveries. 

Let's get your comments... Thanks

How to Turn a Passion into a Successful Business Venture

Overcoming today competition in the world of globalization is far beyond how expertise we might be in a chosen field, or how vast our knowledge is in our line of business. As days passes by, the competitive market or setting is getting more fierce which requires something far better than just expertise to survive, it requires a force that propels growth and development, it requires PASSION.

  Have you given it a thought if your business turn sour, what next will your line of action be, well the truth is the market is competitive in it very nature trying to weed out the weaker firms which is typically found in a perfect competitive market, the only thing that keeps you going ahead a step further will not be your knowledge of the downturns in market but your passion. In an interview with The New York Times , Wealth-X founder David Leppan discussed what made a serial entrepreneur successful. He said , “Passion is the secret ingredient. There are a lot of people with ideas, but you have to have the drive.”

  To stop beating around the bush, Money and connection can make you start a business, what keeps you going in hard times is the passion. Never make your business depends on the market gains or profit but rather passion. When profit is out of sight, passion will keep you going even at a break-even.

   Passion is the engine behind every successful business, passion was what made Bill Gate the richest man on this planet, Passion is what makes Mark Zuckerberg dropout of school to pursue what he believes in and today it has landed him on the Forbes list of the 5th richest man on the planet with about $58billion net worth. Richard Branson pursued his passion at age 16 to become the founder of the Virgin group and a world billionaire.

  HOW TO TURN YOUR PASSION INTO BUSINESS

1. UNDERSTANDING YOUR PERSONALITY

 Many people today don't understand who they are, what they want and what they want to be, they live a life of paying heed to noises and dancing to the tone of the crowd, but understanding oneself comes with the ability of isolating One's mind to the inner peace of existence, which helps in defining who you are and what you want to be. 

There is a point when one need to stay away from the crowd and be able to identify what he wants and desire from what people demand of him. As an entrepreneur, you must first know yourself and your worth before you can be able to influence people to Love the product and services you offer. Understanding your personality goes a long way in building your customer relationship loyalty and understanding what they want and how you can meet those wants.

2. IDENTIFYING YOUR PASSION

 Larry Page has a passion of providing information to people, so out of that passion comes Google which becomes the biggest search engine today, Jeff Bezos the founder of Amazon started this online store out of passion from his garage, that passion made him one of the biggest Internet entrepreneur. The most successful individuals that ever live on earth followed their passion, and this was what makes them persevere the period of business downturns as business comes with it ups and downs.

  After understanding your personality, it then follows identifying what you find fun or happy doing. Bill Gate the founder of Microsoft identify computer programming as a passion while at a tender age he sneaks out of the class to the computer labs just to see what he can made out of it.

 YOU CAN'T SUCCEED WITHOUT TURNING YOUR BUSINESS INTO A PASSION OR TURNING YOUR PASSION INTO A BUSINESS. Therefore, examine yourself to identify what you love doing or what you are passionate about.

3. DOES YOUR PASSION FILL A VOID

 Everyone does have a passion for one thing or the other, It is obvious that not every passion can be a business idea, For you to be able to turn your passion into a business, first you must consider if the passion will fill a void or wants and needs of the market.

 No one will be willing to buy your product/service unless it fills a void or it is an advancement of the traditional way to carrying out an activity. All I am saying in a nutshell is your passion should be marketable.

4. MARKET ANALYSIS/SURVEY

 It will be a jeopardy for one to venture into a business without analysing the market conditions, whether they are favourable to his passion or not. You can identify if your product/service is of economic value by various means of research such such questionnaire, interview, and surveys of various kind. If by any chance your passion which has being transformed into a business idea is not economically viable, then there is no need to push ahead. 

You can start this by asking your colleagues at work, family members and friends how they feel about the idea and never make a mistake of venturing into the business without proper market analysis.

5. BRANDING YOUR PASSION

Haven identify what you are passionate about, it is time to brand it into what you want people to perceived it as. According to Al Ries, the Father of Branding, “a successful branding program is based on the concept of singularity. It creates in the mind of the prospect the perception that there is no product on the market quite like your product.”

Don't forget that you must have an excellent business plan which forms an integral part of the branding, incase you are not an expert you can contract the Service of professionals(Richminers Blog) to help you with it. Branding comes with creating a picture of your potential customers, and determining what will attract their attention to your product/service. You have to create a picture of what your customers desire and then brand it into something unique that tells them this is what is right for me.

Your passion must be transformed into something that can attract market attention. This has to do with designing a logo for your business, a web site and a constant public attention by creating a constant online presence.

6. CREATING PUBLIC AWARENESS

 This can be done by spending on Ads on popular blogs, radio and television stations and even word of mouth advertisement. Don't forget to create a facebook page, twitter, instagram and other social networks account for your products/services.

  After creating public awareness, you must have a contact info with fast responses both online and offline.

 Now that you are done knowing how you can spearhead a passion into business, you must act fast. Never wait for the perfect time because time waits for no man.

  Let's get your comment to know how we can serve you better. Thank you and have a wonderful day. 

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST IN THE BUSINESS REALM: THE NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE

The present economic situation in Nigeria has brought us down to the Memory Lane where Charles Darwin in his theory of Evolution state that only the most fit survive while the weaklings die out in striving time. Nigerian economy today is nothing far from that, thus allowing such a barbaric theory manifest here is an epitome of laughter, just last year the biggest African economy experiencing an average growth rate of 6+ has being crumbled to nothing, the exchange rate to dollar today is around N425, the inflation rate is around 17.1%, the cost of living is rising and the standard of living is falling. To my dismay the Economist believe they exist a trade off between inflation and unemployment, meaning they exist a negative relationship between the two but however today as unemployment is going high inflation is going high. People should I say are dieing day by day either as a result of business loss or hunger that even the fittest (Aliko Dangote) is not excluded as he made a loss of over $5billion.

 Not forgetting one of my favorite writer George Orwell who assert in his book Animals Farm that "All animals are equal but some are more equal than others". Following the Darwian

theory of evolution, the more equal animals are thus assume to survive this trying time while the equal animals die off. However let's assume Nigeria is this farm George Orwell was talking about, but the decision to either be among the "more equal animals" or "equal animals" lies in our hands. The decisions you are making either financially or mentally will have to determine whether you are going to survive the hard time or you are going to be weed out.

   The logic is, simply because you are born into a poor family does not mean you should be poor, or just because you are born with a silver spoon does not mean you are going to be rich. So the important thing to ask is how do I survive in this harsh time where all things seems not to be working. How do I take advantage of this trying time to make a breakthrough? The answers are just simple and is simply found in Orwells' assertion of Equal and the more equal animals. 

THE UNEQUALS ARE KNOWN BY THE FOLLOWING:

1. They think within the box: While everyone in Nigeria in the time when Dangote started out was going to either farm or School, he opt out for business, when Bill gate and Steve Job found out their calling was not schooling they concentrated their energy somewhere else, when Linda ikeji found out her passion for blogging she never insisted to have to work in the radio or TV station as a mass communication graduate but pursuit her dreams even when those things are regarded irrelevant. While the equal think inside the box the more equal never did, therefore ensuring their survival. 

2. They are complainers: The equals are always complaining that Nigeria is this and that while the more equals never see the challenge but they see the way to the goal. The Equals spend alot of time complaining about the government while their counterpart are brainstorming to get things done.

3. They always see the impossible: Great friends of history were accorded honour because they never see the impossibilities but the opportunities. The Wright brothers never see the impossibility that object can fly and therefore forge ahead against all odds to invent the aeroplane. Where The "Equals" see impossibilities the "More equal" sees opportunities.

4. They are Carried away by Wants and not needs: In the word of Robert Kiyosaki the author of "rich dad poor dad" the poor dads often buy liabilities while the rich dads are interested in only assets. This is applicable to the "Equals"who can't differentiate between their needs and wants while the "More equals" buy their wants.

5. They are often waiting for favourable economic situation: The equals are always scared of taking risk so they are always waiting for the perfect time to invest which may never come while the More equals never wait for the perfect time but rather a profitable reasonable time. 

6. They lay their eggs in one basket: The equals prefer investing in one business or depending on one stream of income which with a loss of job or business failure might result to disaster and starting from the scratch. The more equals have Multiple stream of income, check out the likes Globacomm owner Mike Adenuga who is also into oil and industry. The essence is the failure of one will be covered up by the other. 

Therefore, are you one of those that fall under the category of the "Equals", are you interested in surviving in this harsh economy, then it is time to think outside the box, it is time to stop complaining but brainstorm ideas, it is time to look at the opportunities and not the imposiblities, it is time to differentiate between your wants and needs, it is time to stop the waiting and start doing something, it can be a business of whatsoever that you are interested in as far it is not illegal and finally it is time to start laying your eggs is multiple basket..Wish you the best..