ENTREPRENEURSHIP GUIDE FOR ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS
By: Zione Kamtambe
Tags: Marketing, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Skills

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

Entrepreneurship is a system of operating business in which opportunities existing within the scope of a market are exploited. Therefore being an entrepreneur entails:

Utilization of available resources

Innovation applied to the novel concept

Bringing together multiple factors of production in a tangible manner.

Identifying and exploiting business opportunities within the available market

A change of mindset, reasoning, and

A way of doing things that is opportunity obsessed, holistic in approach, and leadership balanced

HOW TO BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR

With the right skills and knowledge, anyone has the potential to become a successful entrepreneur. The entrepreneurship journey starts with the generation of good business ideas that are feasible, manageable, profitable, and scalable.

STEP 1: GENERATION OF BUSINESS IDEA

Idea generation is described as the process of creating, developing, and communicating abstract, concrete, or visual ideas.

Businesses that win and stay are those that solve problems and bring change. as an aspiring entrepreneur, you must focus on coming up with possible solutions to actual or perceived problems and opportunities that exist in our communities and beyond

“Creative thinking inspires ideas. Ideas inspire change” — Barbara Januszkiewicz

Creativity or thinking outside the box is needed when generating winning ideas that can last for decades and withstand shocks.

STEP 2: SET SMART GOALS

The popular saying goes that a goal without an action plan is just a wish and it takes a miracle for a wish to come true, but unfortunately miracles are very rare. The action plan must be broken down further again into small manageable steps that are realistic and timebound like open an online store by 15th January 2021.

TASK: Come up with a big life and business goal you would like to achieve by the end of 2021 and come up with an action plan for each goal.

STEP 3: HAVE A BURNING DESIRE

Hunger or passion helps you achieve all your goals because it helps you:

Search for opportunities and See opportunities that others cannot see

Compete with competitors and outsmart them

Think outside the box and come up with innovative ideas to come up with a new product/service or improve the existing service or product.

In fact, innovation is the lifeblood of any kind of entrepreneurship; this is one of the tools that help them gain an advantage over established players in the market.

Entrepreneurs are, thus, known as “individuals or groups of individuals who carry out entrepreneurship activities that are based on novel innovative approaches to solving real-world problems”.

STEP 4: DEFINE YOUR BUSINESS

A business can be clearly defined and visualized by using a business model Canvas which was created by Alexander Osterwalder. A business model canvas is a strategic tool for developing new business models or documenting and improving the existing ones. It is known as a blueprint of the business and helps the business owner to focus on important matters when doing business, and also discuss the business with others and customers.

A Business Model Canvas is flexible and can be adjusted anytime you want to try out new things when what you are doing is neither working nor giving you maximum results.

Business Model Canvas template

Guide to filling a business canvas

My business will be………………

Customer Segments: Who will be your customers?

Value Propositions: What value will you give the customers with your business?

Channels: How will you reach the customers?

Customer Relationships: How will you be interacting with the customers?

Revenue Streams: How will the business earn money?

Key Activities: What unique things will you do or offer?

Key Resources: What resources will you need?

Key Partnerships: What partnerships might/will you require?

Cost Structure: What will be your key areas for expenditure?

STEP 5: MARKETING

Photo by Andre Benz on Unsplash

The business is only possible when there are customers to pay for what you are offering and marketing helps you to reach the customers. Marketing consists of actions undertaken to elicit desired responses from a target audience.

Successful exchanges require marketers to analyze what each party expects from the transaction. When the target audience is known, an entrepreneur must think of communication channels to reach the target audience and design powerful messages to elicit desired responses from the audience.

STEP 6: RELATIONSHIPS AND NETWORKS

A business cannot survive without building relationships based on trust with clients, prospective customers, investors, and other stakeholders. Strong relationships build strong ties among parties and cut down transaction costs and time.

Networking helps an individual to connect to other people apart from the customers who are very important in the business and can be linked to business success. Identifying these people and developing long-lasting relationships is key to running a successful business. Networks ensure the continued growth and existence of the business and can be built easily by having strong social skills.

STEP 7: MANAGE FINANCES

For your work to be meaningful and rewarding, you must learn to manage your finances. The 3 simple steps outlined below can change your whole life if followed properly.

Budgeting — do not spend money without a budget. Make sure to develop a monthly budget that can guide you on how to spend your money. In your budget, you must include emergency funds. Saving — make sure that you are saving at least 10% of your monthly income. The money can be saved in mobile money account and then transferred to a bank account at your own convenient time Investing — investing is an important aspect of money management because it grows money. Think about where and how to invest your money while taking into account all risks associated with your business. Investment can be in form of buying shares, bonds, or in any other business venture.

ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS

Entrepreneurial skills are the basic skills necessary to enable you to start, develop, finance, and succeed in your home enterprise.

10 ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILLS EVERYONE MUST CULTIVATE

1. Curiosity: curious people discover problems and dig deeper until they find a solution. Being curious requires one to gather knowledge on different issues and go outside the comfort zone

2. Time management: time is money and it must be managed well. Scheduling and good organization skills save time

3. Strategic thinking: successful people master the art of decomposing a problem to its core and reveal growth opportunities.

4. Efficiency: successful people learn the art of producing more within the possible shortest time by learning how to combine chores or effectively switch chores without affecting the other.

5. Resilience: successful people learn to build a strong muscle to fight every obstacle in their path to fulfill their goals

6. Communication: crisp and concise communication are paramount for every interaction with clients, partners, or prospects.

7. Networking: growing a network facilitates business opportunities and partnership deals

8. Finance management: this is the heart of any business and without it, the business faces a sure death

9. Branding: Building a consistent personal and business brand tailored to the right audience

10. Sales: a business ceases to exist if there are no-sells, so it is imperative to find the right sales channels that work better and brings more profits while satisfying customers

WITHOUT INNOVATION, THERE IS NO ENTREPRENEURSHIP

SCAMPER — Tool for Innovation

SCAMPER is attributed to Bob Eberle, author of books about creativity for children aimed at teachers. SCAMPER is a great way to stimulate innovation or to modify existing products or ideas. To use it, you can apply any of 7 different actions to your ideas.

SCAMPER stands for

S Substitute (components, materials, people)e.g. Blackboard with a whiteboard or kerosene with solar energy.

C Combine (mix, combine with other assemblies or services, integrate) e.g. putting medicine in a juice so that every time a child takes the juice s/he must be taking the medicine.

A Adapt (alter, change function, use part of another element) e.g. using a coach as a bed.

M Modify/Magnify/Minify (increase or reduce in scale, change shape, modify attributes) e.g. a desktop into a laptop.

P Put to other uses e.g. car tires used as swings.

E Eliminate (remove elements, simplify, reduce to core functionality) e.g. leaded petrol was replaced with unleaded petrol.

R Rearrange/Reverse (turn inside) exchange the position of the watch digital display and the buttons.