The Eight Habits Of Extremely Successful Entrepreneurs
Great entrepreneurs don’t write greatbooks. In fact, they don’t write many books at all.
Neither fact is surprising. Successfulentrepreneurs are typically too busy innovating to write down much of anything.And on those rare occasions when they attempt to create a book, it’s filledwith what they did, and not what led to their idea in the first place. As arule, they are not particularly introspective.
So if we want to know what makes themsuccessful—in order to improve our own companies
whether we work for a huge one or our ownstart up—we need to study them. And that is exactly what I have been doingprofessionally for the last 30 years.
1. Look at How They Think, Not at What TheyDo. If you just observed the actions entrepreneurs take, you would concludethere isn’t that much to be gained from studying them. Each entrepreneur’sbehavior is as idiosyncratic as they are. You would have to be Larry Page andSergey Brin to start Google; Oprah Winfrey to found Harpo Productions.
But—and it is a huge but—if you look at howthey reason, you see remarkable similarities. The process just about all ofthem follows in creating their companies looks like this. They:
A. Figure out what they really want to do.
B. Take a small step toward that goal.
C. Pause after taking that small step tosee what they have learned.
D. Build off that learning and take anothersmall step.
E. Pause after taking that step.
F. Build off what they learned in step two.And then take another small step…
If we were to reduce it to a formula, itwould be Act. Learn. Build Repeat.
Put simply, in the face of an unknownfuture, entrepreneurs act. They deal with uncertainty not by trying to analyzeit, or planning for every contingency, or predicting what the outcomes will be.Instead, they act, learn from what they find, and act again.
2. They Start with a Market Need. Ideas areeasy—I bet you can come up with 10 new product or service ideas within fiveminutes right now, if you had to. And because new ideas are plentiful, they arenot worth very much. As with anything else, if there is a glut—of ideas, inthis case—the value goes down.
Besides, there is no guarantee anyone willbuy the great idea you have come up with. If you start with the idea, you needto go in search of customers. If you begin with the need, you already have amarket—the people who need what you have.
If you can discover a market need you canmake a fortune. But intriguingly, that is not the primary motivation of themost successful entrepreneurs, and that brings us to the next point.
3. Don’t Set Out to Be Rich. The bestentrepreneurs don’t have making a fortune as their goal, as they start off.Wealth is just (an extremely pleasant) byproduct.
Why not focus on gaining wealth? Well, ifyour primary objective is to get rich quick, you are bound to cut corners,short-change your customers, and fail to take the time to truly understand whatthe market needs. And that is true whether you are trying to get your companyoff the ground, or are introducing a new product or service in order to makethis quarter’s numbers.
Instead, they identify the market need wetalked about in point 2, and get to work.
4. Marketing. (Psst. Compete Differently)The conventional wisdom—find a niche; zig when others zag—is right, but notparticularly helpful. It lacks, to be kind, specificity. Far better is todescribe what the best entrepreneurs do and that is “compete differently.”
How do they do it? Here are some examples:
–Make small bets. Your resources arelimited and starting anything new is risky. You don’t want to compound thoserisks by betting everything on one role of the dice.
–Make those small bets quickly. No, youdon’t want to lose money. But, since you are not risking much, you can afford tofail. Get out in the marketplace fast and let potential customers tell you ifyou are onto something. Action trumps everything—especially planning.
–Where do you place those small bets? (I)Obviously, in areas where competitors don’t exist, or are weak. Not soobviously, in places where you feel strong. That confidence will help youovercome the inevitable hurdles you will face.
–Where do you place those small bets? (II)No customer wants to be entirely dependent on just one supplier, no matter whoit is. Ask yourself, what your competitor’s customers want. Better yet, askthose customers yourself.
–Let the market define you. People willtell you what they like, and what they don’t, about your product. Incorporatetheir ideas with yours. Making the world’s best videocassette recorder does youno good, if what people really want are DVRs.
–Keep looking for places…where you have agenuine competitive edge. That’s where profitability and security lie. Temptingas it may be, don’t try to buy your way into markets where you offer the sameproduct at a lower price. That’s where you’ll be vulnerable.