Archive for the ‘Online business’ Category
What is entrepreneurship all about? The word itself comes from entrepreneur, which is defined as
A person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. –www.dictionary.com
Who among us is an entrepreneur? Thomas Edison, who printed newspapers in the baggage car of a moving train and then sold copies to the passengers, Bugsy Siegel, who built an ultra-luxury hotel in a lonely desert during wartime, and Bill Gates, who dropped out of his Harvard undergrad to start the multinational, billion-dollar Microsoft, are some of our most celebrated entrepreneurs. These people had more in common than a head for business and a stomach for risk. They had vision, and they were willing to persevere.
Ambition
This year, Bill Gates was ranked as the wealthiest person in the world by Forbes. In 1969, he was a prep school student learning to write code for mainframe systems. Access to computers was rare back then; limited system time was donated to Gates’s school by Computer Center Corporation (CCC), a local business. After Gates and classmate Paul Allen were banned from CCC for exploiting the mainframe’s poorly-written code to get more system time, Gates offered to fix the bugs in exchange for the access time he wanted. It was a win-win proposition that CCC did not refuse. Gates had a talent for programming, but it was his skill at negotiation that brought him the opportunity to excel.
Risk
Bugsy, who spent five million dollars of borrowed money to build the Flamingo hotel, was gunned down by his creditors. (Maybe that’s what you get for doing business with Murder, Inc.) The most common source of risk for entrepreneurs today still has to do with money. Small businesses rarely find their start-up capital through loans and investors. More often, they use savings, friends, and family. No matter where the capital comes from, leaving the safety of a job to go it alone is a heart-pounding experience. It also motivates you to succeed.
Vision
Thomas Edison was a prolific inventor. He holds more than a thousand US patents, including one for a light bulb much like the one we use today. Thinking big was something he did well. He revolutionized the distribution of electricity, and he got rich by using his concept of mass production to maximize profits. Having great, original ideas is a key to entrepreneurial success. So is tenacity – believing in your ideas enough to make them happen.
Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration. -Thomas Edison
Entrepreneurship in the Internet Age
How has the Internet affected the way we do business? The lightning speed of communication has shortened business cycles. We no longer need to pay overhead for a physical storefront – clients can find us on the Web. Additional marketing channels are open to us. For markets that are easier to enter, increased competition produces better selection for the consumer.
It’s this consumer power that creates an advantage for the budding online entrepreneur. Customers have come to expect a level of intimacy and integrity that large businesses are challenged to provide. What’s more, the reach of the Web makes it easy for a small business to succeed in a niche market.
Examples of entrepreneurship have changed over the years. Today we see search engines and social networking sites worth billions. But, in the Internet Age more than ever, the essence of entrepreneurship lies within the entrepreneur. It’s all about you.
Setting up shop in the Global Village 