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This is an inspiring message that I wanted to share and post to the community. With so many ideas to pursue (I`m sure many of the Entrepreneurs share the same thougts as mine!) there`s so little time and focussed effort in making concrete progress. If anyone can suggest a collaborative group setting where the group members can contribute (regularily) to each other`s ventures in making everyone`s dream a reality, I`d like to participate and contribute to such groups.
Thank you and to your success!
-Shrav1
==========Read On and be Inspired================
Thought Blog on Entrepreneurship from Michael Gerber -
Posted by: "Shravan V" shravad@yahoo.com shravad
Mon Oct 16, 2006 5:27 pm (PST)
By
Michael Gerber
Chief Dreamer
Well, creating an entrepreneurial business isn`t simple at all. Nor
can you buy one.
In fact, businesses you buy are not built for entrepreneurs. They`re
built for technicians and managers.
They`re built for people who want to work IN the business, not for
people who want to work ON the business as true E-myth advocates do.
The truth is that very few businesses of the millions that are
started every year are entrepreneurial businesses. Most are simply
jobs for the people who own them.
So, if you are determined to own your own business, and are equally
determined to do it as a true entrepreneur would, the following are
the six rules of engagement:
1) Do not look for a business to buy. As a true entrepreneur you
will rue the day you did.
2) Which means that you are going to begin the process from
scratch. This is where the most fun is.
3) Start the process with nothing in particular in mind. Just
because you bake "incredible, mouth watering pies" do not start a
pie business. Do not, do not. You will rue the day you did.
Instead, begin to look around at every transaction you see. In
hotels when you visit one. In restaurants when you visit one. In a
shoe store, a department store, at the counter at the airport, in a
travel agency, at Walmart, at Starbucks, at McDonald`s. Yes,
everywhere. And ask yourself this question: "What`s missing in this
picture?" And then see what comes up. You`ll begin to notice a lot
that`s missing. More than you can possibly imagine. Write down what
you see in a pad you carry with you wherever you go. Create a
headline on the pad which says: Opportunities Worth Pursuing.
4) At the end of every day review your Opportunity pad to summarize
what you discovered that day. Mark whatever seems worthy of further
scrutiny with a red pen. Review those marked the following morning
and see what comes up. Write what comes up in a separate pad called
Significantly Interesting Things. As time goes by you will begin to
become more and more interested in the Significantly Interesting
Things among the Opportunities Worth Pursuing. You will begin to
discover (what a wonderfully entrepreneurial word that is!) what a
wonderfully surprising world the true entrepreneur lives in. That
there are significantly interesting things worth pursuing everywhere
you look. And each of them will tell you more about what doesn`t
work in the world, about what`s missing in this picture. And each
and every one of those missing pieces in the puzzles called
businesses are pointing to entrepreneurial inventions waiting to be
created by you.
5) Gradually, your entrepreneurial imagination will begin to focus
in on one or two or even three really interesting problems which
need solving, some more than others. Those are the ones you are
looking for. For example, my wife, Luz Delia, and I are on a
Dreaming Room Tour. Luz Delia is just recovering from a herniated
disk and needs to be met with a wheel chair at the airport. Of
course, and despite the advanced notification and agreement with the
airlines that a wheelchair be made available to us, the wheelchairs
have failed to show up at any of our destinations. You can imagine
how frustrating that is to someone who can`t move without a
wheelchair, as well as to her husband who is accompanying her!
What`s missing in this picture? I continued to ask myself as the
problem appeared over and over again. Well, to make a long story
short, what`s missing is a dispatch system to provide the requisite
number of wheel chair porters, the number of wheel chairs needed,
with a real time projection of exactly what was needed, where it was
needed and when. Plus a management system that is accountable for
the on time delivery of wheel chairs where and when they are
needed. How many wheelchairs do you suppose are needed at an
International Airport? I have no idea. But the problem tells me
that there is an opportunity waiting to be fulfilled, and, if so, a
truly entrepreneurial business waiting to happen.
6) And, finally, once you have lined up your sights on Opportunity
Worth Pursuing # 1, the next thing you need to do is to write your
Concept Paper or White Paper detailing the opportunity as you see
it, a thorough description of the opportunity, the business form it
will take, and the investment needed to build your prototype. Once
your White Paper is completed, dated and numbered, place it in a
Binder called Business Opportunities Worth Pursuing and set it
aside for a while. And begin the process all over again. As a
budding entrepreneur you should find yourself with a binder bursting
with wonderfull opportunities for new ventures waiting for you to
pursue them.
More about this fascinating process another day.
Until then, come see me In The Dreaming Room. You can find dates
and times elsewhere on this website.
All My Best,
Michael Gerber
Chief Dreamer
In The Dreaming Room®
September 30, 2006
-------------------------
-shra1
