Shark Tank Jump Start Your Business: How to Launch and Grow a Business from Concept to Cash (3 page)
Authors: Michael Parrish DuDell
When you decide to become an entrepreneur, you enter into an exclusive club with members like Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, and Warren Buffett. You may never receive a tote bag or newsletter, but make no mistake: you will earn that membership each and every day. And if that club had an oath, it would
be that no matter where you came from, no matter what you’ve chosen to build or how you’ve chosen to build it, you can expect to encounter nothing less than perpetual challenge. But if you persist, if you put in the time and energy, eventually you will triumph. And isn’t that why you decided to become an entrepreneur in the first place?
| “One of the biggest myths is that it costs a lot of money to start a business. Venture capital may get all the sexy media attention, but most small businesses are started on a bootstrap bud get. Most people will have an opportunity to start a million-dollar business—not a billion-dollar one. And you don’t need a lot of money in today’s economy to start that.” |
A WORD ON PARTNERSHIPS
Starting a company on your own can feel overwhelming, especially for the first-time small business owner. With a seemingly endless to-do list, it can feel as though your job is never done. So for many, the idea of working with a partner can be very appealing. More people on board equals less responsibility and ultimately less headache, right? Not always. Bringing on a cofounder is a huge decision that will have a major impact on your business. Whether that impact is positive or negative is up to you.
As in any relationship, the secret to a great partnership is communication and trust. Remember, you’re not just hiring an employee; this person will have access to every facet of the business. Therefore, it’s crucial that you’re able to have open and honest conversations with your partner about anything and everything related to the business.
It’s also important to look for someone with a different set of skills and talents than your own. If you’re exceptional at sales and marketing, for instance, you should seek out a partner who is great at accounting or strategy. If you’re a left-brained, analytical thinker, you may wish to find a more right-brained, big-picture type of person. You want to create a well-rounded team.
Although it’s natural to consider friends and family members as prospective partners, that may not always be the wisest choice. No matter how much you like someone or how well you get along, conflict is bound to occur—guaranteed! If you decide to start a company with a friend or family member, make sure you’ve discussed how you’ll seperate your personal and professional lives.
Regardless of with whom you partner, you’ll want to put together a comprehensive partnership agreement. From financial expectations to roles and responsibilities, this document protects both founders and should lay out all the
nitty-gritty details of your working relationship. You never know what conflicts lie ahead.
Companies like Microsoft and Google, have proven that there can be power in numbers, but bringing on a partner isn’t the right move for every business owner. Make sure it’s the best choice for you and your company before asking someone to come on board.
WHAT’S YOUR EQ (ENTREPRENEURIAL QUOTIENT)?
It’s estimated that each day some 2,356 Americans become entrepreneurs.
From college students and stay-at-home moms to seniors and ex–corporate executives, together these scrappy, homegrown pioneers will open more than 500,000 businesses annually in hopes of building the next great company.
So, which companies will thrive and which will fail? Only time will tell. But perhaps there’s a more productive question. Maybe the real indicator lies not in the business but in the business
owner
. Are some more fit to be entrepreneurs than others? Is there a type of person who has a better shot at building a successful company than someone else? While there are no scientific answers to these questions, many experts would agree that there is a very well-defined entrepreneurial mind-set.
Below you’ll find a short test that’s designed to help determine if
you
have the right combination of skills, talents, and instincts to become an entrepreneur. Read each statement
below and respond with either “yes,” “sometimes,” or “no.” From there, assign each answer a corresponding point and tally up your numbers to reveal your score.
KEY
YES: TWO POINTS
SOMETIMES: ONE POINT
NO: ZERO POINTS
1 | I’m driven by achievement and success. | __________ |
2 | When I experience failure, I’m quick to bounce back. | __________ |
3 | I consider myself to be self-motivated and self-sufficient. | __________ |
4 | I have been told I’m a natural salesperson. | __________ |
5 | I don’t like the idea of working for somebody else. | __________ |
6 | I’m great at thinking on my feet. | __________ |
7 | I have superior communication abilities. | __________ |
8 | I run towards challenges instead of backing away from them. | __________ |
9 | I have a strong opinion—sometimes too strong. | __________ |
10 | I consider myself a leader. | __________ |
11 | I like doing things my own way and question conventional wisdom. | __________ |
12 | I hold myself to a higher standard. | __________ |
13 | I work as hard or harder than anyone else I know. | __________ |
14 | I have friends or family members who run their own business. | __________ |
15 | I’m great at making decisions, even if I don’t always make the right one. | __________ |
16 | People think of me as intense or passionate. | __________ |
17 | I’m more risk-seeking than risk-averse. | __________ |
18 | I enjoy coming up with new ideas. | __________ |
19 | I don’t know how, but things usually seem to work out for me. | __________ |
20 | When I set my mind to something, I see it through. | __________ |
| | TOTAL: | __________ |
RESULTS
40–31 points:
Good news! It looks like you were born to be an entrepreneur. With the perfect combination of passion, drive, and fortitude, you have exactly what it takes to run a business. In fact, it’s surprising you’ve lasted this long working for somebody else.
30–21 points:
You certainly have the potential to be a great entrepreneur, but you may face some challenges along the way. Perhaps you take pleasure in working for someone else or avoid challenges. Maybe you have a difficult time finishing what you’ve started or tend to be overly risk-averse. Whatever your personal barriers may be, take note of them as you begin your journey.
20 and under:
Even though you may have the desire to start a company, it’s likely your experience will be fraught with challenges. Rememeber, you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial. There are plenty of opportunities to exercise your independent nature within already established companies. You may wish to think twice about whether starting a business is really the right move for you.
So how did you do? Are you destined to become an entrepreneur, or should you consider exploring other opportunities?
Keep in mind that this test is designed to educate, not discourage. While a clearly defined mind-set does exist, there are plenty of talented entrepreneurs who have broken the mold. With enough drive and determination, most anyone can start a company—and that means you too.
| “Great entrepreneurs definitely have a certain nature about them. That’s been proven. Typically they are type A, they’re very driven, they’re risk-takers. I’m not saying you have to be that way to make it, but I certainly feel as though most entrepreneurs have a very specific type of personality.” |
No matter how you scored on the EQ test, you should be aware of your personal strengths and weaknesses from the start. Identifying this information will help you make essential decisions about whom to work with, how to structure your position, and even what kind of business to build. While some people excel at this type of exercise, others may find it exceedingly difficult.
This process is valuable because it determines where you should direct your efforts. Professional achievement relies less on your aptitude for developing new skills than on your ability to fine-tune the ones you already have.
Making this type of assessment can feel overwhelming. So, to help focus the process, try to think of it in the context of starting a new business. Which parts excite you? Which parts are you dreading?
Below you’ll find a breakdown of the five essential phases every entrepreneur goes through when starting a new business. Use these categories to help identify your primary strengths and weaknesses. The sooner you can name them, the more productive you’ll be.
Brainstorming:
A great business starts with a great concept. Are you bursting at the seams with new ideas or do you struggle with generating them? Do you prefer brainstorming with a team or do you work better alone? Where in the ideation process do you excel and where do you stall? For some people, coming up with the idea is the easiest part. Others approach
this process with anxiety and fear. What strengths and weaknesses does the process bring out in you?
Strategy:
Having an idea is great, but having a plan is crucial. How strategic are you? Would you say you’re more of a dreamer or a planner? Are you consistently five steps ahead or do you prefer staying grounded and in the moment? Being an entrepreneur requires a certain amount of strategic thinking, and some people are naturally better at that than others. Where do you fall on the spectrum?
Organization:
Organization is important to all businesses, but not to all entrepreneurs. Would you call yourself detail-oriented? Do you do well with deadlines? Are you motivated by order, process, and procedure? It’s all right if organization isn’t your strong suit, but come to grips with it now, so you can prepare accordingly and bring on the right support team.
Communication:
You can have the greatest business in the world, but if you can’t communicate your product or service, you’ll never succeed. Are you a natural born salesperson? Do you love to connect with customers and employees? Do you do your best work when speaking, writing, or expressing yourself? Getting your message across is vital to the overall wellbeing of your business. How strong a communicator are you?
Execution:
A plan is essential, but only if it’s properly executed. Do you get excited about the creative process but lose focus when it’s time to execute? Would you rather dream up a project than actually launch it? Do you value process over performance? Eventually your business will reach a point where its very livelihood will rely on the precision of your execution. Do you have the right combination of skills to make it work?
Of course you will have more strengths and weaknesses
than just what may fall under these five categories. But hopefully through this process you’ve begun to uncover some common themes. Take a few moments to make your own comprehensive list. It’s important to be honest here. If you’re not great at execution but wish you were, you should still count it as a weakness. You can work on improving your skill sets later. For now, the goal is to simply assess your current state.
| “People believe you need to be a well-rounded person and work on your weaknesses. That’s just not true. To compete on a world-class level, you need to accentuate your strengths. Focus on the things you’re good at and hire someone to do the rest.” |
Once you have developed a list of your strengths and weaknesses, begin taking note of where you should spend your time and what responsibilities you should outsource. If strategy or organization is not your strong suit, you may want to think about bringing on an associate or administrator. If you’re not great at execution or ideation, perhaps you should find a business partner who is. Identifying your strengths and weaknesses is a simple exercise that can have a dramatic impact on your business.
If you interview a group of prosperous entrepreneurs, it’s likely you’ll uncover some interesting similarities, many of which were represented in the EQ test you took earlier in the chapter. But no matter how many common traits you might
find, there’s one area that’s almost always diverse: educational background.
For many years, most people who wanted to work in the business sector pursued a more traditional path. Success, many believed, could be achieved by following a time-tested formula. Those days are long gone.
Survey a group of successful business owners today, and you’ll quickly see just how varied educational backgrounds can be. While some choose to take a more traditional route, perhaps even earning an MBA, others drop out of high school to start their first company or transition from another field altogether. In the modern, globalized world, business success has become more about pluck and ingenuity than grades and formalities, especially for the entrepreneur.
For many, the issue of higher education comes down to money. Depending on which school you choose to attend, the price tag for an MBA can range from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. With a tepid job market and a fickle economy, it’s very possible to spend $150,000 on a graduate-level education only to find yourself out of work and in serious debt. As the cost of a starting a company decreases, the price of traditional education becomes harder to justify.
“I am a huge believer that you go to college to learn how to learn,”
writes Mark Cuban on his blog. “However, if that goal is subverted because traditional universities, public and private, charge so much to make that happen, I believe that system will collapse and there will be better alternatives created.”
