1. An entrepreneur is an inventor. Not all inventors are entrepreneurs though. What do I mean exactly?, well entrepreneurs look at the world with open eyes and and asks “what’s missing?”. Once identified the entrepreneur thinks about how to fix this gap. What an Entrepreneur does next is to create a new business instead of new products.

2. Entrepreneurs do not buy business opportunities, they create them. Sorry guys, this includes franchises. You may be successful in a franchise, but your creative juices are stifled by the rules of the franchise. For the true entrepreneur who is creative he/she will be doomed to disappointment as the entrepreneurial passion is doused by the rigours of the franchisor. Franchises can become successful jobs for those that buy them.

3.Invention is contagious. People love the feel good factors involved when other people experience their invention (business). The more significant the invention the more likely it is to succeed.

4. An entrepreneur measures the success of the business by its growth. The faster it grows, the better the invention. It shows that people love to interact with this business. Those that do not experience this growth should not continue as less and less people will want to interact with it and will ultimately lead to financial ruin.

5. Everyone can become an entrepreneur. Everyone can create and develop an new invention if they follow their passion. In order to achieve this an entrepreneur needs to develop patience while developing the skill to drive the invention forward. This calls for the practice of developing new business ideas before actually implementing them. Entrepreneurs are made, not born.

From the above it is clear that many business owners are not entrepreneurs. Many business owners actually own a job that pays for their current lifestyle. It is important to realise that entrepreneurs create businesses for their clients and staff. They create a culture that everyone wants to be part of and are excited by it every day. When this happens the entrepreneur can stand aside and let his business boom with him/her only steering the business in the right direction.

The key to success is to answer all of the questions in enough depth that if a friend asked you to invest in this business, you’d say yes. Most importantly, make sure you record your business plan somehow…whether you write it by hand, type it into your computer, or put it on sticky notes on your wall. Keep it some place handy where you can refer to it when you are making important business decisions. And, make sure you review it monthly–or, even better, weekly–and update it at least annually.

1. Your Dreams: What do you want your business to provide for you? (think time, money, freedom, who you work with) Be specific–how much money, how many hours, when do you want to “retire”.
2. Customers: Who are your customers and what do they want/need?
3. Your Products and Services: What products/services will you provide to meet customer’s needs?
4. Markets: Where are your customers and what do you know about them as a group? “Where” might be geographic, it might be what kind of places they hang out, or where they go to find products or services like yours. What is their age, income, gender, hobbies, family structure, etc?
5. Your Style: How will you reach customers and what will you say? Your method of reaching customers needs to match with where your customers are–and with a message that they can relate to.
6. Competitors: Where else are your customers likely to get this need met? Find out all you can about how your competitors price, market, and provide service.
7. Your Uniqueness: How will your product/service meet customer’s needs differently than your competitors? Consider how your personal uniqueness impacts that.
8. Your Abilities: Of the skills necessary to run your business, what do you do well, and what do you need help with?
9. External Resources: What people/technology/services will support you in the skills you need help with?
10. Fulfilling your Dreams: How will your business provide the kind of working environment you desire, both in how much time you spend, how you perform your work, and how much money you make? Here’s where the rubber meets the road–make sure you can show how you will sell X amount of product or service at Y price, cover your expenses, and reach the goals you set in 1. Above.

Once you can answer all these questions, have it reviewed by some trusted, experienced professionals who will give you objective feedback. Consider a business coach, as one such resource

For clarity I am talking about street smart marketing skills and a cohesive, integrated, well thought out marketing plan that aligns with your businesses strategic and operational objectives.

Most business owners acknowledge the importance of these skills on an intellectual level. Yet when one examines their business, the picture is often very different.

Why is this so?

Well the reasons are many and varied and include:

1. Business is family run and they may not have the expertise to identify the businesses requirements in the marketing area.
2. The view of marketing is restricted to a limited number of media or channels e.g. Yellow Pages and TV ads.
3. The “marketing budget” is insufficient or “does not really exist or worse is seen as an overhead instead of an investment to further growth and profitability
4. There is no cohesive, well thought out marketing plan. It’s just fly by the “seat of the pants” decision making.

So you may ask, “Well Tibor, where do I start? I feel so overwhelmed and it seems such a big task.”

I recommend developing a Marketing Plan.

The purpose of this plan is to develop strategies and tactics to sell your product and services to your target market.

There are many important elements of a good Marketing Plan.

These include (list not meant to be exhaustive):

1. Your Goals
2. Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or Unique Buying Advantage (UBA)
3. Your Target Market – do you know who they are?
4. Market Research – this should underpin/confirm the strategies and tactics you propose. Your research should include the qualitative and quantitative. Remember – the numbers tell a story and they don’t lie!
5. Articulating the Benefits (not just features) to your target market
6. Your Competition – who are they, what are they doing & what can you learn from them?
7. Your Marketing Tools – how will you promote your company, product and services to your market? Will you use networking, telemarketing, direct mail, media (paper, radio, TV) advertising, Press Releases; E-Newsletters etc
8. Your Marketing Budget: important because it helps you monitor and control your investment. (As an aside many companies allocate far too little to their marketing budget or worse still don’t have appropriate measures in place to monitor results of various campaigns)
9. Your Sales Channels – will you use in-house sales force; distributors; an online business etc
10. Your Merchandising: are you creative and adventurous (market maker) or a dull and boring (market follower). [Research indicates that 77% of impulse sales can be traced directly to merchandising]
11. Your Pricing: are your prices appropriate. My experience tells me that many businesses are doing themselves no favours in this area.
12. Your Positioning: how is your business perceived by your target market, your staff (& importantly your sales team) and/or your competition? Cheap, expensive or great value for money. Are you happy with how you are perceived or is their work to be done in this area?

Phew? I can hear some of you say – that’s a lot of work.

Indeed, a good marketing plan is not thrown together overnight. In fact it should be a “living document” and one that is constantly being reviewed. Why? Well since your marketplace is constantly changing must your strategies and tactics then be constantly reviewed in light of these changes? In fact market makers often anticipate or create the demand in the marketplace for their goods and services.

[An excellent thought provoking book about "demand creation" among other things is, "Unlimited Wealth" by Paul Zane Pilzer.]

So if you need help in this area stick up your hand and ask. After all, you would be far better concentrating on what you are good at and maximizing the return on it – rather than trying to do it all yourself

Now for a laugh

(Thanks to Noel Whittaker for this gem!)

Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the

family business. When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune.

One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away. ‘I may look like just an ordinary man,’ he said to her, ‘but in just a few years, my father will die, and I’ll inherit $20 million.’

Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later she became his stepmother.

Women are so much better at estate planning than men

Next time I will talk about an important part of business, namely available capital and it’s importance in business growth.