Essence of the Entrepreneurial Spirit

The other day I was talking to a business owner from Rochester, NY. He is the head of a civil engineering firm that has weathered many storms since its inception and is still struggling with the current winds in an adverse business climate. I asked my entrepreneur friend what made him stand in the face of setbacks and survive. His answer was, ‘entrepreneurial spirit.’

For an entrepreneur, life without risk (and struggle) is life without living. According to my friend from Rochester, NY, “There is an opportunity in every crisis. One has to recognize those opportunities, conceptualize and move forward.”

The opportunity that my friend found in the present crisis is ‘cost reduction by going green.’ He spreads that message to the local industry and townships very effectively with the zeal of a messiah.

“Don’t you meet skeptical and fiscal conservatives who would rather maintain a status quo than 'going green'?” I asked.

“Yes, but I present a ‘sustainability assessment’ to them where I demonstrate how ‘going green’ would save them money.”

My friend has a great presentation that projects productivity improvement for his clients by providing good lighting and noise reduction at the workplace.

“But, if I were a manufacturer in the present business environment, I would still be hesitant in applying your ideas. How do you convince your clients to embrace them?” I was curious.

“We do this by ‘shared-saving contract.” He further explained to me that he gets paid based on real performance and not promises alone. His company monitors pre and post-metering at the clients' sites. That way, the benefits of ‘going green’ become evident without leaving any room for speculation.

My friend’s company has installed wind mills on the top of the cliff at a client’s site in the Fingers Lake area of New York state where his client generates its own clean energy and saves cost by ‘going green.’

There is a lesson to be learned here: The entrepreneurial spirit requires perseverance. It is quality that one must have to achieve success. ‘For example, it took Thomas Edison roughly 20,000 failures before he got the light bulb to work. And horse jockey, Eddie Arcaro had to ride in 301 races before he finally won a race.’ That is the essence of the ‘entrepreneurial spirit.’

Synergies....http://detroit.tie.org/

We are fast approaching TieCon Midwest Conference in October 2009 and the momentum is picking up. Tel, Luxmi, Bob, Nicole, Raji and Anu attended the recent TieCon Conference in the Bay Area and brought back so much of enthusiasm and energy with them, enough to power up the rest of the team for the upcoming TiECon Midwest conference to be held on October 23rd and 24th. I am sure that this will again be reflected in the upcoming event, Getting China and India Right, on May 28. The keynote speaker of the event will be Dr. Anil K. Gupta, (Co-Author, Getting China and India Right).

For more details go to:
http://detroit.tie.org/

The Game Changers

The worst of times are usually the best of times for real entrepreneurs. We are going through the worst recession since the 1930s. If ‘necessity is the mother of invention,’ there are unlimited opportunities for the entrepreneurs to invent new business models. This needs foresight. We cannot narrow our quest to a near-term profit or only focus on the next quarter’s numbers. While survival is important, we cannot just stick to our near-term obsessions and hope that things will be fine in the long run. Staying the course may make us survive a little bit longer, but we need to create a business model for the long term.

Entrepreneurs have invented business models in the past based on the demand of the time. The oldest and most basic business model is the shopkeeper model. This involves setting up a store in a location where potential customers are likely to be and displaying a product or service. Then came bait and hook business model in the early 20th century. Later in the decades new business models were invented by General Motors, Toys R Us, FedEx, and McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Netflix, eBay, Starbucks and others to meet the need of the hour.

The present global economic crisis demands the need for innovating new business models. Chris Penttilla has suggested considering seven game changers by the entrepreneurs of today in the May 2009 issue of the Entrepreneur magazine. Those game changers are:

1. Chaos due to the globalization (IBM adopting the service sector globally)
2. Changing customer values (McDonald’s serving gourmet coffee cheaper than Starbucks)
3. Rush for money saving products (gas sipping automobiles)
4. Simplicity (one-stop clinic)
5. Realignment of the product lines (Kodak jumping into digital market)
6. Not defending the status quo (Microsoft losing ground to Google in search engines)
7. Serve the customers you hate (Netflix attracting delinquent customers)

I will leave you with thoughts from Kenny Rogers' song:

“You never count your money when you’re sittin at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin when the dealins done.”

Congratulations, You are Already In Michigan!

It may sound strange in today’s business environment, but this is true. Michigan can be the likely destination for the aspiring entrepreneurs. After all, “an entrepreneur is a person who assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome.” So, welcome to the brave new world! You have already won half the battle by being here in Michigan, a state with the highest unemployment rate in the nation (12.6%) and the Big Three automakers struggling. Congratulation! You have a chance to rewrite the history and pave your way to immortality (in a business sense).

Governor Granholm and President Obama are committed to make Michigan a leader in green renewable energy economy. The slogan’ Green Today, Job Tomorrow’ is catching up in Michigan. According to the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, Michigan businesses have already created at least 109,000 private sector green jobs. Michigan's green companies have expanded their employment by 7.7 percent. Companies that produce renewable energy have grown by 30 percent.
Green renewable energy is just one of the competitive-edge technologies targeted by Michigan. Other target areas include:
Life sciences
Alternative energy
Advanced automotive, manufacturing and materials
Homeland security and defense

“Life Sciences” means science for the examination or understanding of life or life processes, including, but not limited to the following:

Bioengineering
Biomedical engineering
Genomics
Proteomics
Molecular and chemical ecology “

“Alternative Energy Technology” means applied research or commercialization of new or next generation technology in one or more of the following:

Fuel Cell Energy System
Photovoltaic Energy System
Solar-Thermal Energy System
Wind Energy System”

“Advanced Automotive, Manufacturing, and Materials Technology” means any technology that involves one or more of the following:

Materials with engineered properties created through the development of specialized process and synthesis technology.
Nanotechnology, including materials, devices, or systems at the atomic, molecular, or macromolecular level, with a scale measured in nanometers.
Microelectromechanical systems, including devices or systems integrating microelectronics with mechanical parts and a scale measured in micrometers.
Improvements to vehicle safety, vehicle performance, vehicle production, or environmental impact, including, but not limited to, vehicle equipment and component parts.
A new technology, device, or system that enhances or improves the manufacturing process of wood, timber, or agricultural-based products.”


“Homeland Security and Defense Technology” means technology that assists in the assessment of threats or damage to the general populations and critical infrastructure, protection of, defense against, or mitigation of the effects of foreign or domestic threats, disasters, or attacks, or support for crisis or response management, including, but not limited to, one or more of the following:

Sensors, systems, processes, or equipment for communications, identification and authentication, screening, surveillance, tracking, and data analysis.
Advanced computing or electronic device technology related to homeland security and defense technology.
Aviation technology, including, but not limited to, avionics, airframe design, sensors, early warning systems, and services related to homeland security and defense technology.
Design, engineering, testing, or diagnostics related to homeland security and defense technology.
Product research and development related to homeland security and defense technology.”

(Visit Michigan Emerging Technology Fund site for more detail http://www.gvsu.edu/misbtdc/index.cfm?id=82D603F8-C1F1-E3B9-BDAC78FAF0C1A707)

According to Kelly Williams, managing director and co-head of the Credit Suisse’s New York-based Customized Fund Investment Group, “People forget that Michigan was at the crux of entrepreneurship in the last century, and it’s a perfect place for a rebirth of entrepreneurship in this century.” So, come up with your ideas to TiE Detroit. We are committed to takes budding entrepreneurs from idea generation, to isolating a need, to identifying a target market, through developing a sales process, all the way on up through the nuances of business plan development.

Instant Customer Tracking Software - Sky Is the Limit

Instant customer tracking software for effective stock and customer monitoring has a nascent but continual demand in India. So far, the majority of the Indian businesses have been doing these chores manually with the exception of big business houses. Now, the rest of the established and emerging businesses are seeking customer tracking software. Looking at the growth in India, one wonders, if sky is the limit.

The businesses are also looking for tools for the resolution of end-users issues, and auto-processing of incoming support requests combined with automated emails or SMS alerts. Various companies are working on customer management system that will provide one touch solution to download purchase order application, develop business details including product identification, product category, payment, stock status in proper manner.

The potential of instant customer tracking software is so great that recently IBM paired up with Polaris Retail Infotech Ltd to launch Intellect Store, the first SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) based retail solution in India. Intellect Store is built on the open-standards-based Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition and is combined with IBM’s Retail Integration Framework. Read the story by visiting http://www.topnews.in/polaris-software-along-ibm-launches-intellect-store-india-2159758. Intellect Store will help the retailers track both the stock as well as customers at all their stores simultaneously.

The emerging and existing Indian businesses are looking for help to track and resolve customer issues quickly, thereby delivering superior customer support and taking customer satisfaction to the next level. This is time to tap the $7 billion (and growing) retail industry in India. Remember, there are products already in market positioned to take advantage of this opportunity. Some of those products are: actiTIME (http://www.actitime.com/), SupportCenter (http://www.qualityunit.com/supportcenter/), AyaNova (http://www.ayanova.com/) and others. Entrepreneurs understand the dynamism of the industry and do not wait for others in bringing something novel to the market place.

Freelance Entrepreneur

On hearing the word ‘freelance’ or ‘freelancer,’ we usually imagine writers who are independent without any affiliation to a particular publishing company or a business establishment. However, a freelancer can be in any area of work not only in writing or journalism. A freelancer is “self-employed person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any particular employer” (Sir Walter Scott1771–1832).

Today’s business environment may seem discouraging to many aspiring entrepreneurs as the businesses are curtailing their budgets and consumers are shying away from spending. However, one has to sow before he or she can hope to reap. Like any storm, ‘This too shall pass.’ Those who can lumber along during the storm will certainly rise again.

The key is to keep the entrepreneurship alive on a low budget. This can be achieved by becoming a freelance entrepreneur. I will recommend all the readers of this blog to visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124157147509390007.html and read the article on this subject by Sarah E. Needleman. There are companies who are looking for business services on project-by-project basis. Sarah recommends the following sites for finding freelance work: Odesk.com, Sologig.com, VirtualAssistant.com, Mr-SEO.com, Guru.com and Elance.com. I have personally visited those sites and have found them useful and user-friendly.

So, my advice to the aspiring entrepreneurs will be to keep their skills sharpened as freelance entrepreneurs. This will help them preserve the cash which they will need for expanding the business when the current recession is over. And remember this dialogue from Shakespeare’s Macbeth:

Macbeth: “If we should fail?”
Lady Macbeth: “But screw your courage to the sticking place, And we’ll not fail.”

Aspiration and Perspiration

• In my last blog I wrote, “TiE is a global, nonprofit network of established, new and aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals from a range of businesses to mutually advance, learn, share and support the entrepreneurial skills of its members and beyond”
  
  Many of the aspiring entrepreneurs only aspire. They cannot get to the next step. It is just like an aspiring athlete who only perspires and cannot get on the track. In this series of articles I will present fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Let us start with the word ‘entrepreneur.’
  
  Like religion, here are many interpretations of the word ‘entrepreneur.’ The best in my view is the following: An entrepreneur is someone who creates value by offering a product or service, by carving out a niche in the market that may not exist currently.
  
  According to the Irish economist Richard Cantillon, “entrepreneur is a term applied to the type of personality who is willing to take upon herself or himself a new venture or enterprise and accepts full responsibility for the outcome.”
  
  Looking at the above definitions, the key terms are: ‘create value,’ offer product or service,’ ‘carve out a niche in the market,’ ’may not exist currently,’ take upon new venture,’ and ‘accept full responsibility for the outcome.’
  
  The lesson here is that one has to be ready to perspire, if he or she wants to be an entrepreneur:
  
  1. Do not dream of making money, ponder on creating value for the society and world at large. That is what Henry Ford I and Rattan Tata did. They made affordable vehicles available to the masses.
  2. An entrepreneur creates product or service that people want. Ted Hoff invented microprocessor for Intel. Today the humanity cannot function without this technology.
  3. An entrepreneur carves out a niche in the market. He or she knows how to differentiate its product. We have so many car manufacturers, but we all know that “BMW is the ultimate driving machine.” We have so many department stores, but we all know that “Wal-Mart sells for less.” There are so many soft drinks in the market but we all know that “Coke is the real thing.”
  An entrepreneur takes full responsibility for the outcome and regroups. He or she does not believe in “would, should could.”
  4. Lee Iacocca took the helm of then dying Chrysler with these words, “So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.” He took the responsibility upon himself and turned the company around. The rest is history.
  
  So, judge for yourself if you are an entrepreneur. If yes, TiE is the place for you. More on this in my next blog. In the meanwhile, I want you to ponder on these famous words of Iacocca, “Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make it happen.”
  
  

Why Did I Join TiE?

At a time when so many organizations are either competing with each other or are drawing from the same pool of professionals, I questioned, “Why TiE?” After much consideration and deliberation, I decided to be active in TiE for the following reasons:

1. TiE is not tied to any specific segment of business. It caters to a range of businesses.
2. TiE and its members operate in a friendly and mutually supporting environment
3. TiE’s members and the officers work together with complete transparency
4. Every TiE member has the opportunity to participate in the management of the organization as an office bearer or a volunteer
5. TiE has 53 chapters in 12 countries
6. TiE has over 12,000 members worldwide including 2,000 charter members
7. TiE has held more than 500 events worldwide with more than 80,000 participants and over 160 sponsors
8. That makes TiE the world’s largest networking group

TiE is a global, nonprofit network of established, new and aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals from a range of businesses to mutually advance, learn, share and support the entrepreneurial skills of its members and beyond.

Since TiE has carved a clear niche for itself that is unique, I decided to be a part of it. For the new readers that niche is to serve the following target audience:

1. Established entrepreneurs
2. New entrepreneurs
3. Aspiring entrepreneurs
4. Professionals from all segments of the industry seeking networking, mentoring and exposure to the right business environment and business models

As with any organization, there is always room for improvement and opportunities to grow. I have found a good platform where we can mutually complement each other’s efforts while meeting my own entrepreneurial and business aspirations.