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.”