startups – Danielle R. Simon

Did not know UPS had a “Startups” program. Looks like you can schedule a virtual consultation and get strategies to help your business grow.

Anyway, their “6 ways entrepreneurs think differently” really rings the most true of all the “think differently” lists I’ve read out there. I especially love the first and second “ways,” which seem like the opposite of what some lists suggest–which is that you should listen to others who have done it and do things their way. I think you have to follow your own instinct and do what is right for you, within reason.

Gems:

When someone says “This is how so-and-so did it” or “We have to do it this way because,” it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard to an entrepreneur. A willingness to break the rules and strike out on your own comes with the territory.

Entrepreneurs have their own way of doing things and do not always feel the need to seek consensus. Research from Jason Greenberg of New York University and Ethan Mollick of the University of Pennsylvania found that business ventures launched by solo founders survive longer and generate more revenue than those started by teams.

Contrary to popular belief, most entrepreneurs are not bet-the-ranch gamblers. They do have a willingness to take the right kind of risk at the right time, though.

Always consider the benefits and downsides to a difficult decision, but don’t be afraid to follow your instincts.

Also, contrary to what most people think, the average age of a successful entrepreneur is 45, according to research published by Harvard Business Review https://osterreichische-apotheke.com/k../.

There’s also evidence that founders with prior business experience in their field are more likely to succeed. Perhaps not surprising that, on balance, experience matters when it comes to what makes a good entrepreneur.

The ability to bounce back from failure is a key characteristic of successful business owners, especially in the beginning. Some venture capitalists and angel investors won’t fund entrepreneurs who haven’t had at least one failed business.

Rather than become discouraged, entrepreneurs tend to capitalize on opportunities to acquire new knowledge.

How to be an entrepreneur: 6 ways entrepreneurs think differently

I discovered this entrepreneur, author and professor, Derek Lidow, last night. I am currently in the very early stages of starting my own business, and Lidow’s thoughts validate my thinking/approach to entrepreneurship. He calls it the “bedrock mindset” and has written a book about it.

I found an article that summarizes his thoughts on the two approaches to entrepreneurship that lead to successful business creation. Here are some gems from it:

Estée Lauder started as a teenager…It took her decades of making small profits to find out how to do it well enough to make the large profits that finally allowed her to live the life she wanted. Sam Walton, too, was a bedrock entrepreneur. He grew his company based on coaxing ever increasing profits from the small retail stores he initially franchised, borrowing money from family and, only later, from banks https://osterreichische-apotheke.com/k../. Such entrepreneurs must necessarily be patient about the growth of their companies since it will be limited by the profits they generate.

Contrary to a commonly held perception, the majority of enterprises are founded by a single person, not by a team. Over half of the entrepreneurs in the U.S. work on their own and want to keep it that way. They recognize that giving significant ownership to partners or co-founders increases the risk that the company will break up over differences of aims, strategy and even personality.

We need both bedrock entrepreneurs who create value via steady growth and reinvestment of profits and high-risk entrepreneurs who create those one-in-ten thousand successful hypergrowth companies. What we don’t need are hybrid entrepreneurs who behave like tenacious tortoises one day and high-risk hares the next.

Which Type of Entrepreneur Are You: Bedrock or High-Risk?