Entrepreneur Article Six: The Successful Entrepreneur Copyright, Nicholas A. Bibby, all rights reserved. Here we go again.

The root cause of small business success or failure is not due to a lack of knowledge or capital, it is due to a poor fit between the owner and the chosen venture. The successful entrepreneur always enjoys a good relationship with the business. Now, there are only two ways to achieve a "good fit" between an entrepreneur and a business. The first is pure luck (which is most often the case). The second comes from consciously exploring who we are and how we might connect to the world of self-employment. It's really no different than analyzing one's career options or choosing a mate. Oh boy, what an analogy; a true one. In reality, 75% of adults don't like their jobs, more than 50% of all marriages end in divorce, and three out of five businesses fail. All of which means we don't do a very good job of analyzing things that are important in our lives. Nevertheless, in business, if we spent half as much time getting ready personally to undertake a venture as we do writing business plans and visiting with attorneys and accountants, we would succeed far more often. When you reduce anything to its essence, the concept of fit is what life is all about. Why do certain marriages last while others fail? Why do our true heroes linger long in years doing what they do best, and all the while being observed with vigor and enthusiasm? It's simple. There exists a good fit. Albert Einstein and Mother Teresa most likely were not daydreaming about blissful retirements in the Bahamas. They found their work, their mission, their purpose, and they stayed with it. Entrepreneurship is no different. You have to find out what you like to do, what you were born to do, and then do it. It is a simple, but overlooked notion that people do better with activities that utilize their natural skills and talents. Understanding who we are and what we are good at will direct us toward more logical life choices. When we take the time to travel the road of self-discovery and act on the things that we come to learn about ourselves, we simply live more productive, satisfying lives. The very first step toward success as an entrepreneur is recognizing that we possess enough independence to leave the perceived safety of traditional employment. The second step is giving ourselves permission to reflect deeply on what we want out of life and out of a particular venture. As just stated, marriages, businesses and careers are failing all around us, and it is only in the "minority" of cases that we find success. Shame on us for being so stupid when all that is required is forethought and gut wrenching self-analysis that simply ends with one question. "Given all that I can find out about the business, career or mate I am considering, am I honestly excited about performing all the tasks associated with that relationship?" If the answer is "NO", there is NOT a good fit. Let's assume

that you want to open a restaurant because you love to chop, trim, broil, bake and saut. OK, apparently you are great in your kitchen, and all your friends insist that the world should have access to your culinary talents. But what happens if you are not blessed with people skills? Well, folks the restaurant business is first and foremost, a people business. If you don't enjoy interacting with them, you better take a hard look at catering. Get the idea? Various members of my family have been involved with restaurants, manufacturing, real estate, insurance, building, printing, and consulting, among others, including franchising a business. To be sure, each one of these ventures that proved successful involved a loving relationship. Playing ostrich when preparing for business ownership normally results in a death sentence. In order to achieve success as an entrepreneur we must first know ourselves. This is the first step. The Focus Program for Emerging Entrepreneurs was developed for just that purpose helping prospective entrepreneurs know themselves better before leaping into business ownership. Nicholas Bibby, MBA and MA Counseling is a franchise consultant specializing in due diligence for those interested in buying a franchise and guidance for successful entrepreneurs when franchising a business.

Entrepreneur Article Four: Entrepreneurial Types

Copyright, Nicholas A. Bibby, all rights reserved I have made the point that the one trait common to all entrepreneurial hearts is a drive toward independence, and I added that varying levels of that independent spirit serve to create a scale on which we could find and define different types of entrepreneurs. Id like to expand on those thoughts. The notion of differing types of entrepreneurs is only important if one is in some way connected to the world of self-employment. And frankly, unless a person has a direct use for this type of information, the subject is boring. But guess what? At least 25% of Americans are plugged directly into the subject as small business owners, employees of those businesses, or family members of entrepreneurs. As stated before, using a broad brush to define the entrepreneurial personality will not work for serious entrepreneurs because it leaves too many possibilities to examine, too many roads to travel that are unnecessary as one decides on their future. In a nutshell, it is neither forward thinking nor efficient to lump together, all the players and all the personalities. Making broad assumptions about the entrepreneurial personality can also lead to danger and business failure. Over time I have identified at least five distinct entrepreneurial types, and that discovery represents a major step up from the quick fix tests that claim to evaluate ones entrepreneurial personality in a few minutes time. You know the tests Im talking about. The ones found in pop magazines. The multiple choice questionnaires that help puff up the ego and encourage us to think of ourselves as independent, entrepreneurial leaders with all the right stuff. Folks, not all of us have the right stuff for the entrepreneurial lifestyle, but then again, most entrepreneurs do not possess the right stuff to make it as great corporate staffers at the highest levels. Why? Because they tend to upset the apple cart and make other staff uncomfortable. The question is not whether a test says a person can be or should be an entrepreneur. The issue is whether or not a person knows in their heart what type of entrepreneur they are, if any, before the journey begins. There is little or no value associated with a 15-minute personality test that gives people a green light to buy a franchise. Could that test possibly provide better analysis than a system that allows a person to think through ownership issues on their own? There is little value in those tests, and there is little value in pursuing an entrepreneurial lifestyle based on what other people claim to be hot new opportunities. It is the opinion of the prospective entrepreneur that matters most, but unfortunately we have been conditioned to accept salesmanship and promotion rather than thinking for ourselves. The more informed and definite we become concerning our traits and objectives, the better choices we are able to

Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink. Reality of Entrepreneur Resources Copyright, Nicholas A. Bibby, all rights reserved. In part one of this article, the focus was on the plight of entrepreneurs facing business failure. This installment deals with most of the critical players involved, and an initial glimpse into the truth about resources available for the entrepreneur. The first important player is government. In general, North American governments do a quality job of providing educational and, in some cases, financial assistance to entrepreneurs. This is great news for focused entrepreneurs who need technical business planning and financial guidance. However, when it comes to businesses in trouble, we find that planning and financial guidance tend to disappear. Resources seem to dissolve in these cases in the same way that people in trouble seem to loose fair weather friends. Therefore, new preventative measures are required that will go beyond the scope of todays responsive government. What can be done? Much more in the planning stages, and I will discuss that later on. Naturally, if government understood the root cause of failure, it would fix the problem. Possible solutions lie ahead, but here is one early clue. Business failure is not generally a function of the business itself, it is a function of the person who owns and operates the business, and that issue needs to be dealt with long before business plans are ever made. When it comes to small business failure, many agencies, whose reason for being is to support small businesses, often find themselves helpless. They are equipped to help start-ups, not businesses in trouble. For example, if a loan is made to a sick business, which is often the case, that cash injection will most likely just prolong an inevitable death. In spite of its desire to do so, an outside agency cannot affect real change in an individual business for several reasons. First, business failure cannot be overcome short of day-to-day corrective involvement in a venture. Second, by dint of personality, entrepreneurs and other types of people, generally do not perceive the world in similar ways. Third, help is being focused on the wrong problems. Hang on, I will tell all before the story ends. Now, just in case you are ready to jump down my throat because you or your uncle work for the SBA or volunteer for SCORE, please calm down, I am not attacking the fine work of these agencies or their level of commitment to small business development. I am simply concerned with their ability to effect change. Here are but three of many reasons I feel this way. First, the people who work within these agencies are primarily executives, administrators, managers and educators. Those are all honorable, required functions in our world, but their experience,

mindset and skills usually do not relate to the entrepreneurial lifestyle and personality. Working as an executive manager and owning a business are not at all similar. Second, lest you think I am being critical, which is absolutely not the case, lets just assume that we placed only ex-entrepreneurs in these agency slots. Even though that will never happen, if it did, the parties could better relate, but it still wouldnt be the answer. Why? Because once again, small business is about living and working in the trenches, and only the small business owner does that on a day-to-day basis. The differences between living through a business failure and talking about it are simply like night and day. If youve been there, you know its true. And third, business failure begins long before the business is ever launched. It starts with a poor fit between the entrepreneur and their venture. We dont focus on that issue. Instead we examine systemic business problems, and those issues are simply not the root causes of failure. Next we have the banker. In terms of financial assistance the banker can be a great asset, but dont forget, our focus is on troubled businesses. Due to priorities and abilities, not out of lack of care or concern, the banker cannot champion the cause. In times of trouble, the banker will attempt to work out the problem, but be assured that ultimately, collection, in one form or another will take precedence over entrepreneurial counseling. In addition, bankers, like bureaucrats and managers, have and need specific skill sets in order to be effective, and those skill sets are different from those required of an entrepreneur. So once again, you will not generally find a mindset fit between an entrepreneur and other personalities. Now consider schools. Educators teach us about business management systems, and today, we have many entrepreneurial courses of study as well. However, knowing how to effectively manage a system does not equate to the demands of entrepreneurship. We are fortunate to have brilliant minds housed in prestigious academic settings, but as important as business principles and systems are to successfully running a business, once again, those issues are not at the very heart of entrepreneurship. Of course, we have to include the business owners family, friends and other confidants. As deeply concerned as they are for the welfare of their favorite entrepreneur, they are usually not effective resources if the venture is in trouble. Mostly, after listening tirelessly and offering suggestion after suggestion, friends and family eventually have to get back to taking care of their own lives. Spouses, children, parents, friends and trusted business advisors may feel the owners heartache as though it was their own, but usually they are helpless by-standers. When a business is in trouble, so is the owner; this creates a very human connection.

So, this all sounds rather bleak, doesnt it? We have government agencies, banks, educators, friends and family all around, but really no one to help. Do you recall the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge? Water, water everywhere, nor a drop to drink. The analogy works quite well in our story. Just as a thirsty sailor cannot survive on saltwater, the foundering entrepreneur may be surrounded by caring souls totally incapable of providing needed sustenance. Sorry for the dreary picture, but business failure is neither bright nor cheerful. Resources for entrepreneurs may appear to be abundant, but their abundance is more easily sighted by the successful small business than the ones in trouble. Let these thoughts ferment for a while and I promise a ray of sunshine in Part 3. The focus will be the star of the show, the entrepreneur. Nicholas Bibby, MBA and MA Counseling is a franchise consultant specializing in due diligence for those interested in buying a franchise and guidance for successful entrepreneurs franchising a business.