The Entrepreneurial Myth Revisited: Chapters 4-6
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, more than 600,000 small businesses close their doors in the United States every year. And according to this section of The Entrepreneurial Myth Revisited, “Simply put, your job is to prepare yourself and your business for growth” by asking these questions:
Where do I wish to be?
When do I wish to be there?
How much capital will that take?
How many people, doing what work, and how?
What technology will be required?
How large a space will be needed at Benchmark One, at Benchmark Two, at Benchmark Three?
*off to scribble answers in my notebook that I will probably never look at again…
Key takeaway #1: The key is to plan, envision, and articulate what you see in the future both for yourself and your employees.
I LOVE how this book emphasizes how your EMPLOYEES are a group of your CUSTOMERS. Talk about putting some responsibility on these ol’ boss lady shoulders.
Key takeaway #2: Upon the thousands we’ve met, only few had any plan at all.
Remember that stat about “more than 600,000 small businesses close their doors in the United States every year?” That was burned into my brain the moment I read it. Can you imagine? If more of these businesses had created a plan, maybe they wouldn’t have had to close their doors. Ominous.
Key takeaway #3: A Mature company has a vision against which the present is shaped. The Entrepreneurial Perspective starts with a picture of a well-defined future, and then comes back to the present with the intention of changing it to match the vision. The Technician’s Perspective starts with the present, and then looks forward to an uncertain future with the hope of keeping it much like the present.
If you’t not thinking about the future, then how can you operate in the present? It makes a ton of sense to me, but I have often been chastised—by business partners, family members, friends, ALL my exes—that I thought about the future “too much” and I overthink and I shouldn’t be visioning so much. And to those naysayers, I say read this book :)
Key takeaway #4: I realized that for IBM to become a great company it would have to act like a great company long before it ever became one. Every day at IBM was a day devoted to business development, not doing business.
Almost every single female entrepreneur I know is grinding way too hard. I think a lot of them like me are finding their self-care moments otherwise they would go completely insane or at least I would. But it’s because way too many of us are “doing business” instead of focusing on business development. This client needs that. This employee has a question. This bill needs paid. The government needs yet another freaking document. The little day-by-day tasks can completely consume you if you don’t watch it and all the sudden you didn’t develop your business and it didn’t grow and now you have to close your doors. I am anything but a doomsdayer and like to think of myself as a cheerleader to all my fellow fempreneurs. But the reality of this book is cold and I’m not going to warm any of it up for y’all. Tough love and all.
Key takeaway #5: What’s important is the business: how it looks, how it acts, how to does what it is intended to do. The Entrepreneurial Model understands that without a clear picture of the customer, no business can succeed. The business is the product.
Customer-centered. User experience. Customer journey. Customer avatars. Empathy maps. We all know we need them. We all know that we SHOULD put the customer first. But do we? Don’t we let all the other business “stuff” get in the way of truly serving our customers and giving them the best experience possible?
Needless to say, my mind is spinning with ideas for growth. But I think the phrase is “strategic growth” and sometimes “strategic change” because not everything is about just making more money, which I think the term growth insinuates. Maybe you don’t make more profit, but you are able to hire more people. Maybe you are able to donate 10% to your local charities because you’re making more, or you’re able to grow your community because you’re working smarter not harder. All of that falls under the “growth” umbrella to me.
Onwards and upwards!