Silly Beliefs of Unsuccessful Entrepreneurs
Good morning, Billion Dollar Business Creators!
Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!
For some people, establishing a billion dollar business seems like the easiest thing in the world.
You just come up with an idea for a new product or technology, talk the idea over with a few experienced people, write a business plan, raise a few million from seed, angel and venture capital investors . . . and get ready to eventually cash out your stock options for big bucks.
I remember attending an entrepreneurs' club meeting of engineers in 1999. The speakers were from various venture capital firms describing their experience with internet start-ups. None of the speakers had at the point ever lost money on an internet start-up, all were still shoveling tens of millions a year into internet start-ups (but not business to consumer start-ups any more), and no one saw any overall dark clouds on the horizon.
You know the rest of the story. The great collapse was about to begin. Many of these start-ups were shoveling all of their money into worthless advertising on AOL and the Super Bowl . . . or were bleeding out of every orifice due to lousy business models (like Webvan).
Everyone has their own ideas about what silly beliefs entrepreneurs have.
Let me share a few of my favorites:
1. Make a better product and you will dominate the market.
Most entrepreneurs wouldn't know a better product if they fell over it. They look at the market needs from their own perspective rather than the way the customers think about the offerings.
Almost anyone I know can make or buy a better cup of coffee than millions buy at Dunkin' Donuts . . . but most people who buy their coffee at Dunkin' Donuts aren't going to go to Starbucks for a better cup of coffee. Usually, there's no Starbucks in sight, they don't have time or interest in making coffee . . . and the pastries are better at Dunkin' Donuts anyway. It's not just a coffee purchase for these people. Many of them depend on the drive-through lane as well to speed their progress as they go to work or shopping.
2. It's the technology that makes for success.
Adding technology to an offering is rarely a key element in creating a billion dollar enterprise. Undoubtedly, there will be some technology involved . . . but there's technology involved to some extent in all businesses.
More often, it's improving the processes involved in serving customers that makes the difference . . . especially those processes that call for speaking with and personally assisting customers. Most people don't go to Disney theme parks because their attractions have better technology but because they have a great time due to being treated well by the enthusiastic cast members.
3. Make it cheaper and the world will beat a path to your door.
Consumption may actually decline if you reduce the costs in the wrong ways. How many people are clamoring for more mobile homes in Florida now? Mobile homes are a lot cheaper than regular homes, but they blow apart in hurricanes. Do you want to live in a death trap?
4. Take the process offshore, and you will save so much money that your profits will soar.
Have you ever tried a help line based in another country? Chances are the people didn't quite understand what you were talking about, and you eventually hung up in frustration. Did that make you want to do business with that company again? Dell recently took its help operations back from India to the United States because of concerns about this problem.
5. Make your operation more efficient by eliminating mistakes and you will soon be the most preferred vendor.
Six Sigma champion Motorola found that that nearly perfectly providing products that no one wanted can be a short route to a business crisis.
In future posts, I'll talk about helpful beliefs for entrepreneurs to have.
I hope you will share your questions about my suggested approach to helping you create a billion dollar business by e-mail . I will create a FAQ section to answer those questions after I have a better sense of what aspects are of most interest.
Send your question by e-mail to ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Have a Question about Building a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line.
If you would like to learn more about how you can build a billion dollar business, send me an e-mail at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Want to Build a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line. I offer a variety of services that can help.
Read the December 19, 2005 blog post to learn more about The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind.
May God bless you. Merry Christmas!
Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman
Mitchell and Company
Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell
Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!
For some people, establishing a billion dollar business seems like the easiest thing in the world.
You just come up with an idea for a new product or technology, talk the idea over with a few experienced people, write a business plan, raise a few million from seed, angel and venture capital investors . . . and get ready to eventually cash out your stock options for big bucks.
I remember attending an entrepreneurs' club meeting of engineers in 1999. The speakers were from various venture capital firms describing their experience with internet start-ups. None of the speakers had at the point ever lost money on an internet start-up, all were still shoveling tens of millions a year into internet start-ups (but not business to consumer start-ups any more), and no one saw any overall dark clouds on the horizon.
You know the rest of the story. The great collapse was about to begin. Many of these start-ups were shoveling all of their money into worthless advertising on AOL and the Super Bowl . . . or were bleeding out of every orifice due to lousy business models (like Webvan).
Everyone has their own ideas about what silly beliefs entrepreneurs have.
Let me share a few of my favorites:
1. Make a better product and you will dominate the market.
Most entrepreneurs wouldn't know a better product if they fell over it. They look at the market needs from their own perspective rather than the way the customers think about the offerings.
Almost anyone I know can make or buy a better cup of coffee than millions buy at Dunkin' Donuts . . . but most people who buy their coffee at Dunkin' Donuts aren't going to go to Starbucks for a better cup of coffee. Usually, there's no Starbucks in sight, they don't have time or interest in making coffee . . . and the pastries are better at Dunkin' Donuts anyway. It's not just a coffee purchase for these people. Many of them depend on the drive-through lane as well to speed their progress as they go to work or shopping.
2. It's the technology that makes for success.
Adding technology to an offering is rarely a key element in creating a billion dollar enterprise. Undoubtedly, there will be some technology involved . . . but there's technology involved to some extent in all businesses.
More often, it's improving the processes involved in serving customers that makes the difference . . . especially those processes that call for speaking with and personally assisting customers. Most people don't go to Disney theme parks because their attractions have better technology but because they have a great time due to being treated well by the enthusiastic cast members.
3. Make it cheaper and the world will beat a path to your door.
Consumption may actually decline if you reduce the costs in the wrong ways. How many people are clamoring for more mobile homes in Florida now? Mobile homes are a lot cheaper than regular homes, but they blow apart in hurricanes. Do you want to live in a death trap?
4. Take the process offshore, and you will save so much money that your profits will soar.
Have you ever tried a help line based in another country? Chances are the people didn't quite understand what you were talking about, and you eventually hung up in frustration. Did that make you want to do business with that company again? Dell recently took its help operations back from India to the United States because of concerns about this problem.
5. Make your operation more efficient by eliminating mistakes and you will soon be the most preferred vendor.
Six Sigma champion Motorola found that that nearly perfectly providing products that no one wanted can be a short route to a business crisis.
In future posts, I'll talk about helpful beliefs for entrepreneurs to have.
I hope you will share your questions about my suggested approach to helping you create a billion dollar business by e-mail . I will create a FAQ section to answer those questions after I have a better sense of what aspects are of most interest.
Send your question by e-mail to ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Have a Question about Building a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line.
If you would like to learn more about how you can build a billion dollar business, send me an e-mail at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com and label it "I Want to Build a Billion Dollar Business" in the subject line. I offer a variety of services that can help.
Read the December 19, 2005 blog post to learn more about The Billionaire Entrepreneurs' Master Mind.
May God bless you. Merry Christmas!
Donald W. Mitchell
Chairman
Mitchell and Company
Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell
posted by Donald Mitchell at 8:09 AM
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