There is no letter 'i' in the term entrepreneur

For far too long, when we ask people to describe an entrepreneur, I can put my bottom dollar that the image that comes to mind is of seasoned people such as Richard Branson, Oprah, Bill Gates, Patrice Motsepe and so the list goes on. How many of us really ever think that behind those faces are teams of people that actually make that image of that person occupy prime space in our minds. So I believe that it is important to move oneself as the entrepreneur and to recognise and rightly so the importance of the team that helps us achieve our dreams as the entrepreneur.

So when for example David Livingstone set out to explore the world, he was not alone and when he was in our parts of the world, you better believe that he needed to connect with the locals if he was to succeed on his travels. So while there may be a grand statue erected of him; it also serves as a reminder that in the world of entrepreneurship, people often think it is only one person who is involved in the business. The point is that, while you may be a one-person show, you still need to work with others if you want to achieve your goals. It may be at arms length; it may be intimately. You need to develop a way that works for you. How? You may involve your extended team of people working with you on achieving your goals in planning and shaping your business purpose. You may bounce ideas with them and obtain valuable insights while on the other hand, you can leverage off their network in some way.

What this implies for me is that it is no longer about grand statues of THE one person; it is about taking stock of the people supporting your business purpose and seeing how they can help you. The thing is that you actually have to compose what that picture must look like. Who would you like to appear in your 'team photo'? How often should you take that team photo? What are their positions in the team? So when I look at my business, my team photo currently has players that: provide strategic direction; lend an ear to hear about my dreams for the business and cheer me on or caution against elements of the dream; introduce me to their network of clients, which in terms provides me with new business opportunities; provide technical support in accounting,tax,IT, and compliance etc. These are the backbone of my business; invisible to others, but significantly visible to me.

So take out your camera, drawing board, paper and compose your own team to support your business. But do not be constrained to having a photograph that is static, with the advent of technology, it has become easier, almost expected to change photos as and when necessary!!

Developing business purpose

Being self-employed, one is constantly striving to generate income that will see the realities of life being taken care of. So the energy and passion is at times biased towards the present, and at best, once in a while, you may dream of the future state that you want to be in. And that right there is one example of a 'gap'. For some there is one major gap while for others, it could be a several. Regardless, it is important that one takes the time to audit their personal business purpose with actual performance to identify potential gaps.

What is your business purpose - the reason for being in business? I know from my own experience of starting my venture that I was driven by a purpose of survival. My life had undergone a significant shock to what was otherwise a fairly normal life to one where I had to fend for myself. While that level of adrenalin kept me going for the first few months, it soon became evident that it was not sufficient to sustain the business. So in more recent times I have focusing on trying to craft my business purpose - something that will keep me focused yet allow me to be flexible and more importantly allow me to measure my level of performance without the drama of ticking off a long checklist. The process is on-going but so far, I have certain elements or rather questions that I am attempting to find answers to.

The first question, if I was ever offered another job would I take it? To this, to date I am on the fence - so I am not actively looking for formal employment but if the right opportunity presented itself, I would evaluate in line with what my ultimate goal for my business is.

The next question is what should the business be remembered for? This is not about what I should be remembered for (although it is obviously interwined) but rather, what difference the enteprise made. I have recently read a book that really opened my eyes about the possibility of serving mankind through your enterprise. So for me, the significant shift as I answer this question is that I am now focusing on unpacking what is my business offering, what is the business offering in terms of value, purpose, impact etc for those who are in contact with the business and for those who are yet to be in contact with the business.

The third question I am asking of the business is what is the value set of the business? This is not just about my own value set, but includes values of all those connected to my business but somehow collapsed into a collective value set. The reality is that if I want people to be excited about my business; then it has to talk to them in one or more ways.

Now I want to believe that once I have formulated working responses to these questions, then I will be able to develop an appropriate answer to the question of how will the business achieve its purpose? The answer to this question I believe, can truly emerge once the first three questions have been addressed. A further question will then be, how do I know that the business is achieving its purpose?

Short left: Picking the low lying fruits along the way

My dream is to provide useful, relevant, up to date information to anyone wanting to start a business or grow their business at a very cheap price anywhere and anytime. That is my dream. I want people to be able to be able to write their own business plans backed by relevant, timely business/sector/industry information in their choice of location.

But what I know is that the road to get to where I want to be is not going to happen over night, it is going to be a process. And while I work towards my dream, the one lesson that I have learnt from others before me is that it's important to pick the low lying fruits along the way. This basically means that as I etch my way towards my dream, I must live, pay the bills and develop my concept. But this does not give me the freedom to do anything and everything simply because I need to pay bills. What I have done is to do projects that have helped me develop my research skills (core to my dream), networking skills and business planning skills.

So I find myself engaging in interesting projects in a variety of sectors but more importantly, I can see how my product and service will be of value to these sectors in the years to come. I have learnt certain peculiarities about certain sectors that I would not have done if it was not for the projects that I have done. It has also provided me the opportunity to ask people what kind of information they believe they need and then seeing how my product offering can fit it those expectations.

So this post is short as it's not about giving a detailed analysis of how, when or what as pickiing low lying fruits for me is about accessing those opportunities that add value to me achieving the dream. So as I such, I recognise the need to articulate as a strategy that I have used along the way but do not want to make a central part of my journey as then I will never reach my dream destination: providing relevant information to people exploring, starting, or growing their business.

Navigating entrepreneurial waters - What my fitness personal trainer taught me

Is the women entrepreneur simply the opposite of the male entrepreneur or is there more to her? I would argue that in today’s society where we have been given equal platforms to participate in the economy in more meaningful ways, that the women entrepreneur has the power to do more. And to illustrate this, I want to share with you my experiences of women entrepreneurs and in particular one woman entrepreneur. So at the beginning of 2009, I made the resolution to become fitter and healthier (besides needing to prove my family and friends wrong, I genuinely felt lethargic) and so began my looking for a personal trainer. I found her and so my journey to a better me began. But soon afterwards, I realised that these were no ordinary personal training sessions; we soon started sharing ideas around business but more importantly, I began to gain such valuable insights into women-owned enterprises that challenged my existing knowledge. You see, in talking and sharing, I started to understand her enterprise ecosystem and I wanted to share three lessons I have learned so far.

The first lesson is what I call redefining tools: One of the most significant lessons is how my personal trainer has redefined certain tools to help her remain authentic to what her business is and who she in that business. In particular, the one tool she has redefined is networking. We are often taught about the power of networking but not all of us are comfortable in how it sometimes operates and my trainer is similar, she always said that she is not the type to be in your face. But what she has done is to use her personal relationships with each of her clients in very strategic ways – from bouncing marketing ideas, legal decisions, growth ideas. So she has in a sense developed a useful and relevant database of people that she can call on. So while she did not have to go to networking sessions, she has essentially made networking work for her in a way that helps her to strengthen her business without losing its authenticity. So how does this lesson add value to me and you? One has several business tools at their disposal but one has the power to redefine them to allow one to remain authentic to the values of their business and not be afraid of trying something because it is not listed in some book. After all, creativity and innovation are said to be some of the tenants of entrepreneurship and more importantly, allow one to challenge the status quo.

The second lesson I have experienced is in how my personal trainer recognised an opportunity to grow her business but in making that decision, she was determined to choose a model that she was comfortable with. She opted for a developmental model which entailed her developing another person – a regular client to be exact – to offer services as opposed to hiring someone from the outside. My thoughts were why spend time developing someone, get someone who has already spent their own money to be trained and can start immediately. But now as I reflect on our conversations, the decision to grow involves more than people, money, venues, it is also about ensuring that your value systems and business growth model are aligned. More importantly, the key lesson is that for her, it was about ensuring that each of her clients would be comfortable with the person and that made it easier to introduce change without her clients feeling as though she no longer had time for them. So how does this lesson add value to you and I? As an entrepreneur or business owner, change is likely to be an ongoing part of your business than for most other people, but it is in how you incorporate change to allow alignment between values and need to grow. It is about interrogating what is core to you and your clients and finding a creative balance to introduce change.

The final lesson that I would like to share with you is how our conversations have shown me how accountability really plays itself out in her ecosystem. When I reflect on stories and examples, I can see that her business requires multiple levels of accountability. It requires accountability to herself, spiritual and religious beliefs, clients, suppliers, friends and family for example. This illustrates an interplay between various aspects of her business ecosystem because as her business continues to grow and develop, these accountabilities require her to test if she is remaining true to herself and if her business is adding value.

So from my interactions with my trainer, one thing that continues to be re-affirmed for me is that being an entrepreneur or small business owner is not an individual journey. Rather, it is a journey where you constantly engage with different types of people and collectively, you can learn from these experiences and take what is useful for you and fit for your purpose. More importantly, what I've taken from my personal training sessions is that there are several ways of navigating the entrepreneurial waters, however, I can ask others how they have done it to help me chart my own course.

Ready, steady, go? How a seasoned entrepreneur got my race started

Sitting at a coffee shop with a very close friend of mine, Colleen, we discussed my next career move after having gone through a very difficult time with my employers. I had inevitably found myself going through a legal process, which while it worked in my favour, it nonetheless was a very dark period in my life. Colleen does marvellous work in the career development space was helping me with my CV, for when you are an academic, you may not be in touch with how CVs should be presented for the 'real' world. So it was at one of our sessions, that she asked me the question, 'Why don't you start your own business?' It should not have sounded as if this was a light bulb moment. But, there I was, a person who had studied entrepreneurship up to doctoral level, had taught entrepreneurship to nearly 3000 students over the years, had helped people with their business plans and yet I sat there with the greatest amount of self-doubt.

My first thought was, ok, here you are, highly educated and the so called entrepreneurship research, says that the more educated you are, the more likely you are to succeed. So armed with that comforting thought, I gained some courage. I started thinking of company names, was consumed with grandiose ideas about the empire I was going to build and I slept at night. But I soon realised that my education was all I had and after registering my company, now what? And so began the 'real' entrepreneurship lessons of what I had in the past taught my students. This time, I was the student and my teacher was Colleen, the entrepreneur. There was no chalk and board or powerpoint presentation, just strong coffee (they even know her order at the coffee shop we meet at) for Colleen and a berry freeze drink for me but good, stimulating and real conversation. And it is upon reflection from these conversations that I can share just some of my lessons (there have been so many that actually, they deserve a book!).

The first lesson Colleen taught me was that to be an entrepreneur, you need to have self-belief. Colleen spent a lot of time giving me the reassurance that I so needed. She would tell me how she began her journey, how the journey had pit stops and detours, but that because she so believed in what she was doing, she was able to continue her journey. Colleen built up my confidence and encouraged me to pursue my dream and most importantly, was and continues to be my sounding board for my business.

The second lesson was about the importance of making use of your networks and after one of our coffee sessions, she suggested me that I write up a list of all the people that I know. You see, sitting now and reflecting on this, I realize that while I knew this, had taught it and even advised others on it but when it came to myself, I think that I was so afraid of failure that I momentarily forgot all that I knew. So, I wrote a list of all the people I knew and in some cases, told them that I had now started my own consulting company and gave them an overview of what I would be focusing on. Some of the networks gave me work, but you would never believe that my first consulting job actually came from the very same company that I'd had had to resort to a legal process. That experience really showed me that it is important to always give your best in any work situation as even when you have to move on, it is your work that is remembered and may actually get you much needed work when you are in your own business.

The third lesson that I am only implementing now that Colleen spoke to me about quite early on when I started my race was about the power of the Internet. Early on she told me to start a blog, write a book that can be published online, set up a website, but I never followed through on that. Why? I think it is because, I was overwhelmed by what an online presence represented; it meant that I would out there for people to comment, agree, disagree with my thoughts and I was not emotionally ready for that. So although I never did it then, I am doing it now and I feel strong enough about what I do, who I am that I can now write and share my thoughts. The lesson that I learnt from Colleen that I now implement when I am working with other entrepreneurs is that at times when you suggest something that you know is good for the entrepreneur but they don't implement it; it's okay. I've learnt that at times you need to stand back and let the entrepreneur work through and process their own entrepreneurial intentions.

The final lesson that I have learned from Colleen is the importance of consistency in how you interact with people, how you project who you are and how you represent yourself and how you want to be remembered. Colleen does not shift the goal post, what you see is what you get and experience. For example, when you go into the career centre that she has started and runs at a local university, it screams 'Colleen'! It is not what you expect, it's unconventional, yet inviting and importantly, it's a space for one to grow within a wonderful safety net of staff and genuine desire for people to succeed. In my case, she always gives her all without expecting anything in return because I believe that she so genuinely believes in me. She also imparts a healthy dose of realism about the race that I am running - when I've thought that my race should come to an end, Colleen reminds me about running at a pace that's right for me.

So what I know now for sure is that when I am helping other entrepreneurs develop; I know that they must run their own race. My role is to be their running partner but at times run ahead, while at other times run behind but most importantly, run with them at their own pace. To Colleen, my friend, mentor and running partner, I say my race has now begun and the pace is a healthy one.

Can enterprising skills be taught at a younger age?

So my first experience with the world of enterprise was in my final year of junior school at the age of 12. I distinctly remember that we played what was called the 'Game of Life' and it really was that. Our teacher was essentially the Mayor and we, as the citizens of the town first had to build our town. So endless hours were spent on building our town using paper mache and once we had done that, we each had to select an enterprise that we would run for the duration of the game. The currency was not real but was recogniszed as a means of trading among citizens of the town. I owned a bank (the last time that I most probably had so much money!!!) and once in a while I dabbled in selling slices of cake and anything to make extra money. With this money as well as bank charges and loans my bank made, I went about purchasing assets such as a house, a car etc from fellow classmates.

But I'll never forget that in the entire class only one of us came up with a different enterpise, only one. It was a girl whose father owned businesses and thus the culture of enterprise and thinking out of the box seemed to part of her life. I often wonder, if after school, she went and asked her father what she could do and I imagine her father navigating her through the process of finding something unique. Anyway, if my memory serves me well, I think she came up with a post of being the Mayor's assistant - essentially, the Chief Operating Officer. Needless to say, she earned the most money.

The lessons that I have gained from this memory are many, but I will share a few. Firstly, we know the amount of time and resources being spent in other parts of the world to incorporate enterprise skills and/or entrepreneurship into curriculum but the question is can it be taught? I, for one am of the opinion that such games or curriculum can ignite the spirit of enterprise but it is how one experiences that game or curriculum that may have a greater impact on the decision to pursue entrepreneurship. Secondly, we should not expect for these skills to be taught in the schools alone. How many of us can remember when we wanted to do something that did not fit into our parents or guardians perceptions of good education would get no encouragement to pursue this? For some, times have changed - there is a lot of encouragement, for others, the struggle continues. So what I am basically saying is that, there are many opportunities for us to be socialized into enteprise/entrepreneurial skills but family, peers and society plays a crucial role. Thirdly, I think it's important to emphasize that not all of us with see small business ownership as our destination in terms of career choices. Rather, we need to extract and apply the values and skills that enterprise and entrepreneurship provide in our day-to-day life. Labelling who is and who is not an entrepreneur does not add value in my opinion but rather, it limits one's dreams.

If I had simply decided that because I had chosen a safe enterprise of running a bank when I played the 'Game of Life', I might have limited my career options. In fact, it is quite funny, to date, I have actually never worked in a corporate setting. I started as an academic, teaching management, financial management and entrepreneurship, moved to managing a degree programme to being a self-employed research consultant. I know that for my parents, they have stepped back, allowing me to do what I want to do and while not always knowing what I am doing, they give the necessary encouragement.

So what do we need to do to encourage the spirit of enterprise? Do we need to include it in the curriculum? Perhaps. But what do we need to include? Enterprise Life Skills, problem solving skills, creativity and critical thinking skills, analytical skills, team work skills? Perhaps. When should it be taught? Earlier than later? Perhaps. Is it relevant for our country? Perhaps.

So while there are many questions and not clear answers, I believe that there is a place for enterprise and entrepreneurship skills within the curriculum, from early childhood development curriculum to Doctorate level and everything in between! Let us work together and start to make a contribution.