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?