The Entrepreneurial Savant

“If it’s so good, how come everybody isn’t doing it?”
Every visionary, entrepreneur, artist and creative thinker has heard this one. The answer is that ‘everybody’ seldom follows through on their dreams and it always takes a powerfully determined individual to take action on their ideas and visions. Sure, someone may have thought of your idea before. I doubt there are too many new ideas out there after thousands of years of human thought. Embracing that idea and pursuing it diligently separates you from the crowd and that’s why everybody isn’t doing it. Follow your dream. You may succeed and if you don’t, you’ll have the satisfaction and experience of having tried.

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A lot of us don’t understand the concept of profit, in spite of growing up in a capitalist economy. We earn our wages based on an hourly or yearly figure and hope for raises or bonuses. When you go into business for yourself and that paycheck stops coming in like clockwork, the profit concept becomes a lot more important. When you price something, basing your price on your overhead and paying yourself a reasonable wage, always add in a figure above and beyond for profit. As obvious as it sounds, many of my self-employed friends fail to mark up their services. Profit is the future of your business. It pays for the bigger projects, it pays back loans, it creates equity and it provides an incentive. The profit motive has turned out to be a very effective motivator. Remember the USSR?

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Visualization is a very powerful tool for business and personal planning.  Basically, visualization asks you to create a mental picture of yourself in a certain situation and then enter into that picture and experience what is going on. Sometimes you might just observe and get another reference point, gaining a kind of objectivity about a problem or conflict you are trying to resolve.
There is a saying that goes: Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it. This is particularly true when we are pursuing success, whatever our definition of it is. Once you know your objective or goal, try visualizing yourself living life after you’ve achieved that success. Fill in all the blanks with your research, making sure you consider the negative aspects as well as the positive ones. Is this the life I really want? What kind of new challenges and stress am I facing? What have I lost and what have I gained as a person?
Putting yourself into your dreams on an everyday, real world level may show you a side of those dreams you haven’t considered. No matter how glamorous another life may seem, it always has its own set of problems and challenges. Are you ready to exchange yours for them?

Note: The more detailed your vision is, the more likely you are to achieve it. Imagine the physical environment you live and work in down the road and be specific. Populate it with the type of people a successful business you own would employ. Imagine the style and attitude of the company.

Now write it down somewhere where you’ll be able to retrieve it from a few years from now. You’re going to be surprised at how much of what you imagined can come true if when you look back.

This brings up one other critical aspect of visualization: Don’t sell yourself short. A low set of expectations can mean an underwhelming result. Challenge yourself in this exercise by setting high goals and creating a future that is beyond your best plans. Why not? This is all in your imagination so you have little to lose.

And remember- every successful person and business went for goals that seemed unrealistic to others when they started.

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Mention the word ‘research’ and everyone’s eyes roll back into their heads. It conjures up visions of endless Google searches or copying text out of a wikipedia entry. Researching something that can change your life can turn this drudgery into a fascinating task. I’m always amazed how many people start off on complex ventures without doing any research. Perhaps they think that they can learn as they go along. That’s fine, but why go through the painfully boring process of making endless mistakes when there is a wealth of human experience available to help you take giant steps past the competition?

“I don’t know where to start.”
Fortunately there are easy answers to this common complaint about researching things. Research is a process of unfolding. Each fact leads to another group of facts. As you gain in knowledge, you choose which path or paths to take and when to stop. There are several ways to start. The children’s section of the library is a great place to get basic information on a subject. Good children’s non-fiction distills the essential answers down to their most important aspects. A children’s book on a particular subject gives you a basic knowledge of that subject.
Another place to start is the search engines. Look for data sources around your subject matter such as lists of industrial categories, associations, newsletters and periodicals on a subject, databases available, etc. They can point you to experts and provide you with a view of how big the universe surrounding your interest is. (great for networking and business planning). Books and periodicals usually have notes and resources listed in the back matter.
All of these sources are what is known as secondary research sources. Primary sources are the experiments and people whose experiences generated the published info. Most of us will do most of our research from secondary resources, leaving the really esoteric knowledge to the experts. However, doing the secondary research now means that when you can talk to a primary source you’ll know what questions to ask to get the highest value out of your opportunity. And, eventually, your expertise will turn you into one of these primary sources.
Even a little research can help you avoid major pitfalls on your path. You’ll still fall into a few pits but you’ll have the tools required to pull yourself out.

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Consultant’s consultant Hubert Bermont found that one of the most frustrating things about starting a consulting business was the realization that even when clients paid for expensive advice they often didn’t follow it. He relates the story of being at lunch with a psychiatrist friend who told him that he knew four words that would cure 90% of his patients’ problems. Those words were:

Don’t take it personally.

Think about it. The majority of cruel, careless, idiotic or just plain stupid things that appear to be done to us by others are really the result of their own problems. If we could develop the thick skin to not take things personally, we wouldn’t waste valuable energy agonizing over the actions of others.
Note: Bermont’s book, How To Succeed as a Consultant in Your Own Field (Prima), is one of the best books ever written on the subject of starting your own business, even if you are not a consultant. It is particularly valuable for people starting second careers after working for others. Highly Recommended reading.

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