Angela Kamanzi My Journey in Entrepreneurship
“You have an idea for a new business. You are sooo excited that you start telling your friends and family about it (mistake). You are confident this product solves a big problem in the market (mistake). You make a vision board and start drafting your business plan (mistake). You recruit some family members and an enthusiastic friend to work with you on it (mistake). You know you are ready and prepared (mistake) and willing to do whatever it takes to make this work (mistake).
All the above may sound like good things, but following the textbook approach to entrepreneurial success is your biggest mistake of all.” Darren Hardy
When I was reading this, I felt as if someone was telling me that I was headed to Kajiado even though my intention was to go to Turkana. It’s yet another example of why we should challenge conventional wisdom now more than ever before, if our businesses are to thrive in the 21st century.
Even though analysts don’t agree on the rates of businesses that fail within the first three to eight years of existence (34% to 90%), no entrepreneur wishes to be part of those statistics. In his quest to discover why the odds seem stacked even against people who go out of their way to do everything right, Darren Hardy was dumbfounded by the realisation that all the assumptions for high failure rate (capital, location, credit, inventory management, and competition) were wrong! Overwhelmingly, failure was due to an emotional factor: the unexpected and terrifying havoc experienced in an entrepreneur’s life.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll explore and share my thought regarding some mistakes we entrepreneurs make, blissfully unaware of their long term detrimental effect on our ventures.
Having a Big Dream and Trying to Change the World
When Sir Richard Branson started the first Virgin business 40 years ago, he had no grand plan—especially not for a colossus that would eventually employ 50,000 people all over the world. “Had we tried to plan for such a future,” Branson once told Entrepreneur, “we would certainly have messed it up.”
The same goes for Tabitha Karanja. When she started Keroche Breweries, her goal was to produce affordable quality drinks for the low income market. It’s only when legislation rendered her products too expensive for the low end market that she changed gears and gradually took on a multinational owned company that had enjoyed unchallenged monopoly for decades. Starting small helped Tabitha Karanja grow her business and a thick skin by learning how to tackle the challenges that come with playing in her field of choice.
The first business plan you drew based on your big goal had most probably overestimated projected sales. You could have overbuilt and overspent on the perfect scalable systems. Then you started missing payroll. Did you close the business eventually?
It’s better to start small. Start where you are with what you have. Focus on selling something today and on improving your selling skills. Try and get better at selling every day. Avoid getting lost in your lofty goal.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t dream big or set goals. You need that big dream to act as a lighthouse and keep you focused. However on a day-to-day, practical basis, thinking too big paralyses you and keeps you from taking action.
Clearly define your big dream and break it into specific goals. Break each goal into specific steps. Then, on day-to-day basis focus on faithfully taking the steps. With each step, working on growing and getting better, some day you’ll realise that the world was impacted significantly by your constant growth. Yes it can happen to you!
