Category: EV

Temptation, Enticement, Prompting. Big words with one simple meaning; PERSUASION- The ability to influence people. In layman language we are talking about People skills. Entrepreneurs wouldn’t trade them for the world. The ability to deal with people is priceless.

Being a good entrepreneur means being able to effectively convince an investor that you have a great idea, persuade partners that your approach is right, and convince potential customers that the solution is right for them. If all your ideas are intuitively obvious to everyone, you probably aren’t thinking outside the box, or don’t really have the next big thing.

Remember though, Persuasion is not manipulation. Manipulation is coercion through force to get someone to do something that is not in their own interest.  Persuasion is the art of getting people to do things that are in their own best interest that also benefit you.

Here are few tricks you can use in your benefit to persuade your potential clients and customers:

• If it’s True, Come Out and Say It-Don’t beat around the bush. Don’t give expectations that could not be met. However, if you execute and are good at what you do, say so. While other vendors that the individual calls will give them a sales pitch that all sound the same and is the same song a dance, you come out and say what you want to say. If you want the potential client’s business, tell them. “We can work hard for you and produce. I want to take this account on.” Who else is saying that?
• Persuade the Persuadable- Everyone can be persuaded, given the right timing and context, but not necessarily in the short term.  Political campaigns focus their time and money on a small set of swing voters who decide elections.  The first step of persuasion is always to identify those people that at a given time are persuadable to your point of view and focus your energy and attention on them.
• Persistence Pays- The person who is willing to keep asking for what they want, and keeps demonstrating value, is ultimately the most persuasive.  The way that so many historical figures have ultimately persuaded masses of people is by staying persistent in their endeavors and message.  Consider Abraham Lincoln, who lost his mother, three sons, a sister, his girlfriend, failed in business and lost eight separate elections before he was elected president of the United States.
• Compliment Sincerely – We are all so positively affected by compliments, and we’re more apt to trust people for whom we have good feelings.  Try complimenting people sincerely and often for things they aren’t typically complimented for, it’s the easiest thing you can do to persuade others that doesn’t cost anything but a moment of thought.
• Set Expectations- Much of persuasion is managing other’s expectations to trust in your judgment.  The CEO who promises a 20% increase in sales and delivers a 30% increase is rewarded, while the same CEO who promises a 40% increase and delivers 35% is punished. Persuasion is simply about understanding and over-delivering on other’s expectations.
• Don’t Assume  – Don’t ever assume what someone needs, always offer your value.  In sales we’ll often hold back from offering our products/services because we assume others don’t have the money or interest.  Don’t assume what others might want or not want, offer what you can provide and leave the choice to them.

 

 

Mistakes are common; in fact they’re inevitable. They also can make you a more cautious and wiser businessperson. All entrepreneurs make at least one expensive mistake when setting up a new business. But some mistakes are so costly they can sink a cash-strapped new company.

Following is list of crucial startup stumbles. Even if an entrepreneur is doing everything else right, committing even one of these mistakes can seriously damage the startup’s credibility and chances of successful launch.

1.Client communication failures

One of the most common mistakes a growing professional services firm makes is failing to effectively communicate with clients. According to a recent study, client communication is the most important factor influencing the success of a project. But this is often easier said than done.

Ninety percent of survey respondents selected email as one of their top three methods of communication during projects, but email is built for private communications between a few individuals, whereas delivering successful projects is a team endeavor. For most professionals today, relying on email means entire chains of communication are put in silos between teammates, withholding valuable information in their inboxes that’s inaccessible to both colleagues and clients.

With growing teams and bigger projects, it’s impossible to keep track of every small detail using traditional manual approaches, such as copying and pasting or multiple all-hands meetings. While new collaboration tools are trying — unsuccessfully — to replace email entirely, the real solution is to use project management software that integrates with email automatically, tracking conversations and treating the content of their messages as assets to share across the team.

2.“We don’t have any competition.”

As you brief potential advisors, investors and partners regarding your startup, you want to convey how exciting, ground-breaking and unique you are, right? But one of the silliest things you can say is, “We don’t have any competition.” Even if you have a new, dramatically better solution for addressing a certain customer problem, your customers do have another way of currently addressing that problem or issue. It’s crucial to address how you’re going to steal share from the established players — the current way of doing things.

3. “Build it and they will come.”

Inventors and innovators often tend to minimize the importance of marketing and sales. They get caught up in just how cool their solution is, and just assume that, once it’s available on the market, customers will simply stampede to buy it. Good luck with that.

Even though every Entrepreneur comes up their own innovative solution, they do not last long without proper sales and marketing technique.

4. Overly optimistic market penetration assumptions.

Another serious business planning chaos is claiming that your new startup is going to conquer the majority of its addressable market, from scratch, in just three to five years. Think about it: even the most heroically successful new market launches in history, such as the iPad and the iPod, achieved no better than 30-50% market penetration in 7 years. And those are extremely successful outliers. Are you going to do better than that, as a startup with limited marketing resources?

5. Choosing the wrong team. 

This is the most expensive startup mistake, claims Bill Aulet, managing director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and author of Disciplined Entrepreneurship.

Pick your team carefully and base your choices on the skills you need, common values and trust. Don’t let friendship cloud your judgment.

6. Take advantage of every opportunity to network.

It’s not just who you know, it’s who knows you. Your calendar may be booked from sunrise to sunset, but even 30 minutes at a networking event will pay off in the long run. Visibility is the first rule of networking. Make sure you have your presence at all social networks. . In order to promote your business, it’s essential to see and be seen.

Becoming an Entrepreneur became more common than ever after Modi’s Startup India campaign. Yet most of those entrepreneurs are no longer in business. Every day we read about startup ventures crumbling to soil. It can make you think twice about giving up on the 9-6 lifestyle.

It’s natural to feel dubious about your decision. No entrepreneur is a born badass who would nail every target and aim of the organization. They fall, they crumble and they learn. What is important is to remember your lesson. Because your fall will help you learn how to fly.

Giving up is not an option for a passionate Entrepreneur. Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. To become a fearless Entrepreneur, one must always remember these lessons:

1. The journey is the best part.

It’s easy to look at that mountain and shy away from the hard work. It’s intimidating to begin with. But along the journey, you embark on something new. This journey is the most enjoyable part of the process.

All successful entrepreneurs look back on their respective journeys with a great fondness. Don’t be afraid of the journey embrace it.

2. Cherish what drives you.

What drives an Entrepreneur isn’t money alone. It’s what they can do with that money. For you it might be that big house, that fast car or that dream vacation to Hawaii. Embrace what drives you. Use that to get you through the hard times.

Make sure to keep your aspiration in front of you all the time. Nothing can motivate you more than knowing what you want.

3. Mistakes are tuition. Learn from every one you make.

It’s quite simple. We will make mistakes. Some are incredibly expensive. Don’t go out of your way to make mistakes but learn from every one you do make. Set aside some time to reflect on why you made that mistake and what you can do to make sure you don’t make that same mistake again.

4. Adapt or perish.

Entrepreneurship is competition on a landscape that is always changing. They must either adapt or die. It’s that simple. Constantly monitor your competitors and your market. Enjoy your success without ever becoming complacent.

Always be on your toes.

5. Never, ever, ever give up.

Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that it takes 10,000 hours to master a complex skill.

But the real key of mastering a complex skill is grit; the ability to stick with something long enough to log those 10,000 hours.

People with grit are like anti dilettantes. Rather than flit from thing to thing, gritty people pick something and stick with it. They’re tenacious, dogged, persevering, and they absolutely refuse to give up.

The grittiest people don’t just work longer and harder, although that is part of the equation. They keep a laser focus on their goal and say, “No, thanks,” to anything that gets in their way.

Be a true fearless Entrepreneur. Don’t listen to anyone other than yourself. Stay focused. And never give up on your goal.

 

If you don’t come across the opportunity you want, you have to take the initiative to increase your chances of getting that opportunity.

Creating opportunities for yourself is the door. The particular opportunities you want and the plan for getting them depends on what vocation, market or personal interest you are pursuing. The opportunities you need to create can depend on developing personality, personal attributes or simply mechanical steps such as filing a resume. If you want to be an actress, you have to take a film test and try out for a role after having gone to theater school or gotten some relevant experience. These steps might be considered building the door more literally. Without a door, opportunity has nothing to knock on. The specific door you should build depends on what sort of opportunities you are interested in.

For Entrepreneur things are no better. Entrepreneurs take action in their own hands instead of waiting around for success to just come around the corner. They become successful because they strive for success. They open window of opportunities, instead of just waiting until it opens for them.

And like the quote above said, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” This just shows that you mustn’t leave your business’ success to chance. You have to take the necessary steps in order to reach your goal. In business, there’s no lucky break. It’s all about the preparations and the opportunities you make. You base how much work you’ve done by the results.

Success is never just handed out to entrepreneurs, we work for it. But most of all, we make them happen through our actions, preparations and the opportunities we make for our business and ourselves. Think about it.

Have you created great opportunities lately?

 

The internet is one tool that has revolutionized the way we do everything in this world. The speed and connectivity offered by the internet has made the world smaller, and has brought people closer together. In fact, the internet has made us realize the fact that we now live in a global community and that everything we do affects the world around us.

Today as buyers we all aim for easy shopping. And with growing internet trend it’s not difficult either. With our smart phones we can shop while traveling or at midnight. So as a consumer internet has been a blessing.

But what about Entrepreneurs? Is internet a blessing in disguise or some masked devil?

Online tools revolutionized social interaction and have set the tone for the way businesses interact with consumers. To stay competitive, traditional companies have sprinted online, rushing to assemble virtual communities and tune in to their dialogue. Wiki-innovation seems to be the wave of the future, but what does the online movement really mean for the future landscape of business? One possible trend is the rise in entrepreneurship rates, despite a stubbornly sad economy. Another may be a shift in the old power profile, as young minds take a new and leading role in the economy.

The internet helps entrepreneur’s unique ways. With the internet, you can have all the information you need at your fingertips. This means that you practically have the whole world at the palm of your hand. Because of this, entrepreneurs have access to every piece of information that can affect their business ventures. We all know how vigilant one must be of things that one cannot control. The market is a very erratic factor in business, with people changing their preferences all the time. Through the internet, entrepreneurs can be prepared for any possible event.

The internet helps entrepreneurs by making opportunities easier to access. This means that entrepreneurs can keep a constant lookout for any chances of expanding their businesses. The earlier you learn of an opportunity, the better your chance of getting it. So, in general, the internet helps entrepreneurs’ home businesses by giving them an edge. The internet speed things up and allows you to save time on making business-related decisions.

With this trend Entrepreneurs have a wider scope to diversify and explore. Increased market range leads to more potential customers and more profit for Entrepreneurs.

 

 

Confidence is the only outfit one cannot buy.

Many individual think self-confidence is all about ignorance and arrogance. However confidence focuses on having a sense of purpose, positive outlook and faith in yourself.

Without confidence becoming an Entrepreneur is nearly impossible. If you want to become an entrepreneur, or you are an entrepreneur that wants to improve your ability to be successful, you need to begin focusing on building confidence in yourself.

Confidence is a key part of success in business. There is the difference between having faith in yourself and feeling scared out of your wits. It is about having trust in what you know and your abilities to handle the unexpected events that life puts in your path. It is also a belief you are the one in control of your life and your goals. It is that unexplainable and untouchable attribute that allows you get in touch with that inner self that allows you to express yourself fully.

“Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.”  Peter T. Mcintyre, Philosopher

Entrepreneurs who have no basis for their confidence are doom to failure. Unbridled confidence is often a sign of someone who is lacking the whole package. Self-aware entrepreneurs base their confidence on their experiences, including their various mini venture.

Similar to a musician, entrepreneurial skills are honed and refined over time by putting them into practice. Legitimate entrepreneurial confidence is derived from one’s ability to execute, just as a musician gain self-assurance by practicing their instrument.

 

Every year over 130 million babies set foot on this planet.

But the according to statistics less than 10%  of world’s population is self employed; within them 3% are business owner; among them only 1% business survives (10+ years) with 0.4% earning $ 10M in revenue and 0.04% earning $50M in revenue.

An entrepreneur is born with a sharp, witty mind. They aim on making their own unique organization. Just like there can’t be too many restaurants serving same cuisine, there can’t be many organizations saying “me too”.

Entrepreneurs are a rare breed. It takes a heterogeneous mix of confidence, risk tolerance, self-discipline, determination and competitiveness to start a business and see it through to success.

The only three essential an entrepreneur needs to establish his business is a small amount of capital, strong work ethics and persistence.

Most self-made entrepreneurs rise from ground floor. They live with nothing but a new idea. They are built to be risk takers and tolerant. The risk of taking giving their idea shape is what leads them towards success.

In population of millions and millions of people, every person thinks of an idea. But less than 10% can implement their idea and maybe only 4% can gain success.

But entrepreneurs are those breed of the human kind who despite of failure are determined to fight till their last breath. They are set to have their own identity by hook or by crook. They need to develop an entrepreneurial attitude.

 

“Being an entrepreneur means to have an insatiable thirst for learning, evolving and creating. There is simply no one end goal”-Richard Branson.

Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle, not just job. When there are highs of success, there are lows of many other things as well. There are upsides and downsides of being an entrepreneur which needs to be balanced. Embarking your own business is a personal choice.

Every entrepreneur has a different reason of choosing entrepreneurship; be it for money, for power or just making a difference. The important aspect is not about just creating your own venture but also establishing relations with your employees and customers.

In this Information Age, social media and the Internet have created a whole new way of doing business and making more money. The skills learned by today’s entrepreneur are different from the traditional gatekeepers. The passion of innovative new invention and constant desire to launch new products in the market pushes the entrepreneur beyond their normal boundaries.

While they push their boundaries on their mental and physical abilities, it is important to adopt a modest lifestyle. Learning to live modestly is an important part of achieving overall financial stability. “A frugal mindset focuses on what you need, not just on what you want or what you think will make you happy,” says Adam Toren, founder of young entrepreneur and Biz Warriors, a small business forum. Once they recognize that needless impulse purchases undermine your financial freedom, it changes their whole perspective on consumerism.

Entrepreneurs do not follow the 9-6 grid. Their hardship of developing their venture is a continuous process that goes on tirelessly. Their life is never too comfortable; their hunger for the growth of the organization would be the most important thing that leads them straight towards success.

 

 

Every little girl with a dream becomes a woman with a vision.

We have finally broken the so-called female boundary. Nowadays from small girl to youth, females have ambitions and small dreams are the foundation for great success. Everyone has a right to dream, whether girl or boy it doesn’t matter.

Long gone are the days when women were considered no match for all powerful men in this world. The new generation women across the world have overcome all negative notions and have proved themselves beyond doubt in all spheres of life including the most intricate and cumbersome world of entrepreneurship.

Women have come a long way from just being homemakers. Narendra Modi’s start up friendly environment in the country has proved to be a blessing for female entrepreneurs and instrumental in fighting gender stereotyping in the business community.

If we look in to 1950s, females had only a few roles; teacher, nurse, cook and seamstress are the most common among them. In rare occasions, there may be some other occupations which were out of the boundary put down for females, like doctors and scientist.

But today the trend has changed. Women are determined to build their own path. We refuse to be dominated. Even though every now and then we come across cases where women are assaulted, we are determined to bring a change. Be it Suchi Mukherjee, Vandana Luthra or Ekta Kapoor, women are creating a trend to protect themselves with their own money. Women are breaking through the chains and aim to build their own identity.

Both men and women are free to be sensitive. Both men and women are free to be strong.

 

You can’t be expected to assemble the plane alone; that’s where good mentors can help.

An entrepreneur can never reach his goal alone. Entrepreneurs are constantly breaking rules and making mistakes in an effort to drive their businesses forward. For this reason, having a mentor is invaluable.

Mentoring ensures that knowledge, experience, and hard-won insight transfers from one person to another through personal interaction over time. While your own great ideas are essential to your new business, with an experienced mentor at your side, you will have one of the most powerful assets any new businessperson can ever have. A mentor’s advice will help you to take action on your imperfect “good plan” because they can give you extra confidence to move forward without hesitation. A good mentor helps you think through your business plan, suggest you ways to generate your startup capital and provides the experience you lack. They have the knowledge and skill that can keep you focused.

Remember though, a mentor cannot guarantee you success. They only guide you through your journey and advise you throughout your entrepreneur career. They can only show the right direction, but end result lies on the entrepreneur.

At ICCE, through our Entrepreneur Vision program, we try to guide potential entrepreneur in establishing up their startup. We help them to understand the requirements of a business and direct them towards success.