entrepreneur within

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A tivating the Entrepreneur Within

the Entrepreneur W ith in

A c ti va ting

A c ti va ting

the

In o 1/17

Je rey Weber

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question asked by millions o people around the world, generation a ter generation,

is how do I become an entrepreneur, and can I? Okay, that’s two questions.

Having struggled with those questions or years, set out to nd an answer. I wantedto categorically provide an answer that could be proven by means o an equation.

Researchers have looked at the common characteristics o an entrepreneur and conducted psycho-

logical pro les to help identi y potential entrepreneurs. They try to discover that illusive entre-

preneurial DNA, and their studies determine common skill sets and qualities that make up success ul

entrepreneurs. They ask candidates to respond to a list o questions and conclude that, i theyanswered yes to 18 out o the 25 statements, they must have the qualities to be an entrepreneur.

Such questionnaires tend to be more entertaining than use ul. Sure, certain characteristics, traits,

and skill-sets are predictive o a success ul entrepreneur, but in my opinion such qualities arelearned and re ned along the way, not necessarily genetically implanted. I don’t know i I was born

an entrepreneur, but I am sure my li e experiences heavily infuenced where I am today.

An entrepreneur cannot be inspired “into being” an entrepreneur. You can’t bring a person into aseminar, get them so red up on the virtues and thrill o being an entrepreneur that they then

go out and become an entrepreneur. An individual may get motivated and inspired by such speakers

or infuencers, but it is not enough or him to spontaneously take action and create a business

that would be success ul. I he does, it is more likely acted out o oolishness than any new- ound

ability. The individual has to come across situational actors that correspond to a business opportu-nity that o ten comes about at an unpredictable point in time.

There ore, my sentiment is that entrepreneurs are made and that everyone has the potential o

becoming an entrepreneur. There are those actively looking and longing to become an entrepreneur

and those who seemingly stumble upon it. Those longing or the entrepreneurial experience seek

out ideas, listen or opportunities, and actively strive to nd the right opportunity.

A A

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To increase the odds o entrepreneurial ssion, I suggest increasing your activity level in seeking

opportunity. Listen to what existing business owners do, read the paper, stay current, look or

uture trends, and build relationships. The more in ormation you are exposed to, the more likelyyou are to nd that one special opportunity.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, an economist who is known as the “banker to the

poor” or making small loans in impoverished countries, stated “I did something that challenged

the banking world. Conventional banks look or the rich; we look or the absolutely poor. All

people are entrepreneurs, but many don’t have the opportunity to nd that out.” An entrepreneurin his own right as ounder o the Grameen Bank, Yunus developed the concept o microcredit

as a method to help und entrepreneurs who would not quali y or any other type o loan.

He believed in creating economic development rom the lowest tier o society up and saw thatthe entrepreneurial dream was exclusive to no man; it was a gi t to all.

So you, dear reader, want to know i you are an entrepreneur. It would be so easy to draw your

blood and see the entrepreneurial DNA foating about and qualitatively state, “Yes, he is anentrepreneur!” But what good would this do? There would still be so much lacking outside the

control o simple DNA to activate the entrepreneur within you.

The more in ormation you are expo ed to,the more likely you are to fnd that one

pe ial opportunity.

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Unlo king the Entrepreneur“I would not have seen it if I had not believed it.”

So why the pursuit to answer the questions o “how do I become an entrepreneur, and can I?”

Because the yet-to-be entrepreneur spends his time agonized by dreaming and not doing. You may

be that entrepreneur who is constantly thinking o new ideas and businesses to start, but nevertaking that ate ul step o actually doing it. I categorize the idea phase o the entrepreneur as a

time o rustration. The years leading up to me starting my company were spent conjuring up idea

a ter idea o new business ventures that never materialized. I described it as a curse—longing to

start a business, but unable to because the right idea had not triggered action. A better refectionon that time spent is summed up by author Wil red Peterson, who said, “Big thinking precedes

great achievement.” That statement can provide solace in knowing that one has to go through

a period o signi cant brainstorming be ore something clicks. Focus less on the rustration and

more on the act that each idea is a lesson learned to strengthen the next.

I have said on many occasions that the hardest part o being an entrepreneur is starting, or as Walt

Disney said, “the way to get started is to quit talking and start doing.” The hardest part is making

the move to actually do it—to move beyond writing notes on napkins and hal -started business plans,

and to make that move to do it ull-time and rely on it to generate income or yoursel . Eventuallythe entrepreneur makes the decision that not ollowing his dream is worse than all o the potential

outcomes o trying. He obtains courage to act through a belie in his dream. The ironic maxim,

“I would not have seen it i I had not believed it,” says to me that I would not have seen my company

come to li e and exist i I had not believed in my dream.

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Once the decision is made and supported by aith, all other aspects o the business come with

comparative ease or, as I like to say, by gravity. Once the idea is put into action, things o ten

seem to all into place fuidly. This chain reaction will take place, provided you meet the requirementso what I have discovered and de ned as the entrepreneurial ormula, or “E-Formula” or short.

This is a very important equation to understand or those struggling to nd the right idea to pursue.

The equation will prompt the entrepreneur to activate. I use the term activate deliberately. Deep inside

all o us lays the entrepreneurial spirit, even though it may mani est itsel in di erent ways at di er-

ent points in our lives. A stay-at-home parent may ignite their entrepreneurial spirit in the ways thatthey attend to household obligations and child rearing. A student may apply his entrepreneurial spirit

to his schoolwork, an executive at a corporation to her job. In other words, it may not always be

directed toward starting a new business venture, although that is what we are primarily concernedwith here. The point is the entrepreneurial spirit exists in all o us; it is always there whether we are

cognitively aware o it or not, and whether we are trying to resurrect it or not.

Those o us who have an entrepreneurial passion may try to orce it out o us. We want to engagein an entrepreneurial venture so badly that we try to make it happen by creating business plans,

seeking out ventures, or even going so ar as to buy a business. These are the impatient entrepre-

neurs who are trying to make their activation happen. There is nothing wrong with these activities,

and certainly many entrepreneurs do establish their base by purchasing a business that they then

trans orm and grow based on their vision.

The entre reneur ha to be are ul to

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However, the entrepreneur has to be care ul to recognize his own impatience rom the real or

perceived opportunity at hand. One has to recognize when the entrepreneurial ormula is complete

in order to eel secure that, when they activate it, they will be success ul. The impatient entrepreneurruns the risk o ailure by jumping into endeavors that he may not be ully prepared or educated

or. Simply abiding by the thought that i you can dream it you can do it is not good enough—you

need the ull E-Formula.

The E-Formula, like the entrepreneur, starts with the I.D.E.A. The basis o every entrepreneurial

endeavor starts with an idea that the entrepreneur trans orms into a vision upon which the businessis built. The idea is the building block and a success ul one contains our components that increase

the likelihood o success. The true measurement o an entrepreneur’s e orts is success. It does

not have to be a level o success measured in dollars, but a success in that the idea becomes a viableand sustainable venture. That’s what we’re shooting or.

The entrepreneur ha to be are ul to

re ognize hi own impatien e romthe real or per eived opportunity at hand.

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The E-Formula

We all understand what an idea is and we have them all the time. The idea is the central nuclei

to a start-up. So much goes into the makeup o an idea, and this is where it all begins.

I created the I.D.E.A. as the starting equation in the E- ormula and it takes the ollowing orm:

I = I ova e

D = Desi e

E = E o

A = A ili

Innovate: Innovation is the s s a e o the I.D.E.A.

Innovation is what starts the entrepreneur’s journey and, aptly, it is the rst integer in the I.D.E.A.

component o the E–Formula. Innovation is the dominant characteristic o the idea-generation

phase and it will serve as the oundation o everything moving orward. A ter an idea is ormed,

it is used to innovate. The innovation is the core deliverable o the entrepreneur’s venture.

Innovation is the seed o what an entrepreneur is and what he ultimately creates. The primary

di erence between the manager, the business owner, and the entrepreneur is that the entre-preneur seeks and uses innovation to propel his business into unchartered areas o the market

or creates a new market or himsel entirely in the process.

Innovation is the substance that makes up the entrepreneur’s idea. It will become the intellectual

property and basis or market di erentiation. The innovation will separate the entrepreneur

rom other “me-too” businesses to create a revolutionary business that orces change upon the

existing establishment.

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Desire: Desire is the emo io needed to accomplish the I.D.E.A.

Where innovation is the substance o the idea, desire is the emotion that compels and sustains theentrepreneur to accomplish his vision. The desire to see an idea through closely resembles the

passion that erupts to support an entrepreneur’s idea. Starting a company is no easy task; a great

deal o work is needed up ront be ore the doors even open. Many an idea has died on the doorstep

o grand opening day. Without a long-standing desire to accomplish what you are setting out to

do, your idea will ail. Desire becomes a motivation in which your thought uels action. The desire

embodies the belie and aith in the idea that this is the right project to pursue—this is the one!

“It sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.”

—Eric Ho er

As mentioned, the true measurement o an entrepreneur’s success is that the idea itsel becomes a

viable and sustainable venture. Wil red Peterson stated, “Success is ocusing the ull power o all you

are on what you have a burning desire to achieve.” Desire becomes such a critical component o theidea’s development because it drives the entrepreneur to accomplish what he set out to do. He has

achieved a vision o the nal outcome and he can see the nished product—he must make it happen.

The true mea urement o an entrepreneur’u e i that the idea it el be ome a viable

and usainable venture.

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Desire stirs all o the internal dreams to become an entrepreneur with the viability o a sound

business plan giving hope that success is achievable.

At this point, quitting is not an option or the entrepreneur. Notice that I did not say ailure,

because ailure still may be an outcome o the entrepreneur’s e orts and the entrepreneur

realizes this potential. Even though the entrepreneur is driven by desire to trans orm his idea

into a tangible reality, he is not blind.

He realizes that it will take all the components o the I.D.E.A. to be success ul. Even with his

best e orts he still may ail, yet he chooses to move orward anyway. He carries on because he

is ully aware that it would be ar worse to have quit his dream than to have tried and ailed.

E ort: E ort is the si al needed to accomplish the I.D.E.A.

The physical construction o the business, whether it is mental exertion or actual labor, requires

an investment in e ort that goes ar beyond normal levels. The e orts o an entrepreneur combined

with desire, vastly exceed those o the average man. Entrepreneurs start with nothing and very

rapidly need to create a business—every single acet o that business. They must do this in the short-

est time rame possible and, even a ter the business is created, they still must continue on a rapid

trajectory to grow and sustain it. During this time the entrepreneur cannot rest, cannot sit back,and cannot take a break. Sweat equity and the long hours and sacri ces that accompany it are the

hallmarks o the entrepreneur.

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Ability: Ability is the s ill needed to accomplish the I.D.E.A.

Everyone has certain abilities and talents that are either learned or innate. Success ul entrepreneurs

must identi y the abilities that they lack and nd corresponding talent to involve in the endeavor.

Entrepreneurs must manage the collection o abilities that they and others bring to the table. They

have to utilize their own sel -discipline, sel -con dence, nancial aptitude, leadership, time-manage-

ment, and exceptional organizational skills to manage the collection o abilities. It’s been said we

rate ability in men by what they nish, not by what they attempt.

Ability is the dominant characteristic during the running phase o the business. Once the e ort

and desire is poured into startup and the business is viable and sustainable, the ocus centers

on ability to properly manage the business. Certainly ability is needed through every phase, but

this is when your skills will be called upon the most.

The I.D.E.A. alone i o ten not enough orthe entrepreneur to be u e ul and may notbe enough to acivate the entrepreneur.

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Formed but In ompleteNow the I.D.E.A. is ormed and its components are ignited and ready to deploy. The utilitarian

vision o the innovation at hand will commit the entrepreneur’s desire to extend extraordinary e ort

and complete utilization o all available abilities to see a unctional result achieved.

When an idea takes hold, it is exciting. A ter personally assessing dozens—maybe hundreds—o ideas, you’ve hit one that you believe enough in to stand behind and commit resources to.

This is a very exciting time. However, the I.D.E.A. alone is o ten not enough or the entrepreneur

to be success ul and may not be enough to activate the entrepreneur. A great idea alone may

not make you rush out and get a second mortgage on your home to und your start-up. There arestill two more parts to the E-Formula that are needed to make it complete. The appropriate situation

and the necessary opportunity must intersect to provide a ertile ground or the I.D.E.A. to grow.

The complete ormula looks like this:

I.D.E.A. + Si a io + O o i = E e e e ial A iva io

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Situation

Situation represents a particular condition or set o circumstances that are happening in youre so al and o essio al li e, as well as e vi o me al actors. Aspects in your personal li e

would include your marital status, children, health, economics, amily, ability to relocate, education,

hobbies, religion, and so on. Pro essional actors represent your current employment status and

all o the circumstances surrounding it—including bene ts, vacation, salary, location, prestige, title,

tenure, relationships, uture outlook, and level o satis action. Environmental actors would include

things such as war, recession, infation, taxes, global events, legal actors, resource availability,

weather, and so on.

When the personal, pro essional, and environmental situational actors are in a neutral state,

they will neither negatively or positively impact the entrepreneur’s e orts in moving orward with

a new venture. When situational actors are in a disruptive state, they can negatively impact

the entrepreneur’s e orts at starting a new business and can increase the downside costs should

the venture alter. Positive situational actors will increase the upsides and enhance the entre-

preneurial e orts.

Let’s take, or instance, a negative personal state: you have a child that has a long-term illness.

Your pro essional situation is positive and provides you with health insurance, and environmental

actors are neutral. You may come across a tremendous idea that you know will be success ul,

but you ear moving orward and losing your much-needed health insurance coverage. Certainly

the level o risk is greater or this individual than a single person on their own, right out o

college ready to tackle the world.

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Ideally, all o these actors should be in a neutral or positive state to launch your entrepreneurial

dream. An entrepreneur can probably move orward i one o the situational actors is in a disruptive

state. It would be very di cult, however, to move orward i a disruptive state were present in allthree situational variables, not to mention multiple negative variables within a single situational state

magni ying the potential impact.

Opportunity

Arthur Cole, the economic historian who organized the Center or Research on Entrepreneurial

History (closed in 1958), established that there are our types o entrepreneurs; the innovator, the

calculating inventor, the over-optimistic promoter, and the organization builder. He believed thatthese types are not traits o personality used to describe the entrepreneur; rather, they refect thetypes o opportunities the entrepreneur aces.

Entrepreneurship has been de ned by William Bygrave, pro essor o entrepreneurship at Babson

College, as the “process that involves starting a business venture to pursue a perceived opportunity.”

Minorities and immigrants are well noted and documented or establishing small businesses and

pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors. This group in particular is heavily infuenced by situational

circumstances. O ten due to language, educational, and cultural barriers this group’s quickest road to

prosperity is to establish a business o their own in a eld that they are amiliar with. The opportu-

nity or this group is the relative ease to start a business in the US compared to anywhere else in the

world. Their situation, o being the outsider, may be considered a negative to most, but in this case

it actually orces a positive.

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The treasure o opportunities is that not everyone can see them. They are sitting there waiting to be

picked o the vine, but only by those who are acutely aware o their location. The collapse o the

US auto industry shuttered hundreds o dealerships and sent General Motors, Chrysler, and varioussuppliers into bankruptcy. For most budding entrepreneurs, this would seem to be the industry to

run away rom. However, or those with the right idea and situation, this dramatic event may have

been the most opportune signal to jump in the pool. The timing will be brie and the entrepreneur

will have to act ast.

“Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacleand opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.” — Niccolo Machiavelli

This quote by Machiavelli makes the entrepreneur sound like a sort o business superhero. I suppose

many are just that and can truly see little di erence between obstacles and opportunity. What’s true

is that most success ul entrepreneurs have removed or reduced obstacles through care ul planning

and understanding o their idea. The idea is closely aligned to the opportunity and both are perish-

able. An opportunity is present when avorable circumstances align at a suitable time. I action is nottaken, the opportunity may ade or be acted upon by someone else.

What distinguishes idea and opportunity can be demonstrated by the innovation o the intermittent

windshield wiper blade invented by Dr. Robert Kearns. Kearns idea was sparked through his own

customer experience o the original wiper blade motor that operated at a single speed regardlesso the variability o rain conditions. The opportunity was that all o the Big Three had been working

on developing an intermittent wiper motor themselves with no success. There was urgency in therival automotive engineering teams to invent this technology and Kearns had it. Idea met opportunity.

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Summary o the E-FormulaI’ve always analogized starting a business to the act o jumping in a pool o less-than-warm water.

I drew this correlation rom my childhood days when I took swimming lessons at the YMCA. I must

have been in kindergarten, and I still have a clear picture o standing at the end o the low diving

board stretched over an Olympic-size pool. I don’t know i I was a raid to swim or i the water was

cold—probably both. That eeling o tension, apprehension, ear, anxiety, and on a rare occasion,

excitement, would build up as I stared out into the vast pool at a height rom the diving board that

seemed to exceed my current height three old. (Did I mention I don’t like heights either?)

The pent up eelings in pre-jump would not leave the child until they hit the water and resur acedpaddling toward the exit ladder on the side o the pool. Those anxious eelings would be immedi-

ately replaced with relie , exhilaration, joy, and happiness. That same circulation o eelings builds

up in a similar ashion in the soon-to-be entrepreneur. They too may sometimes need a push into

the pool o entrepreneurialism in order to kick o their experience. Once they actually take the

leap and hit the water, there too is an immediate eeling o exhilaration, joy, and happiness. It can’t

be explained, only experienced. It’s one o the greatest eelings I’ve had, next to the birth o my

three children.

The purpose o the E-Formula is or you to be able to sel -assess using the model (IDEA+S+O=Activation) to determine i you are ready to activate as an entrepreneur—i you’re ready to jump in

the pool. The ormula does not include money, time, talent, or resources. Those are the things

ound in business plans. The ormula is used to prevent orced or impatient entrepreneurial attempts,

leaping into opportunities too soon without proper readiness. A ter all, you can drown.

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The ormula is also there to help alleviate the would-be entrepreneur’s level o rustration in waiting

or the right opportunity and situation to develop. By recognizing how your I.D.E.A. elements, situa-

tion, and opportunity align, you can save yoursel , time, e ort, expense, and energy by assessingwhether your idea is viable and worthy o ull commitment. Walk yoursel through each component

o the ormula and determine i , at this point in time, this is the right opportunity and situation.

An entrepreneur takes an idea into action. That action de nes the separation between everyone

else who has a great idea but never acts on it. The activated entrepreneur is created when all

elements o the ormula are in sync, and then the entrepreneur’s vision conveys how those elementswill be applied. An entrepreneur cannot be categorically de ned because both the circumstances

and the opportunity that occur to activate the entrepreneur are variable and always changing.

For ten years, Arthur Cole researched and tried to de ne the entrepreneur. He was unsuccess ul.

He came to the realization that everyone on his team had “some notion o it,” but applying personal

belie s, perceptions, and independent study to its de nition lacked consistency. There are separate

bodies o research, ranging rom economists, psychologists, and sociologists that apply their theoriesand de nitions to entrepreneurs rom within their silo vantage points. The E-Formula postulates that

an entrepreneur can be a blend o each school o thought, and that those disciplines are contained

within and infuence both the situational and opportunity aspects o the ormula.

We all ave e e e e e ial s i i wi i s. We j s eed a I.D.E.A o ealize i .

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AbOut thE AuthOr

Je rey Weber is an adjunct aculty teaching entrepreneurism at the college level, a speaker, and a coach or

start-ups, existing small/medium size businesses, and corporations wishing to innovate and establish anentrepreneurial spirit. Weber serves on the advisory board or Minorities in Technology Sales (MiTS) and is

a volunteer or the National Foundation or Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). Weber incorporated his

entrepreneurial knowledge and proprietary methodologies in his book, I.D.E.A. to Exit: An Entrepreneurial

Journey, How to go from Basement to Big Time .

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