Starting a business is not as
tough as sustaining a business. A business is sustained if a business owner can
continue its operation despite all challenges. It is good to note that not
everybody in business is an entrepreneur but all entrepreneurs are in business.
Hence, “being an entrepreneur is a
great task as there is no 100% possibility that resources committed to start a
business will bring profitable return”. However, being an entrepreneur
is a risk. This is because the success of an entrepreneur depend on these four
(4) key important factors: Resources, Product, Business Drive and
Acumen couple with Market
A. Resources
These are things of value you
need to start a business. Resources are things needed to commence business
operation. In an academic point of view, it often refers to as factor of
production and it includes: land, labour, capital and management. However,
no business can succeed without these resources but the amount and kind of
resources needed for smooth running of business varies from business to
business depending on type of industry, objective of production, target market
and consumer preferences
However, land in that regard refers
to your business location in terms of your office, store, and warehouse etc i.e.
“the exact place where your
business is located”. The location must reflect the objective and nature
of your business. The place must be appreciable, approachable, decent,
affordable and adequate infrastructure, motorable and inviting. The location
must have available and affordable labour supply with relevant skills. Capital
must be readily available if not then must be source for, for easy execution of
production decision, purchase of relevant inputs such as assets and liabilities
cum other miscellaneous needs.
“The money own must be
sufficient enough to take care of all cost with a reserved for uncalls”
efficient management team must be put in place to design and implement decision
concerning sourcing for inputs , determine level of production efficiency and
overall smooth running of the business
You as a business owner or
entrepreneur must lead others to ensure compliances to objective of the business.
“Do not over
entrust others with your business while you keep away for miracle to happen”.
Therefore, you must be part of the resources at least for a start”
B. Product
These are output of the resources committed to
run business. “A product is a mouthpiece of any business venture”.
What determine your acceptance or rejection in your target market are the Value,
Quality and Price of your products and services.
Value
“All products have a value but not all products are valuable
products”. Hence, any product design for the market
must be valuable by the customers. Market are always flooded by different
product of competitive value but the only thing that can single you out of market
competition and rivalry is the value of your product based on “customer assessment”
Quality
“There
is no doubt that every product has a quality but not all products are quality
products”. The general acceptance of your products is partially
determined by its quality based on customer perception. An average customer
deserved a real value for his money at least getting a quality product at a
least minimum cost possible. A quality product is a product that meets optimum
satisfaction of customers (consumers). However, any entrepreneur that want to
succeed in business must develop a product or services that meet customer
satisfaction at minimum cost possible which “they can not get somewhere else”
Price
This
refers to monetary value of your products. “Every entrepreneur must
understand this, your quality valuable product price must be within the range
of what majority of the customer can afford”. “Prices for product must not be
set based on entrepreneur perspective but based on perception of customers
acceptance as a result of market forces without compromising the quality and
value of the products”.
In
summary, for you to succeed in business, you need a products/ services that is
valuable by the customers, of non replaceable quality and at minimum price
possible that will meet customers demand and satisfaction
C.
Business
Drive and Acumen
These
involve personal characteristics and attribute you need to have for you to
succeed in any business. “The success of entrepreneur is not determined alone by
amount of resources committed to the business, product and market for the sale
of his product, but his ability to succeed lies on the viability of his
personal business drive and acumen”. Some
of these attribute include the following:
- Ability to take risk
- Fully get involve in all decision making stages
- Ability to face challenges and overcome
- Patient and endurance altitude especially in trial time
- Setting strategies / reset
- Being
accountable / maintain financial prudence
- Embrace employee motivation
- Focus on customer satisfaction rather than personal satisfaction
- Think on customer perspective rather than own perspective
- Get a mentor/ professional adviser
- Have self encouragement altitude
- Always keep ahead of other competitors through continuous learning and education through training, retraining, strategy setting
- Listen to all complains from all stakeholders in your business: customers, partners, workers , associate etc never ignore any complains unsettled
Hence, starting a business is not as good as sustaining the
business. Therefore, for you to succeed in any business you need to have or
develop some of these aforementioned business personal drives
D.
Market
This is
the last resort of all entrepreneurs. The effectiveness of this point determine
the fate of any entrepreneur whether to remain in business or pull out of the
run! However, every entrepreneur must know, made, have and understand his
market to stay in business.
Know the Market
Any
entrepreneur that wishes to succeed in any business must understand his market
by having full information about how the market operates. This can be done
through engaging “the service of market research professional or if you have
any flea for research you can conduct personal market survey to obtain the
information needed” Therefore, this will
help you to plan and tailor your production plans towards the market. “Know your market will help you to identify future and
present market problems and prospects that will get you along the way!
However, where market for your products does
not exists or existed but not satisfactory, an entrepreneur can also decide to
create one for his products. In some cases, this service may need you to consult
any experienced market research fellow to get the job done for you.
Best wishes from
Sylvester Olorunsomo
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