Posted At : January 19, 2011 9:37 PM | Posted By : Marita Greenidge
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Entrepreneurship,Inspiration
By Kathy-Ann Fletcher
I am surrounded by female entrepreneurs everyday in the art and marketing worlds, my mom and consider myself a budding one as well. Therefore it does not surprise me to read that worldwide female entrepreneurship is on the rise.
Countries like the UK are experience what are reported as phenomenal increase in female entrepreneurship while in some circles the lack of female entrepreneurs is being lamented. However, upon reading, researching and observing I am of the firm belief that there is no such lack, neither is it a recent phenomenon.
For centuries, women have been developing innovative solutions to our problems and running successful business. From shipping magnates who in the 17th century flourished in this male dominated world to the creator of Barbie and Ken, women have a rich history in entrepreneurship. In several cases, the female was the pioneer in the industry as we see with Lillian Vernon the Queen of the Mail order Catalogue.
Just like every other entrepreneur, women take risks to get themselves and their families and communities better lives. Madame C.J Walker came from unprivileged circumstances to become the first black female millionaire. She used this fortune to empower other women in business.
In the Caribbean, we have a strong tradition of female entrepreneurs such as the visionary who took the bold step of purchasing a former plantation and turning it into what is now a successful dairy farm operating by the fifth generation of her family.
It is great to see that this worldwide trend of female entrepreneurship is carried on in Barbados with young and experienced trailblazers. From young ladies with a passion for beauty to visionary with a flair for design, female entrepreneurs are stepping up to the plate and taking risks.
Entrepreneurship now and then knows no gender. Where there is a lack in female entrepreneurs that is where we have put the limitations on ourselves. As I consider the example of those who went before me, I am inspired by the ability to persevere in the face of daunting situations to dominate male centric industries.
Kathy-Ann is a marketing executive with Crimson-Jade Consulting Inc with a passion for communications and strategic planning.
Posted At : August 18, 2010 8:16 PM | Posted By : Marita Greenidge
Related Categories:
Entrepreneurship,Inspiration
By Corey Graham 2.0
While our society is currently pushing our young people to consider entrepreneurship, I want to us to remember that entrepreneurship can be pursued whether you are 15 or 55. It is not something you pursue when you are younger with the hope that if it does not work out someone else will hire you.
Entrepreneurship is always billed as an intense process that is best for young people. However, I agree with Napoleon Hill author of ‘Think and Grow Rich’ who believes that building a business can happen at any time at your life. He goes on to say “I have discovered, from analysis of over 25 000 people that men who succeed in an outstanding way seldom do so before age 40, and more often they do not strike their real pace until they are well beyond the age of fifty.”
Making your discovery between the ages of 40-50 or even later is not too late to start working on an enterprise that could end up becoming your legacy.
The reality is that many persons at this age pick up a hobby or choose to play an active role in non-profit organizations. In that case, it’s really not that far-fetched to take the step of starting your own business.
Now please note I am not saying that starting a business is a piece of cake. The process is going to provide you with its fair share of unique challenges. The key is really to pace yourself and stick within your means.
They say that experience is the best teacher which is one thing you will have going for you as an older entrepreneur. It’s a collection of life experiences which can offer you priceless insights into many areas of the business, from human resources to operations to marketing to customer service, you take your pick. Bring all your experience to bear in the creation of your business.
An added benefit as you grow older is that many of your peers have disposable income. It means that some of your first customers can and probably will be your peers. It’s a lot less scary when you have customers lining up and ready before opening day.
If you feel like this is making sense but you are still sceptical let me leave you with the link to Colonel Harland Sanders, the man who founded the world famous Kentucky Fried Chicken at 65 years old! Enjoy and remember you can never wait too late to start a business!
Posted At : August 11, 2010 5:01 PM | Posted By : Marita Greenidge
Related Categories:
Motivation,Inspiration
By Corey Graham 2.0
People become entrepreneurs for different reasons. Some of the reasons we hear include: “I wanted to be my own boss?”, “I wanted to spend more time with my children”, or “I can make more money now than when I had a job”.
Now let’s talk about what motivates you to be an entrepreneur. If you are not an entrepreneur but plan to become one, your motivation may be a little different from most of the other entrepreneurial minded persons reading this post, however there might be some common ground here.
An entrepreneur sells the solution to a problem. Usually this problem is one which they have faced personally and quite often they have found out the solution. In some cases they have figured it out themselves and in others they have gotten the solution from other persons. They then built an organization to provide this solution to persons willing to pay for it.
Quite often a large part of any entrepreneur’s motivation is to share their solution/invention with as many people as possible. It’s this quest that motivates entrepreneurs to challenge themselves to build new things.
Money is a motivation to become an entrepreneur as it is the tool that we all use to improve our standard of living.
Are you thinking yet? Do you remember the real reasons you are doing what you are doing? Not the reasons lost in the hustle of the day to day business operations, but that big picture idea that got you to take the risk of building your own enterprise.
While listening to motivational speakers I find it interesting that they agree on very few things. But one thing they do agree on is motivating yourself to grow your business.
In a nutshell, they say to be of service to persons and the money will follow. It sounds like a simple lesson but it is a quite powerful lesson. Once you are adding value to persons’ lives with your products and services they will be ready and willing to pay you for it.
As a social media marketer, I think this principle will be critical for entrepreneurs. We live in a more connected and informed world. Social Media makes the world more transparent as anyone can express their views on your products or services or you as an individual.It also places a greater emphasis on trust and if your motivation is less than pure it will spread throughout the social media community and have a potentially negative effect on your success.
So the question I will pose to you once again my dear friend - What motivates you to be an entrepreneur?
Posted At : July 13, 2010 10:50 PM | Posted By : Marita Greenidge
Related Categories:
Mistakes,Inspiration
By Kathy-Ann Fletcher
If Location, location, Location is the real estate agents’ mantra, then perseverance, perseverance, perseverance should be the entrepreneur’s refrain. While location means everything in the sale of a property, perseverance is instrumental in the success of a business.
It is easy to give up at the first hurdle – throw our hands up at the first mistake and say ‘oh well it’s not meant to be’. However, if we look back at some of the most successful people, their achievements are their persistence in the face of mistakes. Instead they will try again in a different way.
It’s not as easy as it sounds to persevere when you make what may seem a crippling mistake but I provide a few tips to inspire you to persist in the face of disappointment.
1.Retain your enthusiasm – If you lose your enthusiasm for what you are doing, it’s easy to get disheartened and walk away from your dream. Enthusiasm is the drive you need to keep you on the path to your accomplishments.
2.Trust your instincts – Your ideas are your gateway to achieving success. When you have found that one that makes you happy trust your instincts and keep going as long as it takes to be successful.
3.Master your craft – Mistakes are easy to make when you are new to a particular field, so minimise these risks and recover from these blunders, take steps to become more knowledgeable about your area.
4.Be dedicated – Staying dedicated is hard but the rewards pay off tremendously. Jane Austen made the biggest mistake – a bad first impression – however, she persevered to become a revered author.
5.Take it step-by-step – Henry Ford made a lot of mistakes but learnt from them and in sharing the secret to his success explained that perseverance consists of approaching your business one small job at a time. That is the source of many of our mistakes we try to break off more than we can chew and often become overwhelmed. In that case the answer is not to give up but to resize your operations so that you are taking your steps in an order that you are able to handle.
I end by saying on the road to success remember these three words: Perseverance, perseverance, perseverance.
Considering the current push for entrepreneurship within the media by government and non-governmental agencies, it is time we consider the benefits of being an entrepreneur and whether or not it is within our capabilities.
Personal development – The experience of establishing your own business inspires growth in self-esteem, confidence, knowledge and ability to work with others as you learn and acquire more knowledge and experience.
Potential for Profit – You have a greater portion of the profits of the business and not just a meagre estimation of your contribution to the company.
Control of your own creative path – You can explore your creative passions and pursue your goals on your own terms. You have the major say in your role in the company and the direction of the business.
Prestige – There is a level of prestige in the world about being courageous enough to start and establish your own business and reap the financial bonuses that can come along with entrepreneurship. There is also the social mobility that it affords in that you have enough money and/or influence to run in more high powered circles.
Enlarges your circle of influence - You are helping the local economy and providing jobs that can help stabilise the economy. There are some new business that have made such a contribution to society e.g. Apple Computers that their founders (Steve Jobs) are seen as one of the most influential people in the world.
How do I know entrepreneurship is for me?
While some would say that there is a certain personality type associated with entrepre-neurship, my observation is that anyone can be an entrepreneur if that is their dream. However, you have to be willing to learn and develop the enterprising attitude that goes along with ups and downs of owning your own business and charting your own course.
Here are some signs that you have the capacity to be an entrepreneur:
You don’t have to be told to start working. You figure out what needs to be done and you get it finished.
You like to be in control of the jobs you are involved with.
You are passionate about everything that you do and about the path you want your career to take and the legacy you want to leave behind.
You have the desire to improve the standard of each company you are with.
You are always looking for opportunities to grow.
You are a natural at organising people into groups to deal with tricky situations and tasks.
You are persistent and keep trying in the face of challenging times even if you are told something is impossible.
You need to feel you are achieving success with whatever you are doing.
You are always thinking how you would change things in your employers business.
Your work is not just a means to an end for you. It is your life. You dream of more than collecting a paycheque then going home. You want your work to mean something beyond a 9 to 5.
You strategise not only today but for the future and create tactical plans to fulfil these strategies.
Staying on the entrepreneurship course is not easy. It can be lonely with long hours and tough decisions but at the end of the day, the rewards (tangible and intangible) of pursuing your dreams are stronger than the guilt you will feel saying what if I had only tried.
On examining the reasons why there is some hesitancy to become entrepreneurs or why it sometimes does not even cross our minds to consider being self-employed, I realise that the majority of the blame should be placed firmly on the shoulders of socialisation.
Traditionally, we associate entrepreneurship with risk and salaried employment with security and a nice little nest egg for our retirement. We settle for an average lifestyle because we are afraid to take the risks linked to entrepreneurship and self-employment.
A student of entrepreneur Warren Tracy is credited as saying, "Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't”. Many won't take the risk associated with entrepreneurship, that's why many won't live the life that being a successful entrepreneur can afford.
For many may see the business opportunity in the market but not many will calculate the risk and take advantage of all opportunities before them. They will settle for life in their comfort zone, the known above the unknown or at least how we perceive it.
I believe that we may have somewhat misguided perception. We may be overestimating the risk of being self-employed while underestimating the danger of being employed for someone else whether in public or private sector.
I am not advocating taking uncalculated risks. I am advising that we should not be afraid once we have examined the possibilities from all angles considering the risks and the benefits to take that first determined step into the world of self-employment.
Money - Recently, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who owns her own business. While she was quite enthusiastic about her business and the big plans she had in store, she did have one concern. She stated that sometimes she wished that she was still employed elsewhere because that way she would get a certain salary at the end of the pay cycle. However, she persists ahead in her quest at this early stage because she knows that before her lies awesome potential to make money, more so than would lie with her previous employment.
Failure – new businesses especially small businesses are susceptible to failure. Even one wrong decision can cause the business to fail. However, there are businesses that succeed and grow to become great revenue generators for the entrepreneurs, employees and even the country's economy.
Market conditions – The new company may not have the capacity to survive sudden changes in the economic atmosphere. It works both ways; any negative conditions can weaken the company. Additionally, any new opportunities can cause problems if the company is not equipped to handle them. However, with the correct amount of planning ahead of time and with a certain level of flexibility, new companies can overcome this obstacle.
Family issues – An entrepreneur at least in the early stages, spends long hours working to establish the business. This may present personal and family issues. When I was younger my mother missed graduations and other family events due to being at her company. This caused some tension within the family. Entrepreneurs have to prepare for such tensions and handle them appropriately with their families.
Salaried employment has its own risks
Considering the risks of entrepreneurship without considering the rewards can cause one to run straight to the seemingly secure world of employment. However, employment for others carries its own risks as well.
Lack of control – You do not have final control over the company. The creative path of the company may be out of your control. Even if you have the right to make suggestions, you don’t have the final say. Therefore, you may have to sit and watch the company take routes that you are not comfortable with.
Financial insecurity – You have a fixed salary. This means there is not much potential for your salary to increase beyond your agreed salary. Also, if your bosses are squandering the finances of the company, it may affect their ability to pay you and you just may get laid off. Therefore, the financial security that we saw in being employed for others is not that secure.
Permission – You have to ask permission from your boss to work for other players while still in his or her employ.
Life is full of risks regardless of the route you take to achieve your ambitions. Therefore, don’t discount entrepreneurship due only to the risks associated because you will be robbing yourself of its rewards.
There is the greater potential for profit, the ability to control the creative path of your company and the reward of following your dreams on your terms to be gained by stepping into the life of an entrepreneur. By becoming an entrepreneur you can create the environment whereby you can fully utilize your talents, skills, knowledge, and creativity.
Once you take the time to realise that while there are risks associated with entrepreneurship, the rewards justify the investment you will make financially and emotionally in establishing your own company. Therefore, don’t be afraid to take that calculated risk towards financial and creative control of your livelihood.
“Believe Big. The size of your success is determined by the size of your belief. Think little goals and expect little achievements”. David J. Schwartz Author.
There is a shift taking place in the thought-pattern of Barbadian entrepreneurs toward the pursuit of their dreams. It is promising to see young Barbadian entrepreneurs no longer limiting the extent of their success by restricting the scope of their vision. This has not always been the case as entrepreneurs especially small business enterprises, would place a ceiling on their own success out of a misguided belief that there was a barrier to what they could achieve.
However, we currently have Barbadian entrepreneurs pursuing dreams that not only have the potential to make them great financial and professional successes, but also possess the capacity to improve or enhance the lives of their community, island and even the world. While this may sound like an exaggeration to you, we have products designed and created right here in Barbados whereby these innovations were in use before they were commercially adopted by other parts of the world.
Take for example, solar energy which had its commercial presence here for over 3 decades via the solar water heaters now produced by three significant companies. These were established here years before 'going green' was even a buzzword globally. This is inspirational to young entrepreneurs and evidence they can be trailblazers in their chosen field.
Do you know what a local chain of beauty stores, a regional conglomerate and a global fashion empire have in common? They are all dreams young Barbadian entrepreneurs are actively pursuing. These are big dreams. They require dedication, ingenuity, commitment and a determination to persevere even in the face of opposition but they are not out of the reach of these enterprising individuals.
Many current and past entrepreneurs have been a victim not of a lack of creativity or ingenuity but to thinking themselves out of their dreams. We have been socialised into thinking that the size of our country dictates the magnitude of our potential for success. For example, when we confide our dreams to persons that we trust, the response is often ‘how reasonable is that’ or ‘that is too risky’ or ‘that dosen’t sound viable’. This response combined with our own self-doubt causes us to scale down our vision or abandon our dream altogether. We back down out of guilt or because we believe thinking big is selfish or worse yet you don't want to have the reputation as 'that fool out there chasing pipe dreams'.
However, the change is coming that shows that our success is not determined by the size of our country but rather by the breadth of our dreams and the depth of our thought. Take a look at those who have been largely successful in this country and on a global scale. They did not achieve their success by restricting themselves due to self-doubt or by adhering to the warnings of their naysayers. Their accomplishments were due to the capacity to think big and aim high on the pursuit of their dreams and getting out there and putting their plans into action.
Technological advances such as the internet, economic agreements and the ease of travel are all facilitating global reach for Barbadians who have an ingenious product/service idea and are bold enough to think big and put those thoughts into action. By taking such a bold step, entrepreneurs are not only investing in their own success, they are also investing in Barbados' economic and social development and stability.
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