SME Blog

Are you a born entrepreneur?

I've always taken an interest in the nature vs nurture debate.   Like science my views have moved like a pendulum,  but since the arrival of our fraternal twins the pendulum has swung more to the nature side.

I wondered when CNN published "Can entrepreneurship be taught?" if it would show that some people are just born entrepreneurs.  Based on the following quotes from successful entrepreneurs in the article you would certainly think so:

"It's in the DNA."

"Entrepreneurship is about having guts -- something professors cannot teach."

and

"The passion for your business is not something you can learn in a classroom."

The pendulum looks like being very much on the nature side, but is there anything helpful that can be learnt?  Business schools have entrepreneurship classes and these classes also include practical trials where students can make mistakes and learn from them.  Everyone learns by their mistakes and that includes entrepreneurs so these classes should prove useful.  However, most entrepreneurs don't do these classes and invariably learn the hard way.

Personally, I picture it like an individual running. Some people are just better at it than others, but to be successful you need to train hard and have the support of a good team.

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Small business blog

Stefan Töpfer of Winweb has put together a cracking team for his Small Business Blog.  It's a new blog, but it's got off to a great start. What's more he's been kind enough to give me a mention. Well worth a read and you'll find a permanent link to the blog in SME Resource.

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Let's imagine I'm a Kiwi

Let's imagine I'm a kiwi (I know I've got a fish theme, but just bear with me it works better with a bird). Unfortunately, I only have one leg due to a nasty incident with a trap.

I've been falling down the pecking order and I need help.  I've arranged to meet three advisors to see if they can help me.

Advisor One

The first advisor doesn't notice that I have a missing leg. Although to be fair I've learnt to hop around on the good leg quite well. We talk about bird feed and whether it can help in some way.

Advisor Two

The second advisor notices that I have a missing leg and complements me on how well I cope.  He mentions that there is nothing that can be done and we talk about methods to consolidate my position in the pecking order.

Advisor Three

The third advisor notices that I have a missing leg, but thinks there must be something that can be done.  Two weeks later he returns with an innovative artificial kiwi leg and I'm walking around like all the other birds.

With my new advisor I'm kicking up a storm and moving up to the top of the pecking order.  In fact we've done so well a BBC crew come out to film me and my advisor.

Moral of this story

Get an advisor that can solve your problems and don't be surprised if they are ahead of the competition in their thinking and approach.

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You want publicity?

One thing a SME will never receive is the level of bad publicity Wal-Mart is currently getting. Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer and unofficially the most hated company in the world.

Wal-Mart has it’s own film and if you read the director’s (Robert Greenwald) blog you’ll realise he did not make it to praise the low prices and friendly checkout smile.  Does Wal-Mart care? Yes, the bad publicity is costing them money. Do they really care? The jury is out.

What really surprised me was Wal-Mart is planning to go organic in a big way. This is the company whose UK subsidiary Asda is the worst UK supermarket for farm animal welfare according to the CIWF. Another case of the PR machine in operation or is Wal-Mart about to do something that will really please the people at Corporate Watch. Only time will tell.

These global corporations are rising in power and are having a huge impact on society and SME’s.  Max Barry wrote a book called Jennifer Government which creates a world where huge global corporations are bigger than governments and countries.  It’s very entertaining, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

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There's a new fish in the pond

I was quite happily swimming along, taking the young to nursery fish school when, blow me, I spot a new fish.

The new fish is called www.sme-blog.com and what’s more he’s brought his friends!

I’ll be keeping a close eye on this fish to see if he’s friendly.  He seems to be looking out for the start-up fish.  That’s a good sign.  The poor start-up fish doesn’t last long in these parts.  He tends to get eaten by the hungry cash fish.

The thing is it’s a big pond and I reckon there’s enough room for us all.  I think I’ll be seeing a lot of this new fish as we are generally swimming in the same direction.

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Small wonder

I missed this story first time round, but it is such a good Friday afternoon story that I though I would dig it up and put it on the blog.

It just goes to show that sometimes it pays to complain.  Someone should give her a job at Pepsi!

Appearances count

Appearances count and don’t large companies know it.  Just look at how much time they invest in the company image and brands.  What can the SME do in this area? 

One of the key advantages of a SME over large companies is the personal touch.  If you are in daily contact with your customers/clients then how you come across is very important; it’s not just being good at the technical stuff.  A big factor in this is your body language.  Check out these slides for some quick tips.  It’s a case of small things, but they all add up.

If you are pitching then take a look at this and get some tips from Apple’s Steve Jobs. It goes to show that there is some great free advice on the internet.

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SME Blog resource

The internet is a great source of free advice and information.  The hard part is finding it amongst the almost endless mass of information.

For this purpose I've created a SME Blog resource web page.  You'll find regularly updated news-feeds from well know sources, useful websites and some great blogs.  I hope you find it useful, the permanent link is at the top of the right hand column.

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