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IMPROVE BUSINESS PRACTICE Online
IMPROVE BUSINESS PRACTICE Online
INTRODUCTION
Another way to find ideas for a business is to attend exhibitions and trade
fairs. These are usually advertised on the radio or in newspapers. By visiting
such events regularly, you will not only discover new products and
services, but you will also meet sales representatives, manufacturers,
wholesalers, distributors and franchisers. These are often excellent sources
of business ideas, information and help you in getting your business started.
Some of them may also be looking for someone just like you to be a
business partner.
Surveys
The needs and wants of the customer, which provide the rationale for a new
product or service, can be ascertained through a survey. Such a survey might
be conducted informally or formally by talking to people.
Over half of the ideas for successful businesses come from experiences in the work
place. For example, a mechanic with experience in working for a large garage who
eventually sets up his/her own car repair or used car business. Thus, the
background of potential entrepreneurs can play a crucial role in the decision to go
into business as well as the type of venture to be created. Your skills and
experience are probably your most important resource, not only in generating ideas
but also in capitalizing on them to develop a good business opportunity.
1. Hard Working: This involves the ability to work for long hours.
2. Self-Confident: to succeed, entrepreneurs have to believe in themselves and in
their ability to achieve the goals they have set for themselves.
3. Builds for the Future: the goal for most successful business people is to build a
secure job and income for themselves which is based on their own abilities. This
means entrepreneurs understand that it may take several years to build up
business income to a reasonable standard.
4. Profit-Oriented: This means recognizing that the business comes first. Once
profits are generated, the entrepreneur can make decisions about how the profits
can be used – to expand the enterprise or for personal use.
5. Goal-Oriented: This ability to set goals and to work to achieve them is
fundamental to being an entrepreneur.
6. Persistent: all businesses have their problems and disappointments. Being
persistent in solving a problem is one of the keys to being a successful
entrepreneur.
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7. Copes with Failure: all business ventures inevitably contain disappointments
and failures as well as successes. Coping with failures involves recognizing these
failures, learning from them and seeking new opportunities. Without this
characteristic, early failures may end a person’s attempt at self-employment.
8. Responds to Feedback: entrepreneurs are concerned to know how well they are
doing and to keep track of their performance. Obtaining useful feedback and
advice from others is another important characteristic of entrepreneurs.
9. Demonstrates Initiative: research shows that successful entrepreneurs take the
initiative and put themselves in positions where they are personally responsible for
success or failure.
10. Willing to Listen: the successful entrepreneur is not an inward looking person
that never uses outside resources. Self-reliance does not exclude the ability to ask
for help when needed from such people as bank officials, accountants and
business advisers. Being able to listen to the advice of others is a key
characteristic of an entrepreneur.
11. Sets Own Standards: setting standards of performance and then working to
achieve them is another indicator of a successful entrepreneur. These standards can
be income, quality, sales or product turnover. Most entrepreneurs want to do
better each year, to set and achieve higher standards from year to year.
12. Copes with Uncertainty: being an entrepreneur is much more uncertain than
employment. This uncertainty is about sales and turnover, but it often also exists
in other areas such as material delivery and prices, and bank support. An ability to
cope with this uncertainty without becoming too stressed is a necessary trait of
being an entrepreneur.
13. Committed: starting and running an enterprise demands total commitment by
the entrepreneur in terms of time, money and lifestyle. It has to be a major
priority in the entrepreneur’s life.
14. Builds on Strengths: successful business people base their work upon the
strength(s) they have, such as manual skills, interpersonal skills, selling skills,
organizational skills, writing skills, knowledge of a particular product or service,
knowledge of people in a trade and ability to make and use a network of contacts.
15. Reliable and Has Integrity: the qualities of honesty, fair dealing and
reliability
in terms of doing what one has promised to do are essential traits of an
entrepreneur.
16. Risk-Taker: being an entrepreneur involves some risks. Entrepreneurs have
the
ability to take measured or calculated risks. Such risks involve working out the
likely costs and gains, the chance of success and the belief in oneself to make the
risk pay off. Entrepreneurs may be considered risk avoiders when they reduce
their risks by having others assume part of the risk. Those who assume the
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entrepreneur’s risk may be bankers, suppliers and customers.
Meaning of Creativity
Some people believe that they are not creative. They may overlook situations in
which they have good ideas, or they may avoid sharing their ideas with others. By
recognizing and sharing their ideas, people can begin to develop their creative
ability.
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practice.
Several techniques can be used to develop more creative thinking habits. Some of
these techniques are:
made bigger,
made smaller,
modified in color, taste or style, rearranged, reversed, substituted or
combined.
Products and services are often changed to make them more attractive by
using this simple technique. This method could also be used to help
entrepreneurs make their working situations more pleasant and efficient.
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Observe how they act, think, relax and respond. Ask them to talk about what
events in their lives influenced their creativity.
3. Learn your own warm-up process.
This warm-up process increases your ability to ready yourself to develop a
creative idea and take positive risks in making changes, even small ones.
What events and settings seem to encourage your creative actions?
4. Move, dance, exercise, bicycle, walk and stretch.
These physical activities get us out of our thinking brain and allow us to
truly inhabit all of our body. As the body moves, the right and left parts of
the brain; both the imaginative side and the cognitive side are able to work
together more efficiently.
5. Listen to music and experiment with improvisational exercises.
Notice how different types of music promote various levels of energy within
you. Theater and drama exercises will help you practice different ways of
responding, apart from your habitual roles.
6. Keep a notebook of interesting or creative ideas and observations.
Paste a few pictures from magazines that interest or intrigue you, even if you
don’t know why. Scribble and doodle. Whatever you do, don’t censor
yourself. See what happens.
7. Find a mentor or coach who can help you develop your creativity to a
higher level.
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INFORMATION SHEET 3: Plan for establishment of business operation
There are three major competencies for successful entrepreneurship. These may be
defined as:
a body of knowledge
a set of skills
a cluster of traits
A. Knowledge
has been defined as a set or body of information stored, which may be recalled at
an appropriate time. Knowledge in the context of business may be manifested by
information on, or familiarity with aspects such as:
a business opportunity • the market
customers • competitors
production processes • technical matters
business management • sources of assistance
Knowledge of business or entrepreneurship, however, is not enough for success in
setting up and operating a business – in the same way as, for example, reading or
learning about flying, driving or swimming will not on its own enable you to fly a
plane, drive a car or swim in a pool.
B. Skill
has been defined as the ability to apply knowledge and can be acquired or
developed through practice, e.g. flying, driving or swimming. In the context of
business, it is possible to distinguish between skills of a technical and managerial
nature. Some examples are listed below:
Technical Managerial
Engineering • Marketing (including selling)
Computing • Financial management
Carpentry • Organization
Mechanics • Planning
Catering • Leadership
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Knowledge and skills are relatively easy to acquire or develop. However, traits
take time to develop and are not easily changed or acquired.
C. Traits
have been defined as the aggregate of peculiar qualities or characteristics which
constitutes personal individuality. In a cross-cultural study of India, Malawi and
Ecuador, 14 personal entrepreneurial characteristics (PECs) that appear to depict
the behavior of successful entrepreneurs were identified. The research was funded
by USAID and undertaken by McBer & Company and Management Systems
International. The 14 PECs can be summarized as follows:
A successful entrepreneur:
Leadership Styles
Entrepreneurs are responsible for setting goals and making plans for their business.
To a great extent, the work of employees plays a large part in implementing these
plans and achieving goals. Developing and maintaining morale is, therefore, an
important task of the entrepreneur.
Most leaders use a combination of styles, depending on the group and the situation.
Leaders in the business world have two main responsibilities:
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INFORMATION SHEET 4: Implement establishment plan
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person accepting the goals of other people occurs between parents and children.
For example, Greg’s parents always wanted him to be an attorney.
From the time he was a small child, Greg had accepted that he would become an
attorney without questioning it. He made excellent grades in college, and was
accepted into law school. After a few months of law school, Greg began to realize
that he was not interested in law. He knew he could succeed in law, but his heart
wasn’t in it. He realized that it would be a big disappointment to his parents if he
didn’t finish, but he also thought it was important to do what he wanted to do
himself. As a result, he began thinking about his own goals for the first time.
Most people carry around a number of vague would-be goals in their heads. “I’ve
got to get organized.” “I’ve got to get into shape.” “I’ve got to prepare for the
future.” “I’ve got to stop wasting time on . . .” One reason these goals rarely are
translated into action is that they are too general. They need to be put into terms
which will enable you to decide how you will go about achieving the goal. For
example, take the goal “to get into shape.” Depending on the person, this could
mean taking an exercise class, going swimming, setting up a program of jogging
,etc. The point is that you must know what being in shape means for you before
you can take action.
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to consider themselves successful. This may be okay for those super-human people
who never get discouraged, but for normal folks it can be enough to prevent them
from even bothering to set goals at all. Studies have shown that one of the most
effective ways to develop a habit is by rewarding it. The feeling of satisfaction
which results from accomplishing a goal is a type of reward. If you set goals you
cannot measure, you may be discouraging yourself from the goal setting habit by
denying yourself the opportunity to succeed.
Implementing Changes
In any activity, entrepreneurs must first determine whether or not a risk is
involved. In a risk situation, the entrepreneur’s power, position or authority may be
challenged. When something is wrong in the business, entrepreneurs should be
able to appraise the situation realistically and try to solve the problem.
Entrepreneurs must be able to take the necessary corrective action. When a risk
situation is apparent, the decision whether to risk or not becomes very important.
When entrepreneurs decide to risk,
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they should follow a definite plan for initiating action. Alternative plans may also
be devised in case the first plan does not succeed. These alternatives allow for
flexibility in case the conditions of the risk change.
Once a plan of action is devised, it must be activated. It is only when the plan is
initiated that entrepreneurs can really know and understand the risks that are
involved. At first, little feedback may be received regarding the decision. This lack
of feedback may create doubts. It is during the early stages after the decision has
been implemented that entrepreneurs must be fully committed to their decision
until the problem has been solved. Once they are convinced that a certain course of
action will solve the problem, specific actions will help to determine the outcome.
Promoting the decision and gaining the support of others will help to make the
decision succeed.
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How will I know (in quantitative terms) when I have accomplished my goal?
What are the biggest obstacles to achieving my goal?
Two of the major influences on high employee turnover are the recruiting and
selection procedures used. The way entrepreneurs advertise a position, handle
applications, conduct interviews, and select and introduce a new worker to a job
are all elements in the effort to cut down on employee turnover.
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2. Selection Procedures
Application form
Interview
Checking of references
Testing applicant’s skills
B. Orientation Process
As a general rule, on their first day new employees should be shown around the
business. The new employee should be introduced to the rest of the employees,
given an overall view of the entire operation, and shown exactly how their jobs fit
into the total operation of the business. Such small gestures take little effort and
will probably save both time and money in the long run.
Remember, it is important to start the new employee off on the right foot. Proper
orientation will help a great deal in getting a more productive, long-term
employee.
C. Employee Considerations
Pay Plans. To employees, wages are an important part of their jobs. They expect
their pay to reflect the skills and energy they put into a business. If entrepreneurs
want to attract and keep good workers, they must take into consideration the rate
paid by other firms for a similar job.
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Fringe Benefits. Of all fringe benefits, those for sick leave and holidays are the
most widely appreciated by employees. Entrepreneurs should have a set policy
regarding all fringe benefits.
Employee Relations. Good pay and fringe benefits aren’t all it takes to make
employees happy; job satisfaction means much more to them. Entrepreneurs
have a responsibility to provide the best kind of physical surroundings and to
make sure that there is always two-way communication with the staff.
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