Entrepreneurship & Sales

LESSON 2 Fundamentals - Mindset & Behavior – Business Plan

Contents
• Entrepreneurial Mindset And Behavior
• Entrepreneurial mindset
• Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization
• How to find Profitable Business Ideas
• Business Plan Preparation
• Business Plan Implementation
Entrepreneurial Mindset And Behavior

• A mindset is a cognitive belief system consisting of interrelated beliefs, assumptions, and

knowledge that we use to process information, inform our decisions, and guide our
behavior.

• An entrepreneurial mindset is a specific set of beliefs, knowledge, and thought

processes that drive entrepreneurial behavior. Those with an entrepreneurial mindset
tend to:
• Believe in their ability to succeed and influence their own outcomes, empowering them
to take ownership of their lives;
• Have compelling goals that keep them future-focused and intrinsically motivated, driving
them to be self-directed, action-oriented, and highly engaged;
Entrepreneurial Mindset And Behavior

• Have an optimistic interpretation of adverse events and see problems as potential

opportunities, becoming highly resilient, resourceful, and solution-oriented even within
highly uncertain, resource-constrained environments;
• Be lifelong knowledge seekers with a focus on micro-experiments as learning
opportunities to test ideas, cultivating curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking;
• Display a high level of reliability, understanding that following through on simple
solutions can lead to unforeseen opportunities;
• Have a humanistic outlook, being other-focused and understanding that one creates
value by looking to solve problems for others; and
• Surround themselves with an intentional community of positive influence and critical
guidance
Entrepreneurial Mindset

1. Decisiveness

• To succeed as an entrepreneur, you must gain the ability to look at a problem or

situation, digest all available data (at that point in time), and make a confident decision to
move forward.

• Your ability as a decision-maker will make or break your future successes.

• When you can’t decide what to do, you delay taking action. In other words, you do
nothing. Think about how many dreams (and businesses) failing to take action has killed.
Entrepreneurial Mindset

• Example: The next time you are out for lunch at a restaurant, scan the menu once and
decide what to order. And do it confidently.

• This can seem trivial or unnecessary, but it absolutely isn’t.

• Being decisive takes practice to master and it begins with small decisions in the
business of daily life.

• From here you can build on your decisiveness and begin to use it in bigger and bigger
ways.
Entrepreneurial Mindset

2. Confidence

• There are many skills you will need to learn to accomplish everything you want in
life.

• But how do you act confidently when you don’t know what you are doing?

• You learn to act with confidence, the second characteristic of the entrepreneurial mindset.
And one the of the most important qualities of an entrepreneur.

• It is essential that you get used to the uncomfortable feeling of knowing that you
don’t know what you’re doing.
Entrepreneurial Mindset

• Example: Here’s how to become more confident, right now.

• Do SWOT analysis for self improvement

• Develop your skills
Entrepreneurial Mindset

• Do you want to be a podcaster? Start podcasting.

• Do you want to become a professional chef? Start cooking.
• Do you want to be a copywriter? Start writing sales pages that convert.
• Do you have side hustle ideas you want to start? Stop watching Netflix every night.
• Do you want to learn email marketing? Start building your email list today.
Entrepreneurial Mindset

3. Accountability

• The entrepreneurial mindset comes from taking responsibility for your actions and
outcomes.

You need to adopt and accept that:

• Everything that happens at work – YOU are responsible for.

• Everything that happens to your business – YOU are responsible for.
• Whether you succeed or fail, it is YOUR responsibility.
Entrepreneurial Mindset

• From this moment forward, you must accept responsibility for everything in your life
and hold yourself accountable to it.

• What little time, money, or external support you have to accomplish your goals. Your
circumstances may not be your fault, but they are your responsibility.

• All that matters is what you are doing RIGHT NOW to find your success.

• There are no more excuses. Accountability is required of entrepreneurs as well as

successful employees. Stop passing the buck and blaming others.
Entrepreneurial Mindset

4. Resilience

• As an entrepreneur, you will need to learn to deal with making mistakes and failing.
They are inevitable and a part of your growth.

• If every misstep plummets you into self-doubt, you have to change the way you look at
being wrong.

• This mindset shift takes resilience and is foundational to the entrepreneurial mindset.
Entrepreneurial Mindset

• Success rarely happens in a straight line. Taking wrong turns and making mistakes is
something that happens to everyone.

• “The only people who don’t make mistakes are the ones who don’t do anything.”

• Resilience isn’t only helpful when dealing with catastrophic mistakes. It’s a way to handle
the small, simple decisions you’ve made that didn’t turn out right.
Entrepreneurial Mindset

5. Humility

• Humility is freedom from pride or arrogance, and it ties all of the characteristics of
entrepreneurship.

• From decisiveness to confidence, humility will keep you focused and centered.

• From accountability to resilience, you will continue to move forward through failure,
mistakes, and upsets.
Entrepreneurial Mindset

“If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.”

• Someone smarter than me.

• Along with humility comes coach ability — the ability to be coached.

• If you want to accomplish big things in life, you need to be willing to learn from others and
nurture a growth mindset.
Entrepreneurial Mindset

• To do big things, you need to grow. To grow, you need to learn.

• No matter what you are trying to accomplish, someone already has done it before you.

• Thinking like an entrepreneur means seeking out mentors and coaches who have been
where you are trying to go — and having the humility to accept their guidance.
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Leadership Styles:

• Transformational Leadership is all about attracting followers and considering their

needs beyond the leader’s immediate self-interests.

• Transactional Leadership is based on the exchange of rewards for achieving results.

Also called autocratic or authoritative leadership.

• Culture-based Leadership is a type of leadership that focuses on common shared

values, beliefs, ethics, and attitudes.

• Charismatic Leadership motivates others to come up with innovation and creativity.

Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

• Visionary Leadership is based on painting that vision for the future and inspiring others
to follow.

Assignment:

Write an essay about the above five entrepreneurial leadership styles in about 2000
Words.
Format: MS. Word document
Font Size: 12 (Single Space)
Submission Date: 10 Nov Thursday by 7.00 PM Singapore time
Email: eih.foysal1@gmail.com
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Entrepreneurial Leadership Skills:

Integrity

• Daryl Koehn (2005) concludes in her research that there is no well-defined definition of
integrity. She defines integrity for the entrepreneurial leader by quoting Ford (1976):

• “A good reputation is a priceless business asset that can be earned only through
consistently trustworthy behavior.” followed by: “Integrity properly understood is
not some add-on feature for business; it is at the core of sound business.”
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Active Listening

• Active listening is the ability to focus completely on the speaker and trying to
understand their message. Note that active listening is not only directed to the
entrepreneur. Active listening is also applicable to the employee.

• It’s a two-way street, like in a partnership. An entrepreneurial leader encourages and

ensures that both speaker and listener comprehend each others’ message.
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Clear Communication

• Clear communication means that messages come across as intended. As simple as

this sounds, it’s challenging to achieve. Everyone has a filter, which makes them view the
world differently.
• A filter that is an accumulation of their upbringing, norms, values, character traits, thinking
styles, etc.
• Actually, everything they have experienced in life so far. The way they view the world is
their unique way. So, did the other understood your message as you intended it?
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Constructive Feedback

• Giving constructive feedback means that the other receives informative help and
instructions on how someone is currently performing and what someone can do
about it to improve their performance.

• Therefore, it is always intended positively, even if it addresses specific issues or

concerns. Employees, in general, seem to forget that sometimes. They are inclined to see
it as negative feedback, a judgment. Not as an encouragement to start learning new
behavior.
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Openness

• Usually refers to how open-minded someone is. Someone with an open mind enjoys
trying new things, hearing alternative views, meeting strangers, and learning new
methods. It hinges on aspects of an entrepreneurial spirit: being creative, recognizing an
opportunity, and flexibility.

• For any leader, it means valuing new experiences and new thought processes of the
people they work with. In combination with active listening, it can be powerful leadership
skills.
The FIVE Personality Traits
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Reliability

• Reliability means that people can count on you. You say what you do, and you do what
you say. It is closely related to responsibility. A leader who takes responsibility finishes his
tasks and follows through to the final detail.
• Even more important, they communicate back to people in case of delay or problems. It
can be troublesome for the more entrepreneurial individuals as they embrace opportunity
and end up doing something different.
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Patience

• Working with people can be tiresome because it takes time to understand each
other properly. Clear communication is never 100% clear, and it can, therefore, blur
communication on tasks, targets, and deadlines and – in the end – organizational
performance.

• It can even destroy relationships and partnerships. It requires a leader to remain

committed and be persistent. You need patience for this. In business, it’s a virtue because
many entrepreneurial individuals are impatient.
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Drive

• Apart from having a vision for the future of the business, the business leader needs to
have the drive to get there. Most business owners want to improve their performance, but
that’s very different from having the drive to realize something the company has never
achieved before.

• The business owner can have a clear vision for the future, an entrepreneurial strategy,
and the required business and industry knowledge. Still, without a drive to succeed, the
entrepreneurial venture is doomed to fail.
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Agility

• Being agile is an essential business asset. Adapting to fast-changing situations,

especially in tiring times like the Covid-19 era. Agility is the power of moving quickly and
easily.

• It requires that you need to be able to think and draw conclusions quickly. It can be a
temporary detour without losing sight of your vision.
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Empathy

• Empathy means being able to understand the needs of others, as well as being
aware of their thoughts and feelings. One might argue that active listening is the same
as empathy or at least closely related.

• That’s not true. However, it is easier to listen actively when an entrepreneurial leader
possesses compassion. But the other way around is not valid: leaders who listen actively
are empathetic.
Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization

Vision

• An entrepreneurial leader does business for a reason. An intensely felt mission gives
them the drive to go and work hard for their company every day. What is it that they want
to achieve with all stakeholders of their company?

• The vision is the concrete image of a point in time in the future, an attractive future picture
of a beautiful reality where the lives of others have been improved.
How to Find Profitable Business Ideas

Things you're already good at (hobbies/skills).

Things you've done for work

Things people ask you for.

Things you want to learn.

Business Plan Preparation

• Draft an executive summary

• Describe your company
• Perform a market analysis
• Outline the management and organization
• List your products and services
• Perform customer segmentation
• Define a marketing plan
• Provide a logistics and operations plan
• Make a financial plan
Business Plan Preparation
1. Draft an Executive Summary.

A good executive summary is one of the most crucial sections of your plan—
it’s also the last section you should write.

The executive summary’s purpose is to distill everything that follows and give
time-crunched reviewers (e.g., potential investors and lenders) a high-level
overview of your business that persuades them to read further.
Business Plan Preparation
2. Describe Your Company

This section of your business plan should answer two fundamental questions:
who are you, and what do you plan to do?

Answering these questions provides an introduction to why you’re in business,

why you’re different, what you have going for you, and why you’re a good
investment bet.
Business Plan Preparation

3. Perform a Market Analysis

No matter what type of business you start, it’s no exaggeration to say your market
can make or break it.

Choose the right market for your products—one with plenty of customers who
understand and need your product—and you’ll have a head start on success. If
you choose the wrong market, or the right market at the wrong time, you may
find yourself struggling for each sale.
Business Plan Preparation

4. Outline Management and Organization

The management and organization section of your business plan

should tell readers about who’s running your company.

Detail the legal structure of your business. Communicate whether

you’ll incorporate your business as an S corporation or create a
limited partnership or sole proprietorship.
Business Plan Preparation

5. List your Products and Services.

Your products or services will feature prominently in most areas

of your business plan, but it’s important to provide a section that
outlines key details about them for interested readers.
Business Plan Preparation

Customer segmentation often includes:

• Where they live
• Their age range
• Their level of education
• Some common behavior patterns
• How they spend their free time
• Where they work
• What technology they use
• How much they earn
• Where they’re commonly employed
• Their values, beliefs, or opinions
Business Plan Preparation

• Price. How much do your products cost, and why have you made that decision?
• Product. What are you selling and how do you differentiate it in the market?
• Promotion. How will you get your products in front of your ideal customer?
• Place. Where will you sell your products?
Business Plan Preparation

• Suppliers. Where do you get the raw materials you need for production, or where are your
products produced?

• Production. Will you make, manufacture, wholesale or dropship your products? How long
does it take to produce your products and get them shipped to you? How will you handle
a busy season or an unexpected spike in demand?

• Facilities. Where will you and any team members work? Do you plan to have a physical
retail space? If yes, where?
Business Plan Preparation

• Equipment. What tools and technology do you require to be up and running? This
includes everything from computers to lightbulbs and everything in between.

• Shipping and fulfillment. Will you be handling all the fulfillment tasks in-house, or will you
use a third-party fulfillment partner?

• Inventory. How much will you keep on hand, and where will it be stored? How will you
ship it to partners if required, and how will you approach inventory management?
 Business Plan Preparation

9. Prepare a Financial plan

No matter how great your idea is, and regardless of the effort, time, and
money you invest, a business lives or dies based on its financial health.

At the end of the day, people want to work with a business they expect
to be viable for the foreseeable future.
Business Plan Implementation

Use the SMART method when developing implementation tasks. SMART stands for specific,
measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. Using this method when creating an
implementation plan helps you make sure you outline realistic tasks and time frames for
implementing a business strategy.

List necessary resources to carryout implementation activities. Resources may include

budgets, personnel, business technologies or software, outsourced professionals and other
resources necessary to successfully implement a business strategy.

Set deadlines for each implementation task. By providing a deadline for each individual
implementation task you hold yourself and your team accountable to implement a strategy
within a reasonable time frame.
Q&A Session