MODERN ENTREPRENEUR
Entrepreneurial
Winning Ideas
By John Sikkema
S
ome of us are born with
an entrepreneurial bent or
personality but the environment
we grow up in or live in can be a key
stimulus and motivator to develop
and activate the skill of becoming
entrepreneurial. The statement
that necessity is the motherhood
of invention is true particularly
for entrepreneurial people. It’s our
survival streak that’s the difference
why some people simply quit whilst
others refuse to quit and dig deep
and are energized by thinking
outside the nine dots. The great Walt
Disney was facing bankruptcy when
he came up with the idea of Mickey
Mouse. That stroke of genius saved
his business in the nick of time.
Entrepreneurs invariably start
by enrolling in the school of
14 ModernBusiness
July 2016
hard knocks. The good news is
entrepreneurial skills can be learnt
but you will need to sign up for
what will be lots of practical painful
trial and error -- and indeed failures
--which will all become part of
the learning curve in becoming a
successful entrepreneur.
Here are some winning ideas I learnt
along the way of building numerous
start ups including commercial
businesses and more recently in
setting up a not for profit.
1
Being prepared to do things
others are not prepared to
At age 23 I was in a class of 20
students training to become
an insurance salesman. I was
shocked at the end of the two-week
induction course that there were
only three of us left! The others
didn’t leave because of poor sales
or presentation skills or product
knowledge it was because the 3 of
us who remained were the only ones
prepared to daily commit to making a
set amount of cold calls. Mastering
the art of the cold calling enabled
me a couple of years later to top the
company’s sales figures.
2
Work in areas where there
is little competition
Start by testing the waters in several
different markets. You will soon be
able to analyze where you get the
best results. Logically that’s where
you should put most of your energy.
3
Become a specialist rather
than a generalist
Keep practicing and tweaking in