The founders of some of the most successful companies in history have turned them into Fortune 500 companies. Entrepreneurs built American Express, 3M Boeing, Citicorp, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Marriott International, Merck Marriott International, Marriott International, and Marriott International.
These retirees probably remember when marketing strategies were flexible and could be changed on a dime. Having four signatures, your firstborn child, or approval committees with hundreds of members wasn’t necessary to advance a marketing strategy. Small businesses still use this kind of responsive, agile marketing.
Small businesses in the US represent more than 80%, employ more than half of the workforce, and create 66% of new net jobs.
Know the Business Inside Out
Entrepreneurs are the best people to understand how businesses work.
They create a new product or service.
The market research team tests it.
They develop marketing, advertising, and PR plans to educate the public about their product or service.
Salespeople can convince someone to buy the product or service.
Their responsibility is to deliver the product or service (logistics packaging and customer service).
The satisfaction levels are measured (more research).
They create pricing plans, billing, and collection systems.
They know and see their entire operation and how each part affects the others. How many of us can see so deeply into our organizations? Would we be able to go so profoundly into our organizations?
New Perspectives
Entrepreneurs have a unique perspective on the world. Diverse perspectives encourage innovation. Many mom-and-pop businesses in a community have been successful at growing their business. It doesn’t have to be a business in your industry. It shouldn’t be. Find and work with these entrepreneurs.
Asking successful entrepreneurs to speak in front of your staff, executive team, and board is a great way to get them involved. Entrepreneurs are adaptable; they can quickly adapt to market conditions and know how to thrive in any situation.
Consider adding entrepreneurs to your board.
Include an entrepreneur in your mastermind group.
Bring them in to help you with a difficult situation and see what they can do.
Search for people with a proven track record of achievement. It’s fascinating to see what someone with “street smarts” but little knowledge of your field would do.
A Dose Entrepreneurial Spirit
In 1971, 16 colleges offered graduate and four-year programs in entrepreneurship. Today, hundreds of universities offer entrepreneurship programs and majors. You can take a course to apply what you have learned in your job.
Know your company from top to bottom, like an entrepreneur. You cannot truly market a product or service unless you are familiar with every aspect, from how it was created to the people delivering it to billing and collection.
Recruit Entrepreneurs
Even before they graduate, those in the know learn about entrepreneurs and are taught by them. Three Duke University seniors, hungry for entrepreneurial knowledge and based in Durham, North Carolina, started StartEmUp. This program offers students the chance to learn from successful entrepreneurs through networking, education, and mentoring.
You never know; one day, these students could create products and services directly competing with your business. That is unless you hire them and recognize their entrepreneurial spirit.
Examples
The increased competition of physician entrepreneurs who build their surgery centers threatens the most profitable hospital lines. Around 72% of CEOs cite competition from physician-owned centers as one of their main concerns. They are worried about the competition with physician-owned facilities.
Physicians are looking for the benefits of a business environment, and investment banks are actively searching for strong physician leaders who have credibility in both the clinical and the business side of healthcare. Hospital executives need to figure out how to partner with physician entrepreneurs.
Last year, the British National Health Service (NHS) visited the US to hear directly from entrepreneurs in healthcare about how to build additional diagnostic and treatment centers. This would increase capacity and decrease waiting times for patients. These centers are a significant shift in the NHS’s healthcare approach. Even in a national healthcare model, the NHS is beginning to acknowledge consumerism and patient choices.
In 1982, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development was founded in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park with 26 members to offer capital, education, mentoring, and training to entrepreneurs. The Council now has more than 4,000 active members.