SQUEEZE AND QUENCH

Squeeze the creative juices and quench the thirst for a successful new venture

Perhaps, this is my second blog entry for my entrepreneurial class. It is about creativity and the business idea. I consider this chapter very interesting and it had nonetheless inculcated upon me several learning ideologies that I firmly believe will be very handy as I step forward to the business industry.

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Everything big comes from small beginnings. That is indeed a hundred percent fact. No questions asked. No objections available. A great business venture would never come into the commercial surface unless a primary ingenious idea about the service or product has been extracted out of the creative juices of the entrepreneur. These business ideas sometimes just pop out of the mind of an individual, but in most cases, these are products of daily experiences and observations about the market. Possible sources can come from consumers, existing products and services, distribution channels, government, and of course, through research and development. Ideas can also be internally or externally generated through various techniques such as focus groups, brainstorming and problem inventory analysis. Creative juices will surely be squeezed out through brainstorming, which is perhaps the most well-known and widely-used method. It is a method whereby small groups of people are allowed to work in an open non-structured environment. Other means of creative problem solving includes reverse brainstorming, brainwriting, Gordon method, checklist method, free-association and the big-dream approach. It is only after the ideas and concepts about the new venture are established, the doors of planning and developing process shall open up. Of course, the potential business ideas should be screened and evaluated first before the entrepreneur thoroughly proceeds with the succeeding stage of founding the business. Product planning and development process should be done with much dedication and scrutiny to assure the success of the new venture.

After learning the different techniques to arrive at a possible business idea through the book and other supplements like the articles by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne entitled, Knowing a Business Idea When You See One, I was very much enlightened. I learned that there are certain tools to help wash out the uncertainty of a possible venture and these includes the Buyer Utility Map, the Price Corridor of the Mass and the Business Model Guide. Also, there are several business models that are currently available on the web. Basic categories of business models include brokerage, advertising, infomediary, merchant, manufacturer, affiliate, community, subscription, and utility.

I came to realize that business opportunities are never that hard to find as long as you are really determined to look for it. And even if you do not intentionally search for it, in one way or another, these business ideas might bump you with no formal warning. Another insight that I had was the fact that during the idea generation, quantity is prioritized over quantity. Thus, no matter what idea you have in mind, no matter how vague it is or no matter how crazy others might think about it, you must be open and speak it out. Brainstorming is never about the preciseness of your thoughts right on that very moment. Who knows that there could be a possible successful and winning business concept lying beneath and hiding in those crazy thoughts you have. Perhaps, these thoughts or ideas are just waiting to be discovered, dug out and polished through screening and evaluation. Indeed, there might be gold mines concealing themselves underneath the bushes.

In line with the lessons we have in our entrepreneurial class, we have came across with another means of coming up with a unique business venture which is actually new to my ears. It is called the Blue Ocean Strategy, a new approach which promotes the creation of a new market (Blue Ocean) rather than competing in an existing industry. I certainly agree that this strategy is such an intelligent and innovative move. Well I suppose that implementing or practicing this strategy is never tied up with the ideology that you have to invent something that is totally different from existing products or services. Hence, it is possible to be innovative by putting up something or changing something about the product so as to give it its own identity and exceptionality. There are various ways to come up with innovations.

After incorporating the knowledge provided by the book with our everyday experiences, I, along with my fellow group mates was able to come up with our own business ideas. Actually, we were assisted by our Entrepreneurship Professor, Mr. Ramon Duremdes Jr. as we go along with our task. We had gone through the process of brainstorming where we had listed the irritants and desires of students from all levels of education. After coming up with a volume of ideas, we eventually screen and evaluated them and had produced a concrete path of business we want to pursue. Since we got very much acquainted with the power of technology and internet, we decided to have a business related to it. With every aspect of our idea generation and concept formation, the learning that we have through the chapter was superbly utilized.

At the end of the day, I had a grasp of truth that ideas are everywhere. There might come in different packages and settings. They might come easily or through tedious scratching of the surface. But they are just there waiting to be discovered and mined. Waiting to be found and rejoiced. So let us just squeeze the creative juices within our minds and quench our thirst for a successful business venture!

Building Blocks

The Successful Entrepreneurial Business in the Making

In our Entrepreneurship class, we have tackled a very interesting chapter entitled,the Intrapreneurial and Entrepreneurial Mind. To reflect how the concepts had rooted down into our veins, we are tasked to compose a blog post that shall allow us to provide some insights and realizations about the topic. Hopefully, i will be able to impart to you some relevant and useful facts about entrepreneurship.

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The creation of a successful entrepreneur and establishing a profitable business venture are two processes which I can say, involves certain skills that are similar to the building blocks concept. Each processes is supposed to have foundation and several levels are to be added in order to come up with the aspired result.

Ewing Marion Kauffman opened up Chapter 2, with his inspirational triumph story of becoming an entrepreneur despite many challenges that occurred to him. He was indeed an individual who has what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, a man of perseverance, wisdom and determination. He is not only an entrepreneur but he is also a Major League Baseball team owner and a philanthropist who believed that his victory was a direct result of one fundamental philosophy, the golden rule: “Treat others as you would like to be treated”. This principle had actually paved way for rewarding the associates who took part in the venture and likewise involve them in the decision-making process. And eventually this associate entrepreneur concept is now known as intrapreneurship.

Intrapreneurship, on its simplest definition is entrepreneurship within an existing organization. Thus, both the intrapreneur and entrepreneur are individuals who dedicate their time and effort in starting a new business venture and going along with it, they assume each risk and reward. In the course of doing business, an entrepreneur cannot avoid to come across with the entrepreneurial process. Like in building blocks concept, there are four major steps in this process. It will start with identifying and evaluating opportunities, followed by developing a business plan that shall describe the future direction of the business. The third step is determining the resources required and lastly, manage the enterprise being created.

Whereas an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur are almost the same in fundamental nature, they should be differentiated from managers living under the administrative domain. Their strategic orientation varies in such a way that a manager is highly operant while an entrepreneur strategizes according to his perception of the opportunity. An entrepreneur’s commitment to opportunity is pressured by the need for action, few decision constituencies and short decision windows, while on the other hand, a manager tentatively reacts slowly on opportunity and commitment is usually for a long time span. The entrepreneurial and administrative domains also hold opposing views regarding their commitment and control of resources. While an entrepreneur is used to having resources committed at periodic intervals, a manager tends to avoid such rentals and intermittent use of resources. They also vary significantly in the management structure, the final business dimension. The administrative domain is formalized and hierarchical in nature. On the other hand, the entrepreneur, true to his yearning for self-rule, employs a flat organizational structure.

Entrepreneurship, the book authored by Robert D. Hisrich, Michael Peters and Dean Shepherd is indeed full of relevant concepts regarding the course I am currently taking in Asia Pacific College under the class of Mr. Ramon Duremdes Jr. Having Chapter 2 on the center point, there have been several insights which I have as I go along with the journey through the entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial mind.

First, the entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs desire to be independent. All throughout the text, independence, or being one’s own boss has been pinpointed as the primary motive of both the entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. This actually distinguishes them from traditional managers living on a corporate environment. As I weigh and balance the corporate and entrepreneurial culture, I eventually made a choice of where I want to belong into. I am a kind of person who loves to do my own thing. I honestly hate to be manipulated or pushed on where I should go or what I should do. Moreover, it is my nature that the more someone forces me to do something, the more I would resist to do that. I want to do things freely. Yet, I am not discounting the fact that a fresh-grad novice is set to encounter the advantages and disadvantages for being such before he become a full-blown boss of a certain business firm.

Second is the important role of top management in the creation of a successful intrapreneurial environment. This is a critical point for an intrapreneur and also set the difference from an entrepreneur. I realized that though an intrapreneur seeks independence, it is not absolute. An intrapreneur still needs support from top management and their whole-hearted commitment in providing the personnel and financial resources.

Third is the recognition of the significance of the entrepreneurial process in order for a venture to be considered on the right track. Identifying and evaluating the opportunity is indeed a difficult task but is very essential for such opportunities are actually the parents of a new venture. When an entrepreneur came across a possible business from the need of people, he should evaluate it well, develop a plan to establish the business that shall answer the needs, determine the things required to answer the demand and perpetually find ways to effectively manage every transaction and operational aspects of the established firm.

Last, but definitely not the least, are the characteristics of a potential intrapreneur which includes understanding of the environment, being visionary and flexible, ability to create management options, encourages teamwork and open-discussion, builds coalition of supporters, and persistence. As I reflect to myself those characteristics being enumerated, I must admit that in some ways, I fall short. I still lack experience to enable me to understand all the aspects of the environment. But despite that fact, I am a person who dreams great dreams. My only concern is whether I can be a great leader who has the ability to dream great dreams and at the same time be able to communicate these in such a way that people would say yes to being a part of the dream. Upon learning that I am not yet sure whether these characteristics are inherent to me, I thought of someone who certainly has such. She is a close friend of my mother and of the whole family. Yes she is a woman but as I look at her, I see all the courage and guts that you would probably claim to be that of a man. She is currently a sole proprietor of an enterprise engaging on the glass and aluminum supply business. I consider her an entrepreneur for the main reason that she is ready for risk. She is also imaginative and flexible. I remember that she had been into different businesses before. She had been into beauty shop and flower shop before she became devoted to ironworks. Perhaps, though those prior businesses that she had did not make quite well, she is still determined to try on new ventures. The experiences that she has drawn together had nonetheless take part on the building blocks towards success.

As a third year accountancy student, more or less, I have already grasped the importance of being flexible. In a complex, demanding and ever-changing world where all of us are living, entrepreneurial skills play an important role. I have learned that in order to be competitive, people should not only have mastery on their chosen career but likewise be flexible enough to answer the different calls of circumstances. For an instance, I might be an accountant someday but there is no assurance that I will forever be such. In one point of time, I may change my desires and purpose. Perhaps, I may seek independence ad personal satisfaction, the things that entrepreneurs are thirsty from. When times like that come to face, I must be well-equipped with skills and knowledge that shall lead me to where I really want to go. As I have said, I am a person who dreams great dreams, so who knows, I might be among the successful business tycoon someday. Some may think that being a woman would be a hindrance to be a successful entrepreneurship but i believe that i can prove them wrong. I know I can be one of the womanpreneurs someday, if only I have the guts to try. Like what I am always telling to myself, "No guts, no glory."