Be a Hero - be an Entrepreneur today
Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 1:36PM Entrepreneurs make things happen, they create jobs and help the economy - they are heros and you can join their ranks today. What was difficult some years ago can be done from your room, without money or specialist knowledge.
Photo by CharlesLam Flickr CC
It used to be very difficult
Management courses at universities were created to produce managers needed by the companies of the Industrial Revolution. These were mainly big companies growing with new innovations like the automobile and electricity - focus was on management.
The mind set was one of taking care of existing opportunities, focus on not dropping the ball, complicated systems were created and as a results we all learned that having a business is complicated. And it is, but not that complicated!
A model of the entrepreneur as the spider in the net
With the possibilities of the services available on the Internet, you can find both specialized knowledge, money, distribution and production without leaving your room.
I propose that the entrepreneur be seen as the spider at the centre of the net. Imagine the contacts taken as the threads radiating out from the centre, one to the producer, one to distribution etc - then imagine the spider responding as soon as there is a vibration in the net. Maybe the picture is a bit sinister, but the idea is that the spider is holding it all together by resolving issues as they appear. The entrepreneur has to be able to act, to solve problems but does not need to be a specialist in any of the fields.
Three examples
Kurt Barbee started karvt, a company making wooden "skins" for iPhones and iPads. The wood is cut after orders have been received over the Internet, then shipped all over the world. The idea of being different and have an "Indie Rock" attitude combined with environmental friendliness gave the idea for decorating macs with wooden veneers.
What I love about this idea is that it was simple and quick to mount, getting a worldwide following and riding piggy-back on the iPhone/iPad success. A great job well done!
Bill Oesterle founded Angie's list with Angie Hicks in 1995. The company started by asking people in the neighborhood which contractors they used and what they thought about them. According to Wikipedia, already in 2006, they served 124 US cities and reviewed more than 250 categories.
I really like the simplicity, Angie started by knocking doors in the neighborhood, no investment, no difficult preparations just opening the door and get started - brilliant.
Scott Wilson saw the new iPod nano and the opportunity for business. The iPod nano watch kit TikTok+LunaTik is a huge success with production in China and financing through kickstarter, a webpage to join investors and creators. I don't know if the suppliers where found on Alibaba, but I know that many other projects find low-cost production through the site.
Scott's beautiful design was a huge hit and the biggest success ever on kickstarter, he hoped for 15.000USD and after a few month 950.000USD was trying to get into the action.
I'm really impressed how these three spiders managed to make use of an opportunity that was open to anyone with the will to go ahead. Hardly any investments were needed to get going, no travels and not much time... just an open mind and a will to create.
What do you think, are you up to it?
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