Some official was supposed to be inspiring young men and women about small business but ended up making nasty, unkind remarks about the origin of business people in the country. Sadly, this official was just displaying typical ignorance. The official even made some off hand comment about certain people having “business in their blood”, which was a sweeping generalisation.
This is the kind of nonsense that is spouted from uninformed people who merely display prejudice and inaccurate thinking. But do you really have to have business in your blood to be a successful small business person?
One small business owner I know and have watched succeed over the years had a father who taught him the ropes about running a small business. I suppose you could say that the son had business in his blood that he inherited from his father. But he has really made it on his own.
Someone who trained as a lawyer spotted an opportunity in business and without any business history in his family became a successful entrepreneur beyond anyone’s expectations. By focusing on a certain area in the market he was able to amass a fortune. He learnt the business as he went along.
Another person I know lost his job some years back when the dot.com boom imploded. He went out on his own, freelancing at first and then establishing a small business with a solid international client base and has never looked back. Where most other small businesses in this niche are merely copycats, this business owner has set himself apart from the pack. He doesn’t have to struggle with ankle biters. He’s been successful because he has a sharp grasp of opportunities and an obsession for excellent customer service. With no business training, he is in the very small percentage of successful small business owners.
Does business education equal success in small business? One person studied and completed a business degree, invested all the money could with a partner into a small engineering business but it failed. He has had to work for medium-sized companies since and gave up the entrepreneurial dream long ago.
The point is that there are many paths to small or medium-sized business success. There is not one path, one way although some gooroos, fan boys and girls and officials would like you to believe otherwise. Even though, for instance, you have may have “business in your blood”, you may still need to have a business education whether formal or informal before you can succeed.
If you are wanting to start something from scratch, why not consider the private ideaaccelerator.co.za e-letter that usually goes out weekly.
It provides business advice from from a solid base of entrepreneurship, starting small businesses, failing and succeeding.
For example, a recent private letter explained how to find opportunities in a zero-growth economy.
You may also want to consider a new resource that will soon be available to assist entrepreneurs and start-up founders starting businesses from scratch.
The resources called “Breakthrough Ideas”.
Put your name on the waiting list while you can because only limited copies will be made available.
