Sunday 3 May 2009

Entrepreneurs don't fear failure!

One of the things that differentiate an entrepreneur from other mortals is their willingness to take a (calculated) risk. Without risk there is no gain and without gain, no profit. So in entrepreneurial business risk is inevitable.

Strong business planning enables them to define the risks, assess them and develop strategies to defend against them but risks will always be ‘just around the corner’. The risk of business that fuels entrepreneurs is the same adrenalin rush that fuels racing drivers, sky divers and all great adventurers. Sometimes things go wrong and the car (or business) slams head first into a wall at 180 mph.

So a PA (as the front seat passenger) to an entrepreneur has a special responsibility to understand what makes her or his Boss tick; what the risks are, so they can recognise when their Boss is pushing boundaries and when they should keep a special eye on the road ahead to watch for upcoming obstacles.

Great entrepreneurs; like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Ray Kroc and others, are the Masters of Risk but they temper their own high risk tendencies by packing good business professionals around them. All have a loyal and hard working professional PA alongside them on the journey.

And remember: Most really great entrepreneurs have failed in the past, maybe even more than once, but they have learned from their mistakes and moved on (picked them selves up, dusted them selves off and started all over again). Failure to an entrepreneur is an occupational hazard.

Gareth

1 comment:

Emma Pace said...

I have worked for a serial entrepreneur for over 10 years and life is never dull. He takes risks daily - most of them legal - and yes, he has had failures along the way but on-the-whole he creates some excellent businesses.

He currently has three, two doing well and one doing OK. He enjoys the creation and growth phases and always finds a partner to tae over the day to day running of each business he creates or sells it to someelse. He is very good at it and love to innovate.

He would make a terrible employee!