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Assessing Your
Entrepreneurial
Potential
Challenges facing
Young Entrepreneurs

Lack of experience

No credit history makes initial funding difficult

No collateral (something of value to secure financing)

Abundance of regulatory paperwork (‘Red Tape’)
BUT

Media interest in start-ups is high

Government programs available to assist start-ups – most
are free
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The Value of Experience

Part Time, Summer and Volunteer work provides experience:
 Learn about the infrastructure of business and
entrepreneurship
 Develop a positive reputation in the industry
 Build a network of contacts
 Earn money to save for the future
 Learn firsthand about the industry
EXPERIENCE CAN NEVER BE TAKEN AWAY
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The Process Hierarchy – ‘GOST’

Goals: Where you want to end up? i.e. top seller in a market

Objectives: Must be measurable – i.e. how many units must you sell to
be the top seller, and other measurable components that help you
attain your goal

Strategies: What you plan to do to achieve your objectives? i.e. you will
need to identify target markets, plan a media mix, hire or contract
specialists

Tactics: What do you need to do in order to implement your strategies?
i.e. specific tasks such as staffing, product development and promotion
MUST START WITH THE WELL-DEFINED GOAL THEN WORK DOWNWARD TO SUPPORT IT
Setting Goals –
The Purpose of your work

Goals – Where you want to be.

Objectives – Make them SMART!
 Simple
– write them down in simple terms
 Measurable
– be sure you can tell when you have achieved
 Achievable
– make them challenging but not impossible
them
 Realistic
 Timely
- take your skills and resources into account
– track progress with target dates
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Optics vs Metrics

Optics: How a situation or performance appears
 Something may look positive, but not add value
 Someone may look busy, but not be contributing their
share

Metrics: How a situation or performance measures out:
 Are the measurement criteria accurate?
 Can you track performance over time to see
improvement?
A BALANCED APPROACH IS THE BEST MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
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