Republic of the Philippines
ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY
Cabagan, Isabela
Lesson 1: Entrepreneurship
Lesson 2: Qualities of a Good Entrepreneur
Lesson 3: Stories of Successful Entrepreneur
Lesson 4: Kinds of Business/Enterprise
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LESSON 1: ENTREPRENEURSHIP
While there is no universally accepted definition of entrepreneurship, it is fair
to say that it is multidimensional. It involves analyzing people and their actions
together with the ways in which they interact with their environments, be these social,
economic, or political, and the institutional, policy, and legal frameworks that help
define and legitimize human activities. – Blackburn
Entrepreneurship involves such a range of activities and levels of analysis that
no single definition is definitive. – Lichtenstein
It is complex, chaotic, and lacks any notion of linearity. As educators, we have
the responsibility to develop our students’ discovery, reasoning, and implementation
skills so they may excel in highly uncertain environments.
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this module, you are expected to:
1. Define entrepreneur/entrepreneurship.
2. Discuss the importance of entrepreneurship.
3. Identify good qualities of an entrepreneur.
4. Learn from success stories of entrepreneurs.
5. Differentiate Kinds of business
Lesson 1: Meaning and Importance of Entrepreneurship
Meaning of Entrepreneur
According to Webster’s dictionary, an entrepreneur is one who organizes,
manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. Entrepreneurs live in the
future. They have creative personalities, innovative and thrive on change.
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David Mc Clelland describes the entrepreneur as primarily motivated by an
overwhelming need for achievement and a strong urge to build.
Another study states that entrepreneurs are concluded to be tough, pragmatic
people driven by needs of independence and achievement.
According to Geoffrey Meredeth, author of the Practice of Entrepreneurship,
entrepreneurs are people who have the ability to see and evaluate business
opportunities, to gather the necessary resources and to take advantage of them, and
to initiate appropriate action to ensure success.
Whether you have the desire to go into business or not, it is best to check for
yourself if you are capable of meeting the challenges brought about by business. Who
knows, one day you may develop the interest because of proper motivation to improve
yourself and become a successful entrepreneur.
Meaning of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the capacity and willingness to develop, organize and
manage a business venture along with an y of its risks in order to make a profit. The
most obvious example of entrepreneurship is the starting of new businesses. In
economics, entrepreneurship combined with land, labor, natural resources and capital
can produce profit. Entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by innovation and risktaking, and is an essential part of a nation's ability to succeed in an ever changing and
increasingly competitive global marketplace.
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of value. With this definition,
entrepreneurship is viewed as change, which may include other values than simply
economic ones. Some more narrow definitions has described entrepreneurship as the
process of designing, launching and running a new business, which is often initially a
small business, or as the "capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage
a business venture along with any of its risks to make a profit The people who create
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these businesses are often referred to as entrepreneurs. While definitions of
entrepreneurship typically focus on the launching and running of businesses, due to
the high risks involved in launching a start-up, a significant proportion of start-up
businesses have to close due to "lack of funding, bad business decisions, an economic
crisis, lack of market demand, or a combination of all of these.
A somewhat broader definition of the term is sometimes used, especially in the
field of economics. In this usage, an entrepreneur is an entity which has the ability to
find and act upon opportunities to translate inventions or technologies into products
and services: "The entrepreneur is able to recognize the commercial potential of the
invention and organize the capital, talent, and other resources that turn an invention
into a commercially viable innovation. In this sense, the term "entrepreneurship" also
captures innovative activities on the part of established firms, in addition to similar
activities on the part of new businesses. Yet, the definition is still narrow in the sense
that it still focuses on the creation of economic (commercial) value.
Why Entrepreneurship Is Important to the Economy
Entrepreneurs are frequently thought of as national assets to be cultivated,
motivated, and remunerated to the greatest possible extent. Great entrepreneurs have
the ability to change the way we live and work. If successful, their innovations may
improve standards of living, and in addition to creating wealth with entrepreneurial
ventures, they
also
create
jobs and contribute
to
a
growing economy.
Entrepreneurship is thus important for a number of reasons, from promoting social
change to driving innovation.
Entrepreneurs Spur Economic Growth
New products and services created by entrepreneurs can produce a cascading
effect, where it stimulates related businesses or sectors that need to support the new
venture, furthering economic development.
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Education and training institutes nurtured a new class of IT workers who were
offered better, highpaying jobs. Infrastructure development organizations and even
real estate companies capitalized on this growth as workers migrated to cities where
employment was growing.
Similarly, future development efforts in underdeveloped countries require
robust logistics support, capital investments, and a qualified workforce. From the
highly qualified programmer to the construction worker, entrepreneurship benefits a
large part of the economy.
Entrepreneurs Add to National Income
Entrepreneurial ventures help generate new wealth. Existing businesses may
remain confined to existing markets and may hit the glass ceiling in terms of income.
New and improved products, services or technology from entrepreneurs enable new
markets to be developed and new wealth to be created.
Additionally, increased employment and higher earnings contribute to better
national income in the form of higher tax revenue and higher government spending.
This revenue can be used by the government to invest in other, struggling sectors and
human capital. Although it may make a few existing players redundant, the
government can soften the blow by redirecting surplus wealth to retrain workers.
Entrepreneurs Create Social Change
Through offering unique goods and services, entrepreneurs break away from
tradition and reduce dependence on obsolete systems and technologies. This results
in an improved quality of life, improved morale, and greater economic freedom.
For example, smartphones and apps have revolutionized work and play across
the globe. Smartphones are not exclusive to wealthy countries or people. As the
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growth of the smartphone market continues, technological entrepreneurship can have
a profound, long-lasting impact on the world.
Moreover, the globalization of technology means entrepreneurs in lesserdeveloped countries have access to the same tools as their counterparts in richer
countries. They also have the advantage of a lower cost of living, so a young
entrepreneur from an underdeveloped country can compete with a multi-milliondollar
existing product from a developed country.
Community Development
Entrepreneurs regularly nurture ventures by other like-minded individuals. They
also invest in community projects and provide financial support to local charities. This
enables further development beyond their own ventures.
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LESSON 2: QUALITIES OF A GOOD ENTREPRENEUR
What are the qualities and characteristics of a good entrepreneur? What skills
do you need to cultivate to be or become a good entrepreneur? How to be a good
entrepreneur? The job of an entrepreneur is particularly demanding. It requires a lot
of qualities, knowledge, know-how, and expertise to individuals. Yet successful
entrepreneurs are not always the ones with the longest list of qualities. Mastering
every aspect of the business is more important than being excellent on one or more
points.
Quality #1: Knowing yourself
To know oneself well is to know one’s qualities but also one’s faults. It is to
recognize that one does not control everything. It is also, in a given situation, to be
able to question oneself, to accept that one is not at the level and to look for other
solutions. In order to better understand his strengths and weaknesses, the
entrepreneur can make a skills assessment or rework his CV. In any case, he will have
to ask the following questions:
1. What can I do well? How am I doing?
2. What do I know less well?
3. What repels me, and why?
4. What are the main criticisms addressed to me?
5. What qualities does my environment recognize in me?
6. What makes me vulnerable?
7. What made me fail or feel bad about my past jobs?
Having faults is not really a problem in itself. The key to success is actually looking for
solutions to get around your own weaknesses.
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Quality # 2: Knowing how to listen to others
To make the right decisions, to offer the right product in the right place and at
the right time, the future entrepreneur must listen, be interested in others, learn about
them and their “special interest”. Putting oneself in the place of others to understand
their behavior and their speech is essential, it requires a certain openness of mind:
The customers: one must know their expectations, their behavior, their characteristics.
The most complicated will be to access the client’s deep thought, his or her essential
motivations,
Suppliers and salespeople: they can sometimes give good indications on the market,
but also bad for you to buy products that they cannot sell; it will be necessary to
decipher their language,
Competitors: you have to put yourself in their place and try to understand why they
act as they do on the market,
Prescribers, and partners: these are people who talk about your business and are likely
to bring you, customers. It’s important to understand why they agree to play this game
and what they expect in return. Start providing recommendation letters to students
for schools or colleges, offer internships, training, etc. they can spread good reviews,
also you and your business will get recognized.
Relatives: it is interesting to ask them their opinion on your way of doing things. But
it will be necessary to sort out what, in their speech, is relevant or not. All will certainly
not be good to take.
Knowing others well can decipher their speech: what is the share of true and false in
what they say, the share of the bluff, the share of irrational? What interest do they
have in distorting the truth?
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Quality #3: Belief in yourself, but not too much
To succeed, the entrepreneur must believe a minimum in himself. For this, he
must know himself well and know the others well to retain the relevant part of their
speech.
Self-confidence is not something innate, it is acquired based on past
experiences, failures, and successes. Sufficient trust will allow the entrepreneur to
dare to realize his idea, to win against others and to create his place among the
competitors. On the contrary, a weak self-confidence will be a hindrance to the
decision.
But beware, self-confidence is double-edged: too much confidence can lead the
entrepreneur to no longer listen to the environment and his entourage, and to rush
into the wall.
Quality #4: Have a strategic vision
To have a strategic vision is to be able to define a long-term strategy (at least
5 years) and stick to it. It is to be stable in his ideas, unlike someone who would
change his mind all the time. The stability of the commercial positioning is reassuring
for everyone: customers, partners, specifiers, the entourage. This will encourage them
to call on you more often. But stability does not mean that everything must always
remain frozen. The entrepreneur must feel the right moment to evolve his strategy
and positioning, smoothly, without sending a negative signal.
Quality #5: Stay lucid in all circumstances
To remain lucid is to accept to face reality. Review his assumptions if they are
not realistic. Accept the numbers as they appear. Change strategy if it does not give
satisfaction, even if you pay the price. Have the courage to decide to stop production
if it is not profitable, even if significant investments have been made. Mourning an
idea that is not as good as expected.
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To remain lucid is to keep in mind that the number one objective remains to
live on. It is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. The only way to remain realistic is to
listen to the signals of the environment (speech of the entourage, partners, customers)
and validate or invalidate them by seeking additional information. It’s literally
“pinpointing” the situation. To remain lucid therefore is to be constantly well informed,
so as not to “dream”, neither to react nor to be afraid.
Quality #6: Be passionate, without exaggeration
Being passionate about your business creation project or product is a good thing
because it’s the main source of motivation. But passion always ends up, so avoid being
led and overflowing by it, at the risk of waking up one morning wanting to stop
everything. Passion has another disadvantage: it is blinding. It masks the reality, the
real problems and the motives of the malaise of the entrepreneur. A passionate
entrepreneur will focus on his dream rather than the customer’s dream a serious
mistake. Passion is interesting if it turns into lasting pleasure at work, and if it is turned
towards others. It should not overshadow the usefulness of true listening to the
consumer, and therefore well-conducted market research.
Quality #7: Be perseverant, so patient
Perseverance and patience are essential qualities for a business creator or
entrepreneur. These qualities are unfortunately often absent at the start, the leader
being too passionate, motivated and in a hurry to fight.
The entrepreneur must start from the premise that the seed takes time to
germinate. Who can think that a clientele can be built in a few weeks? Some activities
may take several years to build a more or less stable clientele.
Lack of patience leads to discouragement and a form of disillusionment. On the
contrary, the persevering entrepreneur will start cautiously, listen to the signals of his
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environment, adapt gradually and consider each sale as a positive and encouraging
signal.
Quality #8: Being resourceful
Never be short of ideas or tools, this is a healthy quality for a business leader.
You have to assume that there is a solution to any problem, just go get it. Faced
with a blockage or a difficulty in cash, turnover, development, personnel, production
or logistics, someone can help you, advise you or present you with interesting tools.
Pick up your phone, activate your network, ask your entourage, ask that we put
you in contact. Our economic fabric offers a considerable number of solutions and
opportunities: specialists exist in all areas, creators have devised tools for all situations,
entrepreneur associations are also there to help you. The Internet is a particularly
effective way to identify them.
Quality #9: Be ready for commercial effort
A good business leader knows that the key to success lies in the business effort
he will lead. The rule is clear: an executive must spend 80% of his time looking for
customers or to be in touch with customers. There is no point in spending time doing
forecast tables or sales growth charts, the priority is going to the field. Yet many
business creators consider them to be bad traders and would like to leave this
ungrateful job to others, such as commercial agents. But the bestseller turns out to
be the leader himself!
Quality #10: Know how to surround yourself and get help
Which entrepreneur can think that he can do everything alone? And yet, there
are many who feel they have to do everything, including housekeeping and
bookkeeping, to avoid having to hire or just to save money. It’s a miscalculation.
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In reality, the key is to keep for yourself the tasks that are strategic, those that
generate revenue and that makes the value of the business. The other tasks can be
subcontracted: a chartered accountant can keep the accounts, an independent
secretary can manage administrative and commercial documents, a cleaning company
can intervene punctually.
If their heart of the company’s strategy is the marketing and the valorization of
a product, the leader will have to devote itself to the commercial aspects and
communication, even if to subcontract the production.
Quality #11: Knowing how to manage priorities
Knowing how to manage priorities consists in not being overwhelmed by
everyday life. The life of a business executive is a sum of various tasks and
responsibilities: relationships with customers and partners, relations with the
accountant and the administrations, opening of the mail, management of the treasury,
telephone, displacements, passage of orders, receipt of goods, management of unpaid
bills and claims, etc.
The objective is to establish a hierarchy between the things to do, being lucid
on the urgency of some files, without forgetting the essential: to keep good hygiene
of life, to take care of his family, to know how to say no, to know to get help. Why not
acquire tools to automate the least productive tasks? Of course, the ideal is to never
put off what you can do the same day.
Quality #12: To know how to decide, to decide
Many business leaders are afraid to make decisions, most often not afraid to
make a mistake. For example, for hiring an employee, changing status or acquiring a
machine. This behavior hampers the development of the company and can discourage
the leader by sending him a bad image of himself.
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But it is the lack of information that introduces doubt and fear. To be able to
make the right decision, it is necessary to multiply the points of view: to ask the opinion
to his confreres, his partners, his suppliers, his accountant or even to his friends. They
will certainly have more perspective and their speech will “illuminate” the situation by
defusing fears of departure.
Quality #13: Know how to manage your time
How long does a business manager have to work a day or a week? Where
should he start his day or week? When can he go on vacation? There is no ready
answer to these questions.
Faced with an incalculable number of tasks and responsibilities, the leader must
especially gain in productivity and efficiency, in short go to the essential. The
implementation of IT tools can automate certain tasks (reminders payment, mailing,
bank reconciliation, Excel training is sometimes welcome).
The worst thing for a business owner is having the feeling of “suffering”, having
no time to do anything. This impression can come from difficulty in prioritizing
priorities, or from too many unlisted tasks that run in the mind of the entrepreneur as
long as they are not processed.
The agenda remains the best ally of the entrepreneur. He must rest the mind
of the ruler; the latter can also make a punctual assessment of the time spent on the
various tasks in order to learn from them.
Quality #14: Knowing how to manage money
In business, managing money means above all controlling your cash flow. The
treasury is the daily judge of the head of the enterprise: the problems of cash will
gradually nibble the morale of the entrepreneur until it stops. On the contrary, a
comfortable cash flow will overpower the manager.
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Managing your cash flow requires rigor, anticipation, and composure. It also
requires analytical skills, to know where the money problems come from (the problem
of profitability, increasing working capital requirement?).
To avoid getting overwhelmed by money problems, the leader will have to
implement appropriate computer tools, seek advice from his accountant, and play
cards on the table with his financial advisor.
Quality #15: Know how to manage risks
The life of a company is never stable and nothing is ever acquired. The
environment is constantly evolving: the appearance of competitors, the evolution of
regulations, cyclical or geographical risks, risks related to employees or their
entourage, changing weather, economic or social crisis, the appearance of new trends,
technological revolution. The risks are numerous. A good entrepreneur needs to put
in place a risk management strategy:
1.
First of all, we must anticipate and list the risks in order to anticipate the
most critical situations.
2.
Then there is a need to prioritize risks, from the most important to the
least important.
3.
Then you have to treat each risk.
4.
Can the risk be circumvented if it happens?
5.
Can we relativize or accept certain risks? What information do I miss to
be able to properly deal with this or that?
6.
Are there tools or solutions for dealing with a particular risk? What is the
cost? Is it possible to pool these costs with partners or competitors? Better to
anticipate.
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Quality #16: Be opportunistic
A good leader has an opportunist side. In concrete terms, this means that he
must analyze and seize every opportunity to do better than he does today. Being
opportunistic means being curious and open to changes in the market and the
environment. This requires being always well informed, connected to trends, and in
constant contact with industry professionals. Tools exist for this: press or specialized
websites, events or conferences, alert systems or just word of mouth.
Being opportunistic, however, does not mean abandoning one’s strategy
abruptly to adopt another. An opportunity must be tested and analyzed before
anything else.
Quality #17: Love to be of service
Any business owner should take pleasure in rendering service, as it is, in fact,
his core business. It is also a key success factor because if the customer feels that he
is loved for himself and not for his wallet, he will come back more easily. To love to
serve also saves money at work. A caring and attentive business leader will be more
enduring as more satisfied with everyday life.
Quality #18: Ability to negotiate and measure a balance of power
A potential customer offers to order you for 20, 000$ of products, against a
reduction of the price of 40%. What to do? If you agree, you cross over a large part
of the margin. If you refuse, you miss a nice command.
To negotiate well in this type of situation, it is necessary to gather as much
information as possible on the other part: what are the motivations of the potential
customer? with whom am I competing? Is the customer in a hurry? is he used to
negotiating this way? why is he negotiating so hard? what is the share of bluff?
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To negotiate well means being sure of yourself and the quality of your product
or service. Keep in mind that quality always has a price. Highlight your strengths, do
not devalue yourself. Offer additional services rather than lower prices.
Quality #19: Do not be afraid of failure
To fail is not a shame! The most important thing is to understand what did not
work, to do better next time. Some business creators have failed several times before
they succeed, and no one has been careful with them.
Quality #20: Be supported
Support from family and friends is particularly important for the success of a
business project. This requires, first of all, to look for and cultivate this support: it is
by explaining his project precisely to his spouse or his children, or by associating them
concretely, that they will be able to join and really support it. Then, to be supported,
it deserves. The entrepreneur who abandons his family and his children should not
expect to receive any support from them.
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LESSON 3: STORIES OF SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS
According to Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, “The journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single footstep.”
All growth springs from the beginning. Major historical changes didn’t occur
overnight—they happened in gradual stages, through slow, protracted movements.
The same applies in the world of business. It is said that the great entrepreneurs are
the daring ones, the constantly-changing movers—those who, despite humble
beginnings, persisted with grit, drive and guts, who trusted their inner voice against
doubt, who believed in their vision and strived to be better, and who decided to take
a step, which made all the difference.
Such are the stories of these eight individuals, all of them successful Filipino
entrepreneurs. Equally visionary founders, these men and women followed a similar
path: they started small, took risks, and eventually expanded their businesses.
1. Socorro Ramos – National Book Store
Socorro Ramos entered the publishing and retail industry by working as a
salesgirl at a bookstore. At the age of 19, she opened National Book Store in Escolta
with her husband with a capital of P200, selling books and school supplies to students.
At that time, Manila was under the control of the Japanese, who imposed censorship
on books and periodicals. To augment their earnings, she and her husband resorted
to selling other items like candles and soaps.
After the post-war boom proved profitable for the company, ushering in bigger
revenues, the Ramoses opened a nine-story building along Avenida. At 95, she still
believes in the time-honored tradition of “hands-on approach” in business. She even
designed the company’s logo herself.
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2. Tony Tan Caktiong – Jollibee
Tony Tan Caktiong used to operate an ice cream parlor, before converting it
into a fast food restaurant called Jollibee. With a starting capital of P350,000, the
young Caktiong opened two branches in Cubao and Quiapo, together with friends who
supported his idea.
Caktiong decided to serve hamburgers, fried chicken, and spaghetti to
customers when they started looking beyond the usual ice cream. Eventually, the
business grew, and he had to hire more employees. By knowing the Filipino market,
Jollibee managed to excel as a fast food powerhouse.
3. Edgar Sia – Mang Inasal
Hailing from Iloilo City, Edgar Sia dropped out of college to pursue his own
laundry and photodeveloping business at the age of 19. In 2003, 26-year old Sia
decided to open the barbecue fast food restaurant Mang Inasal—Ilonggo for “Mr.
Barbecue.” The first branch was built at a mall parking lot in his home city. The
restaurant took off. When Tony Caktiong heard about Sia’s burgeoning business, he
decided to buy Mang Inasal for a total of P5 billion. Sia eventually put the sales of
Mang Inasal to other investments like banking and healthcare. At 42, he’s considered
the country’s youngest billionaire.
4. Cresida Tueres – Greenwich Pizza
In 1971, Cresida Tueres started Greenwich as a small over-the-counter pizza
store in Greenhills. Tueres had a knack for cooking. Her friends loved the food she
served so much that they decided to buy their own Greenwich franchise.
Impressed with Tueres’s business acumen and the growth of Greenwich,
Jollibee Foods Corporation obtained a deal in 1994 to acquire 80% of Greenwich’s
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shareholding. Since then, the pizza parlor branched out to include other dishes in its
menu. In 1997, Greenwich had a record sale of P1 billion.
5. Milagros, Clarita, and Doris Leelin – Goldilocks
With only two cake displays and ten employees, Milagros, Clarita, and Doris
Leelin started Goldilocks at a 70-sq-m building space in Makati. Sisters Milagros and
Clarita loved baking and decided to pursue their passion into business. With the help
of their sister-in-law Doris, the Leelins opened their first branch.
In 1991, Goldilocks launched its franchising program. As of 2015, the bakeshop
chain had almost 400 stores across the country, with other branches in the USA,
Canada, and Southeast Asia. From a modest capital of P66,000, Goldilocks is now a
multi-million food enterprise with more than 4,000 employees.
6. Joe Magsaysay – Potato Corner
The young Magsaysay left school to bust tables, wash plates, and work on the
cash register at a fast food chain. In a few years, he became a manager, handling five
stores. With his background and skills in store management, Magsaysay’s friends
asked him to handle Potato Corner, of which he was a co-founder. They pooled their
money together and started the food cart business in 1992, offering franchises left
and right. Today, Potato Corner has more than 550 stalls in the Philippines and around
the world.
7. Asiang Reyes – The Aristocrat
In the 1930s, Asiang Reyes started The Aristocrat as a mobile canteen in
Luneta, serving sandwiches filled with adobo and other Filipino viands. Hotdog trucks
were in vogue at that time. Reyes created her own version of merienda for park-goers.
Reyes was supposed to name the canteen “Andy” after her eldest son, but changed it
to Aristocrat instead. The canteen prospered, and Reyes and her husband decided to
turn it into a full-time restaurant.
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8. Araceli and Jun Manas – Hen Lin
Using the recipes they learned from a Chinese chef and a capital of P30,000,
Araceli and Jun Manas started Hen Lin in 1983. Jun worked for an insurance firm while
his wife Araceli worked in a bank. The couple had to learn the intricacies of the
business themselves. At night, they practiced making siomai or dumplings.
The Manas couple opened the first Hen Lin store in SM Makati, which was well
received for its delicious dim sum offerings. 30 years on, Hen Lin is popular in many
malls, offering various products such as hopia, noodles, congee, rice toppings, and
breakfast food. Whether you’re a small or medium-sized entrepreneur whose goal is
to amplify your business, BDO SME Loan can be your reliable financing partner. Avail
of financing options with your specific business need in mind – purchase new
equipment, add inventory or expand your office space and more.
9. Bill Gates – Microsoft
Gates is one of the most recognized names in the entrepreneurial world. As the
founder of Microsoft, he has grown his wealth over the last few decades and
continually tops the list of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs.
His advice when it comes to new and old entrepreneurs alike is to analyze any
situation from every possible angle, then to make a decision and stick with it. He
emphasizes the adverse effects of continually re-exploring decisions; he says it ends
up “interfering not only with your execution but also with your motivation to make a
decision.” Thus, making a single decision, sticking with and seeing it through until the
situations drastically changes is essential to avoid second-guessing yourself and
interfering with your execution.
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10. Jeff Bezos – Amazon
For a few weeks this year, Jeff Bezos became the world’s richest man. The
Amazon founder is now holding steady at number two and is one of the youngest men
on this list at 53 (obviously barring Zuckerberg). He founded Amazon just over two
decades ago, and it is now one of the most valuable and most successful companies
in the world.
Bezos’ critical piece of advice to anyone starting a business is to be a missionary
(someone who loves and builds their customers and product or service) as opposed
to a mercenary (someone who is obsessed with selling their company). In the long
run, he believes that the missionary always beats out the mercenary in building a
successful company. So, in short, make sure you love your customers and business
and are prepared to build them up.
11. Warren Buffet – Berkshire Hathaway
Warren Buffet is arguably one of the world’s most public investors, what’s lesser
known is that especially in his younger years he built up many businesses, from
vending machines to sofas, before buying into Berkshire Hathaway. He still also owns
many of these companies today!
His advice for entrepreneurs is to simply have fun. He is famous for saying “at
85, I tap and dance to work every day”. His main message here is enjoy what you do
and have a passion for it, in his words, “there’s nothing like it”. For him, this is one of
the key factors to being successful in any business.
12. Amancio Ortega – Zara
Best known for being the founder and owner of Zara, the Spanish fashion/retail
tycoon is also known as one of the world’s most reclusive billionaires. The advice he
offers to new entrepreneurs who want to build their empire is “that speed is
ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY – CABAGAN Campus
Lessons 1-4
everything”. The ability to execute faster than your competitors and accelerate
business processes is a hallmark of Ortega’s success and something he recommends
you adopt.
13. Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook
The Facebook founder is the youngest entrepreneur on this list and likely one
of the most impressive as it has taken him less than 13 years to amass one of the
world’s most massive fortunes by founding and growing Facebook, the world’s most
used social media platform.
His advice for founders starting a new business is to try to solve a problem and
be passionate about solving that problem. Don’t try to build a company, that comes
as a consequence of solving a problem.
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Lessons 1-4
LESSON 4: KINDS OF BUSINESS/ENTERPRISE
One of the first challenges new entrepreneurs face is deciding what type of
business they should register. Although there are several different types of businesses,
choosing one doesn't need to be difficult. Here are the seven most commonly-used
business types and some questions to help you pick which business type is right for
your startup:
1.
Sole
Proprietorship:
The
simplest
type
of
business.
Sole
proprietorships are owned and operated by a single person and are very easy
to set up.
2.
Partnership: A business owned by two or more people who share
responsibilities and profits.
3.
Limited Partnership: A business partnership, often between business
operators and investors.
4.
Corporation: A type of fully-independent business with shareholders.
One of the most complex business types.
5.
Limited Liability Company (LLC): A mixture of a partnership and a
corporation, designed to make it easier to start small businesses. One of the
most popular business types for startups.
6.
Nonprofit Organization: A type of business that uses its profits for
charitable purposes. Tax-exempt, but must follow special rules.
7.
Cooperative (Co-op): A business owned and operated for the benefit
of the members of the organization that use its services.
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