What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do
At the dawning of the
era of Trump, new businesses are finally starting to feel the relief from
crippling regulations and getting the boost they’ve needed to encourage
entrepreneurs to follow their dreams and/or reinvigorate existing
businesses. But it’s a whole new world which requires a whole new roadmap
toward success. With BURN THE BUSINESS PLAN: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do, bestselling author and economist, Carl
Schramm, applies his decades of
experience in the world of entrepreneurship
to offer a myth-busting guide packed with tools and techniques to launch any
business. Illustrated with stories of real entrepreneurs who started successful
businesses, he debunks some of the most commonly held beliefs surrounding
startups and business development - starting with the supposed importance of a
business plan.
Business schools teach
that the most important prerequisite for starting a business is a business
plan. Nonsense, says Carl Schramm in BURN THE BUSINESS PLAN, who for a decade headed the most important foundation devoted to
entrepreneurship in this country. Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Google, and
hundreds of smaller, lesser known companies all achieved success long before
they had business plans.
According to Schramm,
entrepreneurship has been misrepresented and glamorized by business books,
university and MBA courses, and the media. Much of the advice they offer today
is about how to be the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg; and while their
stories make fascinating reading, their narratives hold few actionable lessons
for the more than ninety-five percent of entrepreneurs who are not tech-wizards
and who want to start a construction business, manufacture innovative building
materials, or develop a franchise. BURN THE BUSINESS PLAN offers lessons
that apply to all budding entrepreneurs, including:
· Why you don’t need a business plan: Many of
today’s most successful businesses launched without formal business
plans. It’s more important for entrepreneurs to be flexible. Schramm says,
“Business is simply too fluid; unpredictable markets set the direction of
companies for established giants and small startups alike, not the other way
around. Entrepreneurs must learn to dance to the market’s ever-changing tempo and
rhythm.”
· Why you don’t need to be a “kid genius”: It’s a
widespread belief that all entrepreneurs are young Silicon Valley software
prodigies. But in fact, the average entrepreneur is thirty-nine years old and
has worked in corporate America for at least a decade, which is a great
advantage. The success rate of entrepreneurs over age forty is five times
higher than those under thirty.
· Why you should work in the corporate world:
Schramm argues that people with work experience in the corporate world have several
advantages as entrepreneurs. They often have important contacts in the business
world who may become customers for their new service or product, and they also
have the opportunity to strategize with knowledgeable colleagues and get
valuable business advice.
Just in time for those
who have resolved to launch a new business in 2018, BURN THE BUSINESS PLAN
lays out a motivating path to true success. It dispels the costly, misleading
startup myths and offers practical, real-world advice on how to avoid common
mistakes, showing what you need to do to put your enterprise on track for
success. Schramm believes knowledge, passion, determination, and a willingness
to experiment and innovate are far more valuable than financial skill.
When it comes to entrepreneurship, age 40 is the new 20...and always has been
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