Note that the best way to get good ideas is to have lots of them. Do you have good ideas? What are they? Successful entrepreneurs know it is important to get creative ideas and thoughts. To get into this practice, keep an idea journal.

Try doing the following:

1. Carry a pocket sized note book with you all the time
2. As you listen, observe, and think, develop the habit of writing down any entrepreneurial ideas you have for meeting consumers’ needs or solving business problems.
3. Try to describe briefly every positive encounter you have with any business.

Remember business is anything you do genuinely to make a profit and improve society and yourself.

Types of Business: Big and Small Businesses

When we discuss business, it goes beyond mere buying and selling. It embraces profit-making ventures.

There are four types of business and they are:

1. Manufacturing products physical products that you can touch. Shoes, bags, creams, d***s, cars, and so on are products of the manufacturing business.
2. Wholesale wholesalers buy the shoes and other manufactured products in large quantities from the manufacturers and then sell to retailers in smaller quantities.
3. Retailer-retail shoe stores-sell the shoes one pair at a time to consumers.
4. Service a service business sells intangible products. A personal trainer, for example, sells his expertise to help people exist. Private Teachers, Layers. Doctors, Pharmacists, consultancy services, psychologists, Sociologists, Geologists, Surveyors, Engineers, Nurses who are into private practices sell their services to make a profit.

The public often thinks of business only in terms of “big business” such as Manufacturing Companies, Banks, and factories; shipping companies etc. A big business might be defined as having more than 100 employees and selling more than N1 million worth of products or services every year. If we go by that definition, most of the word’s business can be said to be small businesses. A man or woman who sales some goods and services around the neighborhood is an example of a small business. The principles involved in running a large company and a a small one are basically the same. Most big businesses e.g. Dangote, Emzor pharmaceutical etc in this country started as a small entrepreneurial ventures. Emzor is a lady pharmacist. She grew to this height because she is an entrepreneur. Would you want to be one? Think about it. After her university education, she went into the pharmaceutical business. It was a small business venture then. Today she is into a big business. Some of her mates who were waiting for the government to employ them are definitely not be where she is today. That is the advantage of being an entrepreneur.

Business must make a profit to stay in business:

All those in private sectors with the aim of making profits are into business. No matter how big or small it is, they must make a profit to stay “in business”. We explained what profit is earlier. Many business ventures do lose money after start-up because they have had to spend money to start operations, and on advertising to attract customers. If at the end the business continues without profit, it is bound to fold up. Note this: when starting a business, it’s realistic to expect to lose money for at least the first three months. It can often take long for a business to start selling enough to earn a profit. So do not be in a hurry to make a profit when you start one.

Closing a business is nothing to be ashamed of. Most successful entrepreneurs open and close more than one business in their careers. If your venture is not making a profit after have set it up, it could be a signal that you are in the wrong business. Closing it might be the smartest decision to take. An entrepreneur might change business many times over years in response to changing competition and consumer needs.

Profit means adding value

If your business is making a profit, it means you are improving and doing something right. Profit is a business is a sign that the entrepreneur has added value to the scarce and limited resources s/he is using. When we talk about resources it means something of value that can be used to produce something else or satisfy a need. Oil is a resource because it used for cooking. Plank is a resource, because it can be used to build a house or a table, chair or bed. All resources are usually limited.

For instance, my mother Angelina took these resources; beans, oil, pepper, leave, seasoning and labor and turned them into cooked moi moi. People liked it and were willing to pay her more for the cooked Moi Moi than it cost her to buy the ingredients. In order words, she earned a profit. The profit was a sign to show that she was doing something right. Angelina added value to the resources by using them to create something that people were willing to buy. For instance, if she added too much salt and no seasoning, people will not buy it and she will lose. This shows that the entrepreneur did not use the resources well and has not added value

What do you do to be successful in business:

1. What can I produce and offer to the people?
2. How can I produce it to attract people?
3. Who and who would like to buy it when produced?
4. Where can I stay to produce it and get people to buy it?

Ever body entering into business no matter the type must have to answer these questions. Where a group of people creates a business through making these decision, it is called an economy.

Advantages of Being an Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur works for the following rewards:

1. Control over time: entrepreneurs do not have to operate on anyone else’s clocks. If you start your own business, you can work or hire other people to perform tasks so that you can focus on what you want to do best.
2. Live a creative and fulfilling life: successful entrepreneurs are passionate about their business. Entrepreneurs are almost never bored. They enjoy both the freedom and the responsibility of being the master.
3. Opportunity to create great wealth: if you work for someone else, you are selling your own time and effort in exchange for money. Owners of the business benefit from both higher profits and also from the increasing value of a business as it grows.
4. Control overcompensation: Entrepreneurs get to decide how they are paid. As the owner of your company you can decide to:
5. Pay yourself a salary – a fixed payment made at regular intervals, such as every week or month.
6. Pay yourself a wage – a fixed payment per hour.
7. Take dividend as the owner, you can choose to be paid as if you were an employee or you can simply pay yourself a share of the business’s profits. This kind of payment is called a dividend.
8. Take a commission – a commission is a percentage of the value of a sale. If you decide to pay yourself 10% commission and you sell an item for N8,000, your commission on the sale would be N800.
9. Control over working condition: as an entrepreneur, you can create a working environment that reflects your values. You can make sure your company recycles.
10. Self-evaluation: entrepreneurs evaluate their own performances. This helps them to determine their failure or success. If they are failing they change or remove those things that are causing the failure. If they are succeeding they increase those things that make them succeed. If you own your own company, no one else can hire or fire you.
11. Participation in an international community: the internet allows entrepreneurs to compete and make a deal all over the world. Institutions like the world entrepreneurs’ organization (WEO).
12. The opportunity to help one’s community: entrepreneurs create jobs for people in their communities. In addition, many of the world’s great museums, libraries, hospitals and other important institutions and facilities have been founded and supported by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship helps you to have a career you truly enjoy.

What interests you most?

What do you love to do?

What would you love to be in future?

Have you started or are you waiting?

Waiting for whom?

It helps you to be rich, influential and famous, it gives you control over your business. Things that have advantages equally have disadvantages.

Disadvantages of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs often put more time into launching their own business than many people put into their jobs. While establishing a business, an entrepreneur might also invest a lot of money in the business. He might not be able to buy new clothes or a fancy car, or go on vacation. Other disadvantages are:

1. Business failure: Many small businesses fail. You risk losing not only your own money but also that of others.
2. Obstacles: you will run into unexpected problems that you might have to solve. In addition, you might face discouragement from family and friends.
3. Loneliness: it can be lonely and even a little frightening to be completely responsible for the success or failure of the business.
4. Financial insecurity: your earnings might rise or fall, depending on how successful the business is. You might not always have enough money to pay yourself.
5. Long hours/hard work: you will have to work long hours to get your business off the ground. Some entrepreneurs work six or seven days a week.

An entrepreneur is always interested in making investments. They look out to identify those areas they can invest their money.

Investment: to invest means to put time, energy or money into a project or business. This is done with the hope of getting back more than you put in when you started. When you start a business, you are giving time, energy and money in the business for it to grow. You do this because you believe that sometimes your business will earn more than the value of the time, energy and money you put into it. This kind of analysis is calculating return on investment. When you invest 20,000 in a business and at the end of the year you get 50,000. Your return on investment is 30,000. That means you made a profit. You can reinvest the money in your business or invest it in something new. Your goals guide your investment.

Goal Setting: a goal is what you would wish to accomplish in the future. For instance, your goal might be to be a lawyer. This means that you have a place you are going, bearing in mind why you want to go there and what you want to achieve. Another example is: your deciding to go to college is an example of a goal. You might not know how you are going to reach a goal to pay your school fees. That does not matter. What matters is that you choose your goals carefully and then focus whatever you are doing on achieving it. To achieve your goal, you must invest time, money, and energy in order to achieve it. Can you write a goal now? Do so. What is your goal? What would you like to accomplish this week, this month, this year, or during your lifetime? If you write out your goal, you have to program your energy and your brain to work on them. Once you have established a goal; that is the beginning of your success in life. You can take small steps every day to achieving it. Goal setting can help you reach any objective you wish. People who have no goal in life misuse their time and energy and end up regretting in life. As soon as you set a goal, plan all your activities towards that. Would you want to be a world figure? Read about those who have been one. Try those things they did that made them what they are and try to improve on them. You have to monitor and evaluate yourself to be sure what you are doing. If you are really getting near it or moving in the proper direction to achieve it then move on. If not change your strategy to get to it.