Important Entrepreneurship Principles

Entrepreneurship is the foundation of great business and an underpinning of the world economy. All great businesses in the history of the world started as ideas for some entrepreneur. The development of a great idea into a successful business is a long and arduous journey that has so many chances for failure. The challenge is that in majority of cases, entrepreneurs have to learn the most important principles one by one the hard way. This can lead to discouragement, disillusionment, and despair along the way. It is said that some of the greatest business ideas lie in graves with the people who originally had them.

Here are four of the most important yet difficult to grasp entrepreneurship principles that entrepreneurs must understand. Most of these are simple yet fundamental principles of succeeding as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship is a team effort

Entrepreneurship is mistakenly considered to be a solo effort instead of the actual team effort it usually is. The reality is that having an idea is quite a different challenge to making the idea work. The person who has the idea and the one who can sell it to the world effectively may not always be the same person. Take for example a global success like Apple; while Steve Jobs is seen as the genius behind the success of the company, it is important to note that the company would not have gotten to where it is without Steve Wozniack. He is the technological force behind the products.

Understanding that entrepreneurship is a team effort is fundamental to gathering the team necessary for success. Great success does not come to ideas that are worked on in isolation. Creativity needs a support system if it is to thrive.

Sell the dream to your team before selling it to the world

Once you have created the best team for the job it is important to have them believing in the idea as you do. A team that does not have a palpable belief in the idea will fail to give their best. Additionally, they will also dampen the momentum and excitement that would have been created in the minds of the public. If the world sees that your team believes in the idea as much as you do, they will also believe that the idea is great.

This is where most entrepreneurs fail. You must explain the idea to the team in terms that they understand as well as terms that inspire them. They must see the idea like you do; you must give them your perspective on what it is that you are doing and even more importantly what you want to achieve.

Allow your team to own the idea as well

Entrepreneurial teams are different from just normal employees. You will need to ask them of them more than you would normally ask of an employee. The hours can be quite taxing and every so often the wages may be delayed as the idea takes time to evolve into an actual business. This is why you need to have your team invested in the idea as much as you are. If they own the idea as well then they will be willing to make the necessary sacrifices when they are required to do so. Look at Microsoft for example, it made so many people millionaires on its way up many of them employees.

The best way to get the team to own the idea is to give them a share of the business that you are trying to create. Allow them to buy into the business and they will give it all they have.

Your greatest resource is your labour force

Your idea may be the basis of your business but it is not the most important resource you have. Great companies are not always built on new ideas. The greatest resource is your labour force. Employees who are motivated are willing to give a hundred and ten percent when they have to. They are also more likely to come up with new ideas to boost the business. A great example of this is Google. Some of their best products like Gmail and Drive are employee generated ideas. These are ideas that these employees worked on in their free time which later went on to become huge successes for the company.

Treat your employees right and they will grow your company. Treating them right is a matter of not only paying them well and on time but also developing their talents. Companies that develop their employees are able to create loyalty to themselves that is unwavering and a crucial ingredient to success.

Lastly, every entrepreneur must understand the Peter Principle. This is a principle that states that people are promoted to their level of incompetence. The idea is that there is a point in the success trajectory of any entrepreneurship reaches a level where the entrepreneur needs to place the company in better hands. Hiring competent management becomes essential to the growth of the business. This is a challenge for the entrepreneur who stuck with the idea from its inception. However, it is a necessary process and can be the difference between future success and stagnation.