Entrepreneur - Wikipedia states " The entrepreneur is commonly seen as a business leader, innovator of new ideas, and business processes .[1] Management skill and strong team building abilities are often perceived as essential leadership attributes[2] for successful entrepreneurs. Robert B. Reich considers leadership, management ability, and team-building to be essential qualities of an entrepreneur. "
This is the DEFINITION of an entrepreneur . But what is the reality of one??
I get at least 4 - 8 phone calls a week asking about FLOC , how I started , whether I take baking classes , whether its a profitable business and how did I start about reaching clients. And this is what has prompted me to write this blog .
If you've been a regular follower of my blog , you will have a vague understanding of how we started the business and reached where we reached. But what I didn't realise when I was writing the previous blogs was how I was glossing over a lot of the set backs we faced and struggles we had to go through to reach this place. So if you are planning to start your own business in baking , read ahead , evaluate and then determine whether this is the path you want to go down on .
- FOLLOW YOUR PASSION - The primary point you would have often heard from a lot of successful business owners would be this . They followed their passion and reached where they are. I agree. When you do the thing you love the most , you end up doing it well and thus that leads to success . BUT , this DOES NOT stand true for each and every person. Follow your passion but be sure that the passion can be made into a business. If you have a skill but no one who would appreciate it , that skill is only for you. So do it , but not as your primary money maker.
- PASSION >> BUSINESS - This is a path you must tread carefully. We can love something but our love and appreciation for this can decrease when we have to do it over and over again. I use to love baking . It was my stress buster and something that I constantly got appreciated for. However , when I converted it into a business , I realised one thing - baking as a stress buster was fun , but when I had to make the same recipe over and over again , even when I didn't feel like doing it , it wasn't that fun anymore. I got over my funk and grew FLOC but there was a time in the middle when I seriously wasn't sure if the call I had taken to make FLOC bigger was the right one. And whether my job was killing my hobby.
- HAVE A SUPPORT SYSTEM - When you start something , you want to make sure that you stay positive. Before you achieve even a degree of success , you will face failure , not once but over and over again. There will be bad days and horrible days and hopefully a few good days. The one thing that would help in this would be having someone who supports you - a friend , a partner or a family member. And mostly the support doesn't just have to be emotional , it also has to be physical. I realised this when all those times I just didn't feel like looking at another egg , I had my sister to pick up the slack for me . She did the baking when I didn't want to and I picked up the slack when she didn't want to.
- IDENTIFY YOUR PASSION - Many a times we end up working in the wrong area even when it is something else we want to do. A prime example is the difference between bakers and cake decorators. These are inter-dependent fields but you have to be sure of what it is that you actually love doing. Is it making cakes pretty? Or do you love baking in its purest form ? I know a lot of bakers who confuse this . I know I did . So identify it and follow what you love. Not what you feel you might love.
- DON'T FOLLOW THE MONEY - When we start a business , we immediately look at whether we are making profits or not. And initially , we might even be making them but if you continue to follow the money , you will loose focus. You will stop loving what you are doing and instead love money. DON'T JUST LOVE MONEY. Don't compromise your ideals. Don't lower your standards. Remember when you charge a client , you are not only charging for your material but also for your own labour so don't sell yourself short. Be prepared to face constant criticism as well as advice because its easy to praise something you are not paying for , but when people start paying for something , they expect the best.
- RESPECT YOUR COMPETITION - They haven't just reached where they've reached. They've put in hard work , labour and love into their business. In trying to get ahead , don't undermine them and their business. Stand by your policies but don't judge and criticize theirs. Don't undercut their prices and don't be unethical in your dealings with them because remember what you sow is what you reap. There will be someone new soon who will replace you so treat them the way you would like to be treated.
These are my primary 6 points. Start a business for the right reasons and do the business in the right manner and money and success will follow. LOVE what you do. There have been times when all I want to do is not answer the phone , take a long long vacation without being in constant touch with anyone but that stops being an option when you start a business. There is no turning off. You can take a day off maximum but sometimes even that is too much. So be prepared to jump for the long haul and before you do anything , read a book that I would recommend for any enterprising entrepreneur - " The 100$ start-up"
