The other day we attended a very interesting dialogue in the blog of Alfonso Alcántaraon the advantages and difficulties of starting a business. Alfonso Alcántara presented a simple and suggestive article encouraging anyone who has a business idea to take their belongings and start setting up a company without further delay because the effort was worth it and, in life, there is no time to waste.
In the comments section one of the biggest entrepreneurs in the Basque Country in the world of ICTs,Josema Cuerda , at that time my brother, presented us as a counterpoint with an alternative decalogue of “truths” that any restless entrepreneur would also have to take into account when starting a company. Josema masterfully warned that not everything in the world of entrepreneurship is the color of roses with which they sometimes try to draw it from different institutional elements, nor that the beauty of creating is not enough to hide some miseries and disappointments that every entrepreneur finds in his path. Josema Cuerda endorsed his assessments with his extensive experience of more than ten years undertaking and creating wealth.
The two exposed decalogues seemed lucky to me because they excellently synthesized the benefits and tyranny of undertaking. Since it was my own brother, a person renowned for his ability to create a company, who got wet exposing some of the saddest realities of the life of an entrepreneur, I have stopped to think about how to contribute something sensible to this dialogue in appearance so extreme that it had arisen spontaneously.
In the eyes of any observer, I must also be an entrepreneur (I am a co-promoter, along with a large group of people, of various business initiatives encompassed within the naider project) and something I can contribute from my own experience. I attest that in my years as an “entrepreneur” I have experienced many of the vicissitudes that Josema mentions in his decalogue, but it is also true that others, fortunately, I have managed to overcome, thanks precisely to the wise advice and suggestions that my admired brother has given me. giving over so many years.
In any case, this little controversy has allowed me to reflect on some keys that may perhaps contribute to the encouragement that Alfonso Alcántara launches in his writing and also to save some of the difficult circumstances that many entrepreneurs go through and that Josema so opportunely reminds us of.
In the end I got twelve suggestions. They do not go beyond a mere intellectual exercise but perhaps they can serve to guide those entrepreneurs who are about to start their career as businessmen. As they would say in the movies, all these keys are based on true events. Unfortunately, those real facts are my own personal experience in this world, so they don’t have much relevance either… I’ll leave you with them anyway.
1. GIVE THE PROJECT VISION AND LONG TERM. Build a beautiful, suggestive, ambitious, broad vision. Get a little out of the specific product you have in hand and think a little about what your business project may end up being. Give it a little imagination. Revel in the values you want to build on. You will transmit emotion, you will immediately attract the attention of different people. You will project a long haul and not opportunism. It will help you build the path. Of course: start with what you know how to do! The other derivatives and dimensions of your project will be decanted little by little.
2. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE BRIGHTER THAN YOURSELF. Invest all the time you need looking for people with whom you seem to get along, people with whom you share values, concerns. People you see that give you something that you don’t have. Oh! And don’t lose your ego! Surround yourself with people better than you. That is a winning card.
3. BUILD A PROJECT FOR EVERYONE. Make sure at all times that the project is collecting the concerns and interests of everyone who works with you. Not just yours. Everyone should feel that they are working on their project, not someone else’s. And less in yours! You must also feel that you are helping to build the ambitions of your companions. That will make you more responsible.
4. HAVE A LOT OF PATIENCE. Things are achieved little by little. Well, if you have a lot of money, maybe you can speed things up a bit. In any case, calm down. As long as you live, you will be young and things will work out. Be constant and don’t let anyone notice that you’re worried when some things have gone wrong or are going very slowly.
5. DON’T TRY TO DO YOUR EVERYTHING. We already know that you are the one who does it best but let the others do it and do it in their style. Not yours. At first it takes them more time than you but remember that they are better than you. Believe it.
6. GIVES THE MAXIMUM RESPONSIBILITY TO EVERYONE WHO WORKS ON THE PROJECT. That each one is ultimately responsible for their functions and that everyone feels responsible for the whole. That is teamwork. That is to build a project of all.
7. GIVE ALL YOUR TRUST TO ALL THOSE WHO JOIN THE PROJECT WITHOUT FEARING THAT THEY WILL FAIL YOU. Don’t wait for them to earn it. Give it to him. Some, the least, will shamelessly abuse it initially, but the overwhelming and silent majority will put them in their place and make sure that no one abuses what belongs to everyone. It is an exposed model but it gives you a lot of peace of mind.
8. TO THOSE WHO GIVE EVERYTHING FOR THE PROJECT, GIVE THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE PARTNERS SOONER THAN LATER. It is the best of rewards that not they but you are going to get. Don’t be afraid to have more partners. On the contrary, the more committed people are, the more robust the project will be.
9. GET RID OF WORDS AS CUSTOMERS OR SUPPLIERS. ALL ARE MEMBERS OF THE PROJECT. Make sure that they see it that way and put all the necessary tools to make it happen. Introduce them to the team. Talk about them with their first and last names, not the business name of your company. Let everyone see that your project is also part of your client’s or that it impregnates those who provide you with what is necessary for your company. They will lack time to get involved with your project.
10. TALK TO PEOPLE. EXTEND THE BUSINESS CULTURE. Try to convey to them the values that are essential to you. When the project welcomes a lot of people, it will be your accomplices who will extend to the new ones the same thing that you did at the beginning. A company culture based on CO-trust, CO-sharing, CO-responsibility and CO-commitment is the essence of success.
11. GIVE IMPORTANCE TO THE PROJECT. May you all be convinced that you are building something worth working on and living on. May you all feel important, relevant, special.
12. REINVENTS CONTINUOUSLY. Add new options, change the way you manage, evolve. Don’t be afraid of being wrong because you are going to do it yes or yes. But for that you have so many people who will immediately make your mistake their own and it will cost you zero to correct it between all of you.
The competitiveness of the proposals and products that you launch to the market or to society will mark the final future of the business project, but by following these twelve keys, you will be sure to experience all that is rewarding that entrepreneurship entails. And if you have got a top-level team, involved and committed, the chances of looking for new business opportunities will multiply exponentially by birlibirloque art.
A hug and good luck to all of you who want to undertake!! Whatever you want, you have us, you have me, at your disposal.