What business idea?

Once a person makes the bold decision of leaving his present career and lifestyle, the biggest problem he will have to resolve is to know what business venture will capture the interest of the market, and bring him his expected returns from such investment. I believe that having, or generating, a business idea that perfectly answers the needs of the majority is the foundation of a successful business venture. A great business idea, along with a perfect opportunity to do business, results to favorable business possibilities.
Creativity in a business idea, as discussed by our professor Mr. Ramon Duremdes, could make, or break, the good results an entrepreneur expects from his venture. Creativity is an important attribute of a successful entrepreneur. The fifth chapter of our book entitled Entrepreneurship (6th edition) discusses some of the traditional methods on how to generate good business ideas (which includes brainstorming, focus groups, and problem inventory analysis), and a number of creative methods like free association, parameter analysis, brainwriting, and reverse brainstorming. The product planning and development process, which is divided into five major stages (the idea stage, concept stage, product development stage, test marketing stage, and commercialization), is also pointed out as an important toll in the conceptualization and development of a business idea. Having these concepts in mind could greatly help an entrepreneur in generating a winning business idea.
Also, some articles relating to business ideas are available (and downloadable) online to facilitate some entrepreneurs in creating a good business concept. To name a few, the articles Knowing A Winning Business Idea When You See One by Kim and Mauborgne, and Michael Rappa’s Business Models on the Web recount a diverse array of guidelines on how to primly, if not flawlessly, craft a successful business venture from a winning business idea. I have read these articles and I suppose that many entrepreneurs would find these readings interesting and very much related to some of their business idea fiascoes.
In school, we use these in order for us to generate business concepts for our proposed business plans. Yes, as part of our course requirement in Asia Pacific College, we have to create a business proposal. This is done supposedly to help us develop our skills in business, and eventually use such skills in our future profession. I find this relevant to us as students of the college, since our school is owned by two of the most successful businesses in their respective fields: IBM, the leading business machines manufacturer in the world, and SM Foundation, spearheaded by the SM Group of Companies, the leader in retail business in the Philippines.
The precepts that we earned in class, as well as the learning I could get from the said articles, will definitely help me as a student in understanding more the different concepts involved in the field of business. In my studies, these learning can help me create good business ideas for the business plan we were supposed to develop. I could also relate such information to some other business concepts and theories discussed in class. For my future profession, I could sidetrack to some other career since I already have some important insights about business venturing. These would really help me a lot.
Needless to say, these articles and readings could really help anyone in carrying his business to success.

I want to be an entrepreneur

I recently got a chance to watch (again) one of the episodes of one of my favourite kiddie show (take note: kiddie show!) and, surprisingly, the episode was about SpongeBob Squarepants trying to become an entrepreneur. I want to be an entrepreneur! – That’s what he said (and so did Patrick, his best buddy). The idea of putting entrepreneurship as the theme for an episode of the infamous show of SpongeBob Squarepants made me think what the creators of the episode were trying to inculcate in the minds of their kiddie viewers. Why put such adult thing for a kiddie show? Are they really trying to tell their audience to become a real entrepreneur just like SpongeBob? Or could SpongeBob really be an entrepreneur? What the heck! But I should say it was one of the best episodes I’ve ever seen. The creators were effective in giving kids (like me) a firm idea about what entrepreneurship really is about. I don’t know where they got the idea of making the episode revolve around such topic, but I suppose that the creators of the show surely got a fascination (or should I say frustration) of becoming an entrepreneur.

And why am I telling you these? I just had an idea that this SpongeBob Squarepants episode is quite connected with our lesson in Entrepreneurship, one of our subjects in class (by the way, I’m an Accountancy student). My subject professor, Mr. Ramon Duremdes, in Asia Pacific College once discussed this so-called entrepreneurial mind that people have within them. According to him (and as said by the book we’re reading), people have this tendency to become an entrepreneur, given the right opportunity at the right time. It’s a process indeed: from deciding to become one, up to the actual putting up of the enterprise. An ENTREPRENEUR is actually someone who creates a new venture and assumes risks and rewards – that is he does the work all by himself (without having to get scolded by a hot-tempered boss), and every profit he gains (or every money he loses) goes to no one else but him. There’s another one called INTRAPRENEUR, who is, on the other hand, an entrepreneur working within an existing organization. The major difference between the two is that an intrapreneur works for an organization while an entrepreneur does not do so, thus creating his own venture.

We all know of people who became successful entrepreneurs. They are always featured on the business sections of every newspaper. Or if their success is a further achievement among business-minded people, their faces consume most of the spaces on the front cover of a business magazine. We all know of Henry Sy, who started a shoe store in Carriedo half a century ago, and is now the owner of the largest mall chain in the Philippines (not to mention that he is now the RICHEST person in town, with assets amounting almost double of that owned by Lucio Tan, another business tycoon who was the former richest guy in the country).

Could I ever achieve that? My grandmother owns a store in Manila, and my uncle has this internet shop. Since they started their businesses, they were able to stabilize their financial status. They were able to provide enough for their families. And in these extra-difficult times of crisis, they are still able to make their businesses survive. As for SpongeBob, he was able to turn into one of Bikini Bottom’s richest. All of those are because of entrepreneurship. I wish I could do that too.

What these things are trying to point out is that all of us (even characters in TV screens) can be great businessmen. It may seem too elusive, but if only we put our best foot forward, we all could become good business people.