Loners, vagabonds and troublemakers - Dame Anita Roddick, RIP

Yesterday brought the sad news of the death of Dame Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop and active campaigner on social issues.

I’ve never really known too much about Anita Roddick other than a scant knowledge of how The Body Shop started and her media image campaigning for a better world, oh and my wife and kids bringing home lots of funny little bottles full of quirky mixtures after their latest trip to The Body Shop.

So I thought may be it’s about time I read up on Dame Anita and find out what made her keep getting up in the morning.

If the next few posts are about just one person therefore, I make  no apologies.

One of the first things that caught my attention was a quote from Dame Anita, her assessment of entrepreneurs.

“We entrepreneurs are loners, vagabonds, troublemakers. Success is simply a matter of finding and surrounding ourselves with those open-minded and clever souls who can take our insanity and put it to good use. “

Right on the button. Starting in business is lonely. No one shares the entrepreneur’s belief and passion yet the entreprenuer is desperate to share the idea. To get feedback and to find co-conspirators”

Finding people who really do believe in what you’re trying to do rather than just being polite or trying to sell you something is a constant in the entreprenuer’s life. And just because some success comes along doesn’t mean the loneliness goes away.

Finding those true supporters (cornerstones) and then keeping them close is therefore fundamental. The alternative is a solo-act which probably has less chance of success and in the absence of the right skills, money and time will rarely happen.

Entrepreneurs live to prove people wrong and change the world in which they live (not necessarily the world but their own world certainly). But most successful entreprenuers have needed their cornerstones to make this happen.

Clear My Mail - No More Spam, Dan’s your Man

Just wanted to mention a networking colleague, Dan Field, who has spent much of the last few years in that most notorious of industries - spam.

But to save Dan’s reputation before it goes quickly downhill - he’s been at the good end. Trying to develop the Rolls Royce of anti-spam software - a true entrepreneurial challenge.

Well I’m no techy but from people I know who are using his Clear My Mail product he may have got as close as anyone to the holy grail - no spam, 100% guaranteed. And what’s more he’s up for a major award.

ClearMyMail is one of four finalists at the Startup Awards 2007 in the Product of the Year category and the Natwest Startup Business of the Year award, which comes with a £5000 top prize.

The Startups Awards, organised by Crimson Business’ www.startups.co.uk, comprises of 16 categories, each showcasing the best new businesses in the UK.

The winners will be unveiled at an awards ceremony and three-course luncheon to be held at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington on Wednesday 31 October.

And this year’s judging panel consists of some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs, including Martin Webb, entrepreneur & presenter of Channel 4’s Risking It All, Tim Campbell, winner of BBC’s The Apprentice, 2005 and Jonathon Moules, entrepreneurship Correspondent, Financial Times.

And just in case you’re wondering how Dan can offer a 100% guarantee….sorry, don’t ask me, ask Dan.  

The dark side

We all know that starting a business has its risks. Anywhere between 30-50% of small businesses eventually fail, many within the first 12 months.

The reasons for failure are also well known. Poorly designed product, rosy eyed view of the market size, lack of management skills, poor financial control….the list goes on.  

What is not so well-documented is the impact a business failure has on the individuals involved. Of course the textbooks and business writers will talk about bankruptcy, homes repossessed, bailiffs, phonecalls from creditors etc but it’s not very often that someone has the courage to talk personally and very publicly about the impact business failure has on the people involved - owners, staff, family, children.

For most people with a business failure on their CV, talking about it is a painful exercise and one that is glossed over whenever possible.

So it was refreshing to come across one such tale recently, a blog by a very honourable and brave person. Ian Denny describes in detail the current situation he and his family are going through as he attempts to negotiate with his company’s creditors following the failure of his business.

He provides a very clear account about how these negotiations drag on often without any logic and the impact this continues to have on him and his family. Yet through it all Ian’s honesty and decency shines through as does his desire to start again, the entrepreneurial instinct sharpened rather dulled.

Thank-you Ian for your candour and humour. And good luck.

Money v Make A Difference

It is very easy to assume that being an entreprenuer is only about making money and lots of it. And for many entreprenuers the primary motive at least in the early days of a new business is about just that.

For other people who take the plunge to set up away from the corporate safety-net, money is just one factor. Lifestyle is often quoted as a significant push towards starting up a business - a better work-life balance.

But is being an entrepreneur as simple as money and/or work-life balance?

I’ve just completed a Profile Questionnaire via Rachel Elnaugh’s web site. Rachel is a well-known UK entreprenuer having founded the gift experience company Red Letter Days (great name by the way) and becoming one of the Dragons on the BBC’s Dragons Den.

Rachel identifies 8 types of entrepreneur:

Good Habits

Good habits are hard to establish and yet so easy to break, often just through laziness or distraction.

Yet just like blog writing, (I only realised today how badly neglected this blog has been lately) having a successful business may start with a good idea, a slice of luck and a lot of hard work but maintaining that success is often about nothing more than good habits.

When you find what’s working keep doing it. If a particular product is selling well, don’t change it. If you’re getting lots of enquiries from a particular marketing activity, keep marketing that way.

That’s not to say don’t be ready to change. Look for new ideas, new ways of working but don’t discard established ways of doing things just because ….they’re old. If they still work still use them.

It can take many years filled with one mistake to find what those good habits are. So be sure to recognise them and to carry on practising them.

With that in mind.

Note to self - make this blog a habit, a good habit.

(And apologies to everyone who thought this blog was going the way of so many others)

Jon

Aodhan Cullen - award winner

Tracking web site visitors is an important part of any web site owner’s business mix. So it was a pleasant surprise to see that the founder of Statcounter, the tracker I use on a number of web sites, has just been named the Young IT Person of the Year at the ICT Excellence Awards!

Aodhan Cullen started Statcounter at the tender age of 16 in 1999 having cut his entrepreneurial teeth at the age of just 12 with a resume-writing service. Statcounter now has 1.3m members, tracks over 2m websites and has over 9bn pageloads a month!

Just goes to show bright ideas are not the preserve of old hands. Entreprenuers come in all shapes and sizes … and ages.

Be a Smoothie - Give up the Day Job

So you’re thinking about going it alone, telling your boss you won’t be in on Monday and then setting the world alight with your great idea.

One of the hardest decisions a would-be entreprenuer has to make is when to give up the day job. You know, the one that pays the bills.

Is it go for broke, give up the well-paid job & pray the sales come in? (and before the bank manager reaches for the valium) or juggle both, pay the mortgage but delay establishing the business properly and maiky your first million.

Starting part-time may be an option. There is no right or wrong, just what works best for you. Although if you are hoping to attract investors then the ‘juggle both’ option is not an option. They’ll want full-time committment, nothing less and quite rightly.

So how do you make the choice?

Screw It, Let’s Do It

It may be the title of a ‘Lessons in Life’ book by the evergreen Richard Branson but it also sums up one of the personality traits that set entreprenuers apart from everyone else.

You may have been brought up to believe patience is a virtue but when it comes to entreprenuers, impatience is the name of the game.

Whether it’s doing some market research, looking at structures and processes, attending meetings or, heaven forbid, writing up a business plan. This is uncomfortable territory for the entreprenuer.

Planning and analysing are alien concepts to the entreprenuer - to be avoided wherever possible.

Entreprenuers, do two things - dream up ideas and put them into action. As soon as possible. Having come up with the next ‘big idea’ they want to test it in the marketplace today not tomorrow or next week. And with as little planning and preparation as possible.

And I know the feeling.

I’m still here!

We’ve already said that for entreprenuers, ‘no’ is like an adrenaline rush. Whether it’s friends & family (although they tend to say yes and so can’t be relied on for objectivity), the bank manager, colleagues or the local expert by virtue of age and volume of grey hair, the word ‘no’ has a stirring impact on entreprenuers.

Stubborness is a key feature of all entreprenuers. The refusal to give up, to carry on believing in the idea.

The successful entreprenuer though knows when to give up. There comes a point when in spite of all that self-belief, the entrepreneur has to put the idea down and move on.  

 

What a load of Rubbish

One of the political hot-potatoes in the UK at the moment is the issue of regular rubbish collections by the local councils. For years most councils have collected weekly, yet in a cost saving exercise many are now moving to a fortnightly collection service - not surprisingly local people are none too happy. Visions of rats roaming the streets evoke strong responses.

Yet for one enterprising couple in North Yorkshire this increasingly media driven issue is an opportunity. Chris and Kate Whyatt have turned their own anger at their local council’s decision into a new business.