Can you remember how you felt when you first set up your business? How proud you felt and how determined to make a success of it? No matter how confident you felt, there must have been some anxious moments. Since fear of failure didn’t hold you back, you had a truly entrepreneurial spirit. Everyone makes some mistakes, but you looked forward to being able to learn from them and carry on moving forward.
The Local Contributions of Entrepreneurs
Did you also want to make a difference in your local community, to provide jobs, useful products and services so that you could give something back as well as making a profit? There are lots of other ways that entrepreneurs contribute to society as well. Once your business was making money, you might have apportioned some of it to charity sponsorship. You could be supporting local schools and colleges with work placement offers. Educational institutions and sports clubs might run competitions with prizes you have donated. And of course you are meticulous about energy saving and recycling. While you are giving in this way, you could also be getting good media exposure, so don’t hide your light.
Good Customer Relationships
Did you cultivate your customers, remember things about them, listen to their feedback and act upon it? This is something that entrepreneurs are well known for. As your business has grown, you probably find this aspect more and more difficult, but the right technology can make it quick and easy to save and retrieve the customer data you need. It could be worth an investment in a customer relationship management system, plus staff training in the maintenance of data quality so that you know you can rely on it to give you accurate and immediate information when you need it. We recognise the importance of this and have a host of stories about the difference it can make to the bottom line.
Good Team Relationships
Entrepreneurs are good team builders and leaders. You are certainly aware that no staff team is static, but will change over time as individuals come and go. Your responsibility is to keep tabs on that, making sure that skills gaps are filled, newcomers are made welcome and brought up to speed quickly. If you have the reputation of being firm but fair and approachable, you should get the best out of everyone.
Flexibility and Adaptability
Unlike the cumbersome and decision-making processes of big businesses, small business owners can respond to the markets and make necessary changes swiftly. If you have retained your entrepreneurial spirit, you will be keeping abreast of trends in buying patterns and business management, and adapting them, taking a willing workforce along with you.
All these characteristics are aspects of the entrepreneurial spirit that you can’t afford to lose. Consider them carefully if your bookkeepers are reporting any problems with income generation or cash flow.
