Entrepreneurships

Perseverance is undoubtedly an important aspect of successful entrepreneurship. The saying “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” means that few individuals are able to achieve great things without first overcoming the obstacles that stand in their way.

Here are four examples – two from the past and two from the present day – of successful perseverance in business to help inspire you to achieve the seemingly impossible.

Thomas Edison

When he was young, Thomas Edison’s parents took him out of school after his teachers declared that he was “stupid” and “unteachable.” Edison spent his early years working and being fired from various jobs, culminating in his firing from a telegraph company at the age of 21. Despite these numerous setbacks, he Edison was never discouraged from his true calling in life: inventing. Throughout his career, Edison obtained more than one thousand patents. And although several of these inventions — such as the light bulb, stock printer, phonograph and alkaline battery — were groundbreaking innovations, the vast majority of them could be fairly described as failures. And now Edison is famous for saying that genius is “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

One of Edison’s best examples of perseverance occurred after he was already a successful man. After inventing the light bulb, he began seeking inexpensive light bulb filament. At the time, ore was mined in the Midwest of the United States, and shipping costs were very high. In order to combat this, Edison established his own ore-mining plant in Ogdensburg, New Jersey. For nearly ten years, he devoted his time and money to the enterprise. Edison also obtained 47 patents for innovations that helped make the plant run more smoothly. And even despite those inventions, Edison’s core project failed because of low quality ore on the East Coast.

However, despite that failing, one of those 47 inventions (a crushing machine) revolutionized the cement industry, and actually earned Edison back almost all of the money he lost. Later, Henry Ford would credit Edison’s Ogdensburg project as the main inspiration for his Model T Ford assembly line. And in fact, many believe that Edison paved the way for modern-day industrial laboratories. Edison’s foray into ore-mining demonstrates that dedication can pay off even in a losing venture.

Milton Hershey

Milton Hershey had a long path to the top of the chocolate industry. Hershey dropped out of the 4th grade to take an apprenticeship with a printer, only to be fired. Next he became an apprentice to a candy-maker, and then started 3 unsuccessful candy enterprises.

However, Hershey was not giving up. After these unsuccessful attempts, he founded the Lancaster Caramel Company. Despite his initial setbacks, Hershey’s caramel recipe was a huge success. Looking beyond caramel, Hershey believed that chocolate products had a much greater future, and sold the Lancaster Caramel Company in order to start the Hershey Company, which brought milk chocolate to the masses.

In doing so, Hershey overcame failure and accomplished his goals. He also created hundreds of jobs for Pennsylvanians and was generous with his wealth, building houses, churches, and schools.

Steve Jobs

Perseverance is not just limited to the beginning phases of a person’s career. In fact, failure can often occur after a long period of achievement.

Apple founder Steve Jobs achieved phenomenal success early in life. When he was 20 years old, he founded Apple from his parents’ garage, and within ten years the company had grown into a $2 billion juggernaut. However, when Jobs turned 30, Apple’s Board of Directors fired Jobs from the company he created, and he found himself unemployed. Rather than seeing this as a curse, Jobs treated it as a freedom to pursue new initiatives. In fact, Jobs later stated that being fired was one of the best things that ever happened to him, since it provided him with the opportunity to think more creatively and to start a new company.

After being fired from Apple, Jobs founded NeXT, a software company, and Pixar, the amazing movie company that has produced animated films such as Finding Nemo. NeXT was subsequently purchased by Apple. After founding these companies, Jobs not only went back to Apple, but he helped launch their current resurgence in popularity with the creation and success of the iPod and iPhone. Jobs credits his career success and his strong relationship with his family to the fact that he was terminated from Apple.

Simon Cowell

Although Simon Cowell is now a pop icon and wealthy man, Cowell faced struggles earlier in life. When he was fifteen, he dropped out of school and worked various odd jobs. Cowell eventually received a job working in the mail room at EMI Music Publishing, where he was able to work his way into the A&R department. After EMI, Cowell formed his own publishing company, E&S Music.

Unfortunately, Cowell’s new company folded in its first year of operation. As a result, Cowell was burdened with a lot of debt, and had to move back in with his parents. However, he was persistent, and eventually landed a job with a small company called Fanfare Records. Cowell worked at Fanfare for eight years and was able to help build the company into a successful record label. From there, he spent several years signing musicians and cultivating talent before launching the “American Idol” and “X-Factor” franchises that would make Simon Cowell a household name.

English is the working language in many organizations in Europe. If English is your own language, when you are negotiating international business in English it helps if you are aware of the difficulties that foreign speakers have in such discussions.

However, in almost all kind of professional environment, the ability of managing an additional language is more and more important and could be vital. Additionally, a recent survey in the North East England found that 20% of companies lose business in international markets as a result of a lack of language skills and cultural awareness; 46% of businesses are aware of language barriers; and 20% of businesses are aware of cultural barriers. These findings are a clear indicator of the worrying decline in the use of foreign languages and skills. (References taken from the PROWESS website, the OneNorthEast RES strategy, the RLN website and the University of Newcastle website).

Furthermore, the recent expansion of the European Union (EU) has heightened the urgent need for businesses to improve their language skills. The increasing influence of the European Union and the globalization of markets mean that these skills are becoming more and more important.

Modern languages are those that are widely spoken in the world today. Studying them not only involves language skills but also creates an understanding of the cultures of other countries.

Most people study modern languages because of their interest and ability in the subject. Comparatively few go directly into careers in which a language degree is essential – such as translating, interpreting, aspects of publishing or teaching. Many graduates, instead, go into jobs in which their language skills are desirable, such as the media, hospitality and leisure, areas of finance or journalism. With ever more European and international connections, such skills will grow in importance and can give you a real advantage in applying for a wide range of graduate jobs.

However, it is incorrect and limiting to assume that managing a foreign language is per se a source of an interesting and well-paid job. Together with what I will call “primary skills” (speaking, writing, and interpret a foreign languages), “secondary skills” are more and more important, and often vital to start up a business and survive in a high competitive market. Amongst these secondary skills we should mention communication skills, leadership skills, personal development skills, IT skills, business and accountancy skills. Some university degrees offer optional modules giving students the opportunity to specialize in market-related skills or topics related to enterprise and entrepreneurship, but these are often overlooked and not given the correct importance by graduates.

IN my work as an ambassador for international communications, I offer discussion, talks, mentoring on the possible development and implementation of strategies in the language industry that will build towards increasing the numbers of graduates and postgraduates and individuals starting and growing businesses and careers involving languages. The work does not aims to develop “primary skills” (i.e. translation skills, language learning), but it is focused on the “secondary skills”, as above defined. The work could involve working closely with universities and colleges offering languages degrees, translation and cultural consultancy agencies, career advisors to raise awareness and provide information to graduates on how to broaden students’ horizons.

The objectives include:
Raise awareness on the importance of language skills and cultural differences.

Encourage greater communication between entrepreneurs, language service providers and organizations supporting start-up businesses to stimulate supply and demand for language careers.

Provide career solutions designed to equip entrepreneurs with the best mentoring scheme for them.

Entrepreneurship can be defined as the creation of a new business or enterprise.

Entrepreneurs play a significant role in the growth of job markets. With the creation of new business or industry comes the creation of new jobs. The United States has a significantly greater amount of entrepreneurial activity than in Europe. Thus earning your degree in Entrepreneurship can make you a viable candidate for employment worldwide

Entrepreneurship is a difficult undertaking because it takes a lot of work and planning to get a business up and running. That and many businesses don’t survive their first year. , The activity of entrepreneurs are different depending on the type of business is being started. Entrepreneurs risk their own capital, and services starting a new company. But the payoff for those who succeed is great. As an entrepreneur, you are your own boss, and therefore have to assume all responsibilities for your business. Being your own boss sounds great, but you have to realize that you will most likely spend and average of seventy hours a week on your start up business.

Facts:

Entrepreneurs generate 60- 80% of new jobs annually

Entrepreneurs are major contributors to the economy contributing more than half of the U.S.’s non-farm private sector gross domestic product

Entrepreneurial businesses produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patent-producing firms

Training:

Though formal education is not a prerequisite for becoming an entrepreneur, it is advisable that you make an investment in a formal education before you risk your capital on your new venture. Those who succeed in starting their own businesses tend to have a formal education. Degree programs in entrepreneurship offer an interdisciplinary curriculum to cover many topics that would be important top an entrepreneur. Course work in these programs will cover business management, economics, communications, finance, and sales. Additionally, taking classes in risk management, conflict resolution, and management will help you on your road to success. In an entrepreneur degree program, you can obtain experience and theoretical understanding which will best prepare you for the great undertaking of starting your own business.

An entrepreneur is a very admirable career choice. People start all different types of companies and in a variety of industries. But the one similarity among most entrepreneurs is that they all wish they had begun a venture earlier on in life.

Educational administrators should establish various programs that teach students all about entrepreneurship. This can be in the form of curricula, classes, after-school clubs or holding contests.

Developing a curriculum that teaches students the concepts necessary for launching and running a venture can be a great introduction for them. Bringing in local business owners to discuss their experiences can also enhance the learning environment.

Contests involving coming up with ideas for new companies and presenting them to a panel of judges could also be an effective way of giving children a chance to improve their pitching and rhetoric abilities. Providing them with a mentor who can flush out their concepts and develop an effective business plan will help push them in the right direction to succeed.

Nothing can beat hands-on learning and hosting a school-sanctioned company can help children see what a real corporation goes through on a regular basis. The students will be able to see what it takes to start the company, legally and operationally, and experience all of the benefits and drawbacks of being an entrepreneur.

Of course, plenty of children will not want to run their own businesses in the future. That shouldn’t matter as the skills developed through any school-run entrepreneurial initiatives can help them with other careers they might want to pursue.

Starting at a young age and instilling in kids a need to approach problems in different ways can have a major impact on them when looking for a job down the road. Employers will be impressed with their analytical and creative abilities to deal with issues that come up and solve them successfully.

Anyone can be an entrepreneur, even if you just have a business on the side while you work at a full-time job. However, the earlier you start in life, the more experience you can build up and the more successful you can be later on. By implementing policies in the educational system that exposes students to these opportunities early on, children can benefit immensely, especially later in life.