Are MBA's for dummies?

The MBA can destroy your ability to set up and run your own business. Smart-assed, newly qualified, MBA graduates think that their piece of paper qualifies them to be a freelance consultant…. or to run their own business. Absolute nonsense.

Running a business is about action, it is not about theory – what is great in the classroom (because it is intellectually attractive or academically rigorous) is probably irrelevant in the real world.

I confess that business planning is a great way to make your mistakes on paper; however, you learn even more in the marketplace – it is brutally honest and gives you real feedback. You will be successful if you provide something that people want... in a way that they want it. The best (and fastest) way to learn is by spending your own money and by paying for your own mistakes. I have been rich and I have been poor and I know which one I prefer!!

There is one basic question you need to ask yourself about your new business – why should people bother to buy your product? And why should they bother to buy from you, especially when there are so many other people selling similar products at similar prices? So, what will make you different?

In general, do not compete on price – the bigger organisations with bigger budgets and buying power will always beat the smaller player on price. You must compete on everything but the price. Be faster, smarter, slower, nicer, cleverer, more local…… but, be different somehow.

So, what do you need to consider to set up on your own?

The Market - Really, how good is your idea? Test it on friends and strangers. What problem are you solving? Who will buy your product? Why? Who are your competitors? How will you be different/better/smarter? How will you make the first/tenth/hundredth sale? You will make no sales if it is either a lousy product, or, because of your lousy marketing.

Throw away Kotler and listen to potential customers.

Objectives - What is the business trying to achieve? If you don't know where you are going then any road will do. What is your motivation? What is your definition of success?

Resources - What do you own and what can you use to make the business idea come to fruition (physical, human, intellectual and financial resources)? What will you need in a year's time?

Financials - What do the projected cash-flow and profit and loss forecasts look like? How are prices set? What is the cost structure? The key issues are economic viability, price and profit.

Ability – Have you got what it takes? How relevant is your knowledge, attitude, circumstances, experience and character?

AND SOME DO'S AND DON'TS...

• Brand it; Brand YOURSELF - you cannot not communicate your brand. Everything about your business communicates something. So, what is it that you want to be communicating?

• Spend a day with weird people - sharpen your thinking by spending some time with people who come at things from a different angle. The best ideas will come from the strangest of places.

• Create marketing space - Separate yourself from the competition. Make yourself different.

• Remove your self-limiting beliefs - what limits have you set for yourself sub-consciously? If you believe that you cannot swim, then you will not be able to swim.

How do you limit yourself?
• Feel the fear and do it anyway - fear is a perfectly natural emotion. If you aren't sailing close to the wind then you are probably not taking enough risks. Acknowledge the fear and make a calculated decision. Use the adrenaline and energy that the fear creates to work for you rather than against you.

• Work on, not in your business - when Ray Krok started McDonald's, he never intended to work in the business cooking beefburgers; he always intended to work on the business, creating the architecture, the empire.

• Less is more – simplify everything
• Cut the excuses – just do it
• Ask stupid questions
• Don't shy away from passion
• Keep it simple, stupid!

TO RECAP….

You need:
• Vision – the ability to see into the future, to imagine how things could be

• Passion – a sheer belief and conviction in one's ideas and actions

• Determination – the willingness to persevere, often against the odds, to create something new where there was nothing

• Communication and delegation skills – the ability to muster the skills and efforts of other people to help to create and deliver a dream – to take something from the imagination and turn it into an actual product or service that people will buy.