If you want to become an Successful Entrepreneur - Think big

 

Think Big

It must be borne in mind that the tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. . . . It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin.

 —Benjamin E. Mays, minister, educator, scholar, social activist 

The Two Types of Failure in Business  

A business can fail in two ways: not surviving beyond its start and not reaching its full potential. While shutdowns receive the most attention, failure to reach full potential is much more catastrophic.

On the one hand, measuring and understanding why so many businesses fail in the traditional sense is relatively easy. We have the data. Organizations ranging from the Kaufman Foundation to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have analyzed years of statistics, giving us a solid idea of why about 75 percent of businesses do not survive fifteen years or more. Some of the reasons for failure include under-capitalization, over-expansion, poor planning, and a declining market.

On the other hand, measuring and understanding why a business fails to maximize its potential is quite difficult. Studies and statistics aren’t readily available. Also, the default measuring stick for success in business is often the very existence of the business itself. I am guilty of perpetuating this low expectation, frequently congratulating business owners for having survived their first five years. While this accomplishment is honorable, it’s more impressive to have a profitable and a high-growth business after five years. Instead of flattering business owners who have reached a certain number of years, the goal should be to challenge and to help solid businesses ascend to the next level 

—to think big. 

“Thinking Big” Defined

The phrase “Think big” is ubiquitous, whether it’s from an ESPN commentator. Likewise, a popular T-shirt carries the phrase, “Go big or go home!” Apparently, we have an epidemic of small thinkers, and we must be cured of this contagious inability to think big. Despite its popularity and ascendancy to pop culture status, the saying has no clear meaning, especially as it relates to business.

In business, “thinking big” simply means pursuing ideas that maximize the scope of your potential. Likewise, it can mean pursuing ideas that have maximum impact in the world. Despite its simple definition, thinking big is difficult to do for many reasons, but if you are aware of the obstacles you can avoid them altogether.

1. One of the main obstacles to thinking big is the inability to outgrow your environment. I am a mentor to several young entrepreneurs, and one of the common disappointments I have about my men-tees is their inability to create businesses that go beyond the confines of their reality or environment. In other words, their environment restricts their thinking to the point that their business suffers limited growth or even death. 

To counter this effect I provide examples of entrepreneurs who have gone outside their environment to succeed. For example, many college students wish to start a business that targets only college students on their own campus. Instead, I encourage them to expand their markets by applying their product or service to additional segments. Students, for instance, could sell their product or service to colleges across the nation or the world. If the idea has broad appeal, it could be even larger. Also, I share with my college men-tees how Facebook, originally for college students only, was founded on an ideology that appeals to people all around the world. It was just a matter of time before Facebook’s co-founder Mark Zuckerberg expanded his company’s target from college students to everyone on the planet. 

2. Many entrepreneurs lack the motivation to pursue big ideas. I find this mentality prevalent among entrepreneurs who have had some level of monetary success in business that diminishes their willingness to pursue bigger ideas. These entrepreneurs strive to maintain their comfort or have become accustomed to going for low-hanging fruit. As business author Michael Gerber says, “Comfort makes cowards of us all.” Moreover, these entrepreneurs could simply be overwhelmed with running their own business and don’t have the bandwidth to do anything else.

For overcoming lack of motivation, entrepreneurs should find an individual or team to hold them accountable for pursing their big idea, step by step. I know that staying motivated can be difficult. However, having people hold me accountable for my goals has really worked. Moreover, if you have several businesses like I do, you have to delegate tasks to others and carve out priority time to develop your idea. Otherwise, you make little progress.

3 . Several entrepreneurs lack the self-confidence to think big. They don’t see themselves running a large organization, or they are frozen by the immensity of their idea. They may ask themselves, Where do I start? How will I build a team capable of pulling this of ? Where will I get the start-up capital for such a huge idea?

To boost your self-confidence, devise and take small steps that start you working on your idea. For example, do some basic research about your idea or write down your ideas. If you are like most people, these small wins will add up to increase your confidence and to propel you forward.

4. Entrepreneurs often lack the diversity and expertise of influencers required to think and eventually to execute in a big way. I am a fan of the television show Shark Tank in which entrepreneurs pitch their business idea to a panel of investors, or sharks, who then decide whether to place an investment with the presenting company. Entrepreneurs who appear on the show seek investment capital as much as the valuable experience of the sharks. In one episode, a shark suggested that an entrepreneur license his product instead of selling it to individual retailers, an arduous process. The entrepreneur had not thought about licensing his product, a strategy that would yield him profits faster and minimize risk. In this case like so many others, the founder needed the experience and influence of seasoned entrepreneurs to maximize the potential of a business idea.  

To jump this hurdle, you must establish a diverse network of individuals who think big and understand what it takes to arrive at that level. Likewise, they can help you to vet and improve your idea. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, recently told a group of aspiring entrepreneurs in Cambridge, England, “Talk to as many people as you can. What you want are the people who will tell you what’s wrong with your idea. They are the ones you can learn from.”

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-Kevin D. Johnson