Yandy Smith

The dictionary describes an entrepreneur as ‘A person who engages in business enterprise, usually with some personal financial risk.’

Under this definition, anyone who runs and owns his or her own business can be classified as an entrepreneur because they are taking a risk with their finances every day. But what are the qualities of a successful entrepreneur? Simply owning a business and having risks doesn’t mean that you have successfully accomplished your goal. The dictionary only scratches the surface of what it takes to be an entrepreneur in today’s competitive business world.  One must also take into account an individual’s personality, actions and behavioral patterns—which all contribute to a person’s ability to earn the title of a ‘successful entrepreneur.’

Although it may seem easy enough, becoming a successful entrepreneur is not rudimentary. You have to have a product or service that consumers really want, an organized form of sales and service, and quality marketing advertising. For many of us, the journey to earning the title begins with a burst of excitement about turning our passion into a business (followed by flashing lights of the word “success”). The experience of getting a new idea is wonderful, what follows can be the most exciting and emotional journey you will ever experience. But there is a long, hard road you must travel to take your idea from conception to reality.

I’ve been there. I traveled this road many times, I have had my share of light bulb moments, and I have learned some key points along the way that make the difference between a dreamer and a successful entrepreneur. I learned the old-fashioned way—trial and failure. But, for all my failures came a triumph that made every misstep more than worth it. Here are some helpful tips on how to avoid some of those mistakes I made, and that you take with you on your entrepreneurial adventure.

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Dream big (Image: Thinkstock)

Dream big: To achieve the kind of success that you want, you need to dream big. Every success story starts with big dreams. Have a clear and concise vision of what you want and where you want your idea to go. Actively visualize success in your mind so that it actually starts to become reality. Speak it into existence! Be the person now that you imagine yourself being when you reach your goal. Dress the part now, speak the language now, talk about the places your business will allow you to travel to, research them, tell your friends and family what’s going to happen. The more you speak, the more you’ll believe and the more inclined you’ll be to make things happen. People may look at you like you’re crazy, but imagine how they looked at the Wright brother’s when they thought of creating the first successful aircraft.

Be a leader. Leadership is one of the areas that many entrepreneurs tend to overlook, according to leadership coach John C. Maxwell, whose books include The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Thomas Nelson, 1998) and Developing the Leader Within You (Thomas Nelson, 1993). Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”  Becoming a great leader isn’t easy, it requires successfully maneuvering a team through the ups and downs and the major challenges that a new business faces.

To groom yourself to be a quality business leader:

• Envision yourself as a leader. You have to believe for others to believe.
• Recognize your best and worst qualities and evaluate them honestly.
• Create a plan that allows you to capitalize on your strengths.
• Build a team that assists you in areas that may be weaknesses, which will help you have a more well-balanced business.
• Be straightforward and keep it simple. The clearer your mission and direction, the stronger your team.

Hire shrewdly. Nothing is more important. Do extensive research and check references. You can’t rely solely on what’s said in résumés and cover letters. It’s best to ask everyone you respect for solid candidates. Then have a trial period for the new employee before you hire.

Fire fast. If quick efforts to remediate an inadequate employee do not work, fire the person respectfully. One bad employee can infect the success of the team.

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Yandy Smith: Dressed for success

Look good. Unfortunately, we live in a shallow, beauty-obsessed society. Although leaders are not expected to have Hollywood looks necessarily, it’s worth a bit of primping to look your best at all times. You can show off your own personal style while still having a polished look.

Prioritize decisiveness over inclusiveness. The best leaders know when to encourage team involvement in decision-making and when to act unilaterally. It’s not about making friends, it’s about making the best decisions for your business.

Work long hours. I’d rather disappoint you with the truth than anesthetize you with lies.

Motivation rises and falls upon success and setbacks. Being motivated despite the challenges of business is a skill that’s required in order to sail through the storms.  Tough times do not last, but tough people do. Stay motivated at the highest level.

Last but not least, when it comes to entrepreneurs, failure is an option!  Every entrepreneur faces times when winds do not blow in his or her direction. Stick to your boat and keep floating. Winds always change direction. Optimism is an essential requirement for being an entrepreneur. That new direction might land you on a beautiful island you had no idea existed. Embrace setbacks and look for the opportunity to expand and grow your business.

Entrepreneur Veronica Champman (Image: Courtesy of 100 Urban Entrepreneurs)

Fashionable accessories come in all shapes and sizes, and all manner of uses. It’s safe to say, though, that relatively few of them are intended to be worn while sleeping. (We’re not including dental-correction devices or anti-snoring sleep machines. Remember, we said fashionable accessories.)

Breaking that mold is Veronica Chapman, the 30-year-old founder of My Crowning Jewel, a new line of stylish head wraps designed for women who wish to protect their hairstyle not just during the day, but also while they get their beauty rest. “For years, women who wrap their hair at night have been presented with options that are unattractive and not functional, failing to protect their hairstyle while they sleep,” Chapman says.

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and currently based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Chapman has long had an entrepreneurial streak. My Crowning Jewel is actually her second venture; her first, Boxxout, she describes as “an innovative youth organization that connects disconnected teens in urban, low-income communities to opportunities to excel.”

Her efforts got a boost recently when she was brought into the funding-and-mentoring program of 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, the nonprofit foundation that provides $10,000 startup grants and mentoring to promising young businesspeople across the country. Chapman first honed her professional chops at Spelman College and also Babson’s F.W. Olin School of Business, from which she received her MBA. In 2010, she was awarded the New Leaders Council’s 40 Under 40 Award for Entrepreneurship, and has since poured her efforts into My Crowning Jewel, whose Web site, mycrowningjewel.com, will soon take orders. She has recently signed a U.S.-based manufacturer and plans to formally launch April 1.

And while her primary market, naturally, is African-American women, she caters to women of all races and is interested in expanding her product lines to workout gear and even men’s apparel. (“I’d love to bring back the ascot,” she says, and she’s not kidding.)

Her ambition is emblematic of the social entrepreneur’s credo: “Even while building the foundation for Boxxout, I considered how creating a product to fill a need in the for-profit sector could also be beneficial to society, allowing me an even greater opportunity to create jobs, especially teen jobs,” she says. “I want to be able to offer Boxxout teens jobs in My Crowning Jewel’s Fulfillment Division once we’re fully operational. That way the teens can both work and be trained to access the resources that will help them forge their path to success.”

Read more about Chapman and My Crowning Jewel at 100urbanentrepreneurs.org

Celebrity event planner Diann Valentine

Events entrepreneur Diann Valentine saw her business grow from her father’s garage into a full-fledged brand that includes publishing, products and a TV show. Her story of confidence, faith and perseverance is a prime example of how today’s small business isn’t so small after all, making a big impact on the economy as well as the world at large.

With a celebrity client list including Basketball Wives stars Jennifer Williams and Evelyn Lozada, T.D. Jakes, Usher, Kelis, and brides across the nation, Valentine prides herself in providing the celebrity wow factor for them all, whether famous or not.

BlackEnterprise.com caught up with the events diva and host of WE tv’s I Do Over on how she’s kept her business viable and profitable, even in a recession. Check it out:

Produced by Janell Hazelwood; Videography and editing by Melissa Johnson

Are you a Woman of Power? Then join us for the annual Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit hosted by State Farm, Feb. 15–18, 2012, at The Ritz-Carlton, Orlando, FL. This exciting, executive leadership summit is your chance to focus on YOU. Network with industry leaders, learn career strategies, find work-life balance, and start creating—and living—the life you really want! REGISTER NOW and use code DGED12 to receive a $200 discount off the price of registration! (Cannot be combined with other offers).

Since risk is a non-negotiable when it comes to entrepreneurship, your task is to identify your baseline—the level of risk that you are comfortable with—then learn how to manage it. Over time, you’ll want to up the ante, take on more risk and move higher up the continuum. You’ve heard the old adage, “the bigger the risk, the greater the reward.”

If you’ve been hesitant about your next risky business move, follow these proven steps to master fear and make risky business more manageable.

Risk Baseline: Can you handle it?

Risk is defined as the potential that your actions—or inaction—could lead to a loss; an undesirable outcome. When you establish a risk baseline,  it should serve as the basis for measurement of all other actions surrounding your business. For example, the lowest possible baseline could be “If I do X, and it leads to a loss, I won’t lose sleep over it – I can handle it.” Here’s how to set a baseline.

• Develop a list of business risks that you’d like to take within the next 30 days.
• Next, assign a measurement of risk to each line item (Low, Moderate or High).
• Then develop what I like to call, an “I Can Handle It” column that denotes a) I can handle it or b) I can’t handle it.

Once you review this basic list, you’ll have a better idea of where your risk threshold lies. Now that you understand your risk tolerance, it’s time to manage it.

Managing Risk

Now that you’ve identified and assessed your risk-baseline, you’re ready to manage it. Managing it could mean a couple of things. You can a) do nothing b) transfer risk or c) minimize risk to ultimately take your results from undesirable outcomes to more desirable situations.

When faced with risk, most of us do absolutely nothing. The funny thing is that inaction is also a choice that will affect your business. But once you’ve made a decision to master your fear, start with a Plan A: the ideal scenario for any given task or decision. Remember, when you’re dealing with external stakeholders including suppliers, customers, staff members, you will likely need a Plan B, C and D.

As a rule of thumb, you can control one variable in your business: you. But, as your company grows, more people and circumstances will be out of your control. Painful—I know—but it’s a risky reality that determines your ultimate reward. Decide how you are going to manage the risk you’ve outlined above. You can do one of three things:

• Minimize and reduce risk by creating a backup plan (Plan C) for the backup plan (Plan B).
• Transfer risk by outsourcing internal operations to highly qualified and specialized third parties with a vested and monetary interest in getting it right the first time.
• Or accept the risk. A high priority project may be risky and necessary. Prepare for a loss and develop safeguards to ensure a gain. This could include increasing dedicated resources including money, staff and time to a specific project and cutting back focus in other areas.

Turn up the Heat and Take on More Risk

Just because something sounds good, looks good and feels good doesn’t make it a worthwhile risk. And yes, I know you saw your competitor run a full page ad in the annual business journal; that doesn’t mean it’s a smart move. Be wary of friends that want to bring you in on “this amazing deal.” If you’re ready to bet the farm, pay close attention to the opportunity, the risk and the reward. Don’t take blind risks.

Calculated and deliberate risk taking is essential to the growth of your small business. Information and action are the key ingredients to increasing your risk tolerance. The more you know, the less you fear. If you’re having trouble accomplishing your goals, brainstorm ways to spread the risk by teaming up with people that have the information or skill set that you need.

When you’re ready to take on more risk, first ask yourself, “What do I have to gain?” Review your current position and then decide where you’d like your business to be in the next five years. If you have great expectations then accept the fact that your success will come with many risks.

While some researchers argue that your ability to take risks is based on your cognitive skills, socio-economic background, financial situation, and education, the truth is: business is risky no matter how you spin it. In the end, the question will always be: Does the potential reward outweigh your risk? If so, what are you waiting for? And when you are faced with a game changing opportunity to risk it all. What will you do?

Article originally appeared on theyec.org. Reprinted with permission.

Erica Nicole is a serial entrepreneur, syndicated columnist, small-business expert, national speaker and Christian thought-leader. She is the founder of  the small-business news site YFS Magazine: Young, Fabulous &  Self-Employed.

YEC Urban is an initiative of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs. YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment and underemployment and provides its members with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of a business’s development and growth. YEC Urban’s members are successful minority business owners, entrepreneurs and thought leaders.

It is easy and requires no effort to think about what we’d like to do differently in business.  The tough part is making and sustaining changes—and even tougher than that is realizing you can’t move your business to the next level or fix a struggling business by simply focusing on the business.  You also have to focus on fixing yourself.

Entrepreneurship is literally a self-improvement obstacle course.  In launching and growing a business, all your strengths will be tapped and all your weaknesses will be revealed.  The business gets better when you get better.  If not, the business fails.  So any business planning you have done or are doing for the New Year should include taking stock and improving you.

Here are five questions you should ask yourself to make sure you grow as a person in the New Year and therefore grow your business too:

1. Am I well? Anxiety, stress and physical disease zap your energy.  One of the easy traps to fall into as an entrepreneur is saying and believing that you’ll pay more attention to your health once you make your business successful.  That’s a fallacy.  Burnout is real.  Vitamin deficiency is real.  Depression is real.  Diabetes, hypertension, emotional bondage and all the other preventable health ailments that come from ignoring your body, eating in response to problems and avoiding issues instead of facing and resolving them are real.  That also includes sitting at the computer or working in the business from the moment you get up until you pass out at night with no exercise, quiet time or focused loving interaction with your significant other or family.  If you don’t have the stamina to run the business without running yourself down then you must make a conscious choice now to change.  You don’t have to be a body builder or love guru but you do need to be well.  Try a retreat or another means of pulling back to check in with yourself and make sure you are.
2. Do I have strong relationships? Every success in this world comes out of some kind of relationship.  What’s the quality of your relationships? Think about how connected you feel.  Do you feel like you have people who genuinely support and love you—do you support and love them?  Check in with your friends, family, employees and business partners to find out how they really feel.  These are people who know all your “stuff” and love you anyway.  These relationships are a safe haven through tough times and an inner circle to celebrate with during great times.  Make sure you make a concerted effort throughout the year to give focused time to your relationships.
   

   (Image: Thinkstock)

3. Do I have the skills I need to succeed? It takes a lot to make a business work.  If you have not taken an honest look at where your business keeps getting stuck and figuring out what skills you need to move beyond that recurrence now is the time to do that.  Once you brainstorm a list of skills select one or two of them that you will intentionally focus on improving this year.

4.  Am I 100% committed? Successful entrepreneurship does not result from half-hearted efforts.  You’re either completely committed or your business is on the way out.  Some people believe they are committed because they are still doing business every day.  Time in service doesn’t mean you are committed.  Being committed means you are willing to show up and make the changes that will consistently improve the business and make it profitable, or move you on to a business that will.  Have you had an executive meeting with yourself regarding commitment? Check in with self to make sure you are completely committed.

5. Do you execute? The most talented people with the best ideas and best plans don’t win unless they execute.  Do you accomplish the daily, weekly and monthly tasks that are critical to your business success?  That’s a yes or no question.  If your answer is no, you have to be totally honest and determine within yourself why you do not execute and how to move to the point that you do.  In business, there is no trying.  Your either are getting it done, or you’re not.

Answer these five questions to find out what you need to work through to hit your targets in 2012.

Felicia Joy is a nationally recognized entrepreneur who created $50 million in value for the various organizations and companies she served in corporate America before launching her business enterprise. She is the author of Hybrid Entrepreneurship: How the Middle Class Can Beat the Slow Economy, Earn Extra Income and Reclaim the American Dream and a regular contributor on CNN. Follow her @feliciajoy.

“Hubs are more about what you care about, not who you know,” says Womack, 33, a Youngstown, Ohio, native who began his college career on an academic scholarship from OSU. “We’re not just a sports blog — we’re a hub for current and former students to share information.” That includes not just opinions about the football and basketball teams but also career services, photo and video sharing, community blogs and more.

Womack got a degree in mechanical engineering technology, skills he employed in developing OurBuckeyeHub. (In his day job, he’s a mechanical engineer for the Defense Logistics Agency in Columbus.) He has put those talents to good use, having recently been brought into the funding-and-mentoring program of 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, the nonprofit foundation that provides $10,000 grants and eight weeks of intensive business mentoring to promising startups across the country. Although he’s focusing strictly on OSU for the moment, Womack’s plans are as big as the entire college universe. Currently in development are OurGoBlueHub.com (for Ohio State’s hated rivals, the University of Michigan) and — in an indication of the scope of his ambition — OurCollegeHub.com. “The battle of the social networks is over, and Facebook has won,” he says, sanguine about the potential for a business model like his. “Welcome to the age of the hub.”

To help attract attention to OurBuckeyeHub, meanwhile, Womack has enlisted numerous former Buckeye stars, including hoops standouts Scoonie Penn and brothers JJ and Jared Sullinger, as well as controversial former running back Maurice Clarett. He’s always on the lookout for notable Buckeye fans, whether former athletes or not, to help him build his business. “I’ve tried to reach out to John Legend, who I hear is a big OSU fan,” Womack says. “So if you’re reading this, John, hit me up!”

Read more with Maurice Womack on 100urbanentrepreneurs.org

Pay it forward: CEO Link Howard with one of his interns

Two years ago, Link Howard, III, president and chief executive officer of Powerlink Facilities Management, knew he needed help with his business. While the Detroit-based provider of facilities maintenance and management services was generating nearly $11 million in revenues, Howard was unable to land more than a $150,000 line of credit from his bank.

Howard heard about the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation from a business contact. With offices in Kansas City, Detroit, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the non-profit program centers on educating entrepreneurs so they’re able to build scalable businesses. “I went on line and filled out the initial application and as a result of that we went through the rigorous screening process that the Kauffman Foundation at the UEP require of all of its companies that they partner with,” recalls Howard. “Interestingly enough, that is one of the most valuable parts of the entire process and I’ll come back to that.”

A business coach looked over Powerlink’s strategic plan, marketing plan, and offered advice on how to strengthen the business. “Going through the process of providing all the documentation information they were looking for caused us to really look at all of our processes of how we captured data, how we report things, and made us look at it operationally,” Howard recounts. “Going through that process really helped us strengthen our internal processes and really helped us to continue to grow our infrastructure, which is what I think is so important for businesses that are going to be successful.”

“We have a process that includes heavy assessment up front, a rigorous assessment up front,” says Daryl Williams, CEO, Urban Entrepreneur Partnership Inc. “We give each and every client a Personal Development Plan, which is an actual document that dictates what it is you want to do, where you are now, and the challenges that you face in order to reach those entrepreneurial goals, and we provide you an individual coach that will really walk you through those and have accountability model throughout.”

This doesn’t come without a cost. UEP workshops run about $400 and business coaching is $125 per hour. The coaching also helped Howard and his team gain a better understanding of what banks look for before extending credit. “Up until two years ago, up until last year, we were not able to secure the type of credit line that we needed from traditional banking institutions so we were doing a lot of factoring,” he says. “[the coaching], along with some other factors, certainly helped us to present a picture that the banks wanted to see.”

Two years later, Powerlink now employs 585 people, and is expecting to grow to 675 in 2012. Revenues are expected to approach $22 million at the end of 2011 and reach $27 million for 2012.  And perhaps most importantly, the company was able to secure a $2.5 million credit line.

For Howard, the coaching is an ongoing thing. “We meet consistently with our business coaches. They are, right now, helping us to transition into businesses that are target industries that we’re not involved in now,” he says. “They are providing coaching and mentoring in that regard. They have seminars, so you can continue to learn.”