The last article attempted to put business and entrepreneurship side by side, relating them as synonyms and as words used interchangeably in different parlance. Although one seemed more informal, they essentially describe same concepts or vocation. The concept of ‘doing business’ or entrepreneuring is an art, you learn to do it by doing it and continuosly improving on it. No matter how many books or articles on entrepreneurship you have read; no matter how many seminars you attend until you start pushing an idea, you might not have a firsthand and vivid description of what it takes to build an enterprise. You simply have not started by thinking or imagining!  You are only in love with the idea of being an entrepreneur! The best you can be referred to is an enthusiast. 

I have seen high levels of beliefs, hope and energy in anticipation of starting a business. I have listened to many ideas been churned out awaiting realization. I have also heard many people express with all seriousness and sincerity how they will dabble into a particular business when they have money, usually a sum of the amount that is not familiar in their bank statements or transactions and all they are ‘praying’ and ‘wishing’ for is a ‘miraculous’ provision. In response to such, many questions fly out of my mind and I attempt to temper it depending on my familiarity with such a person. The real question is “what will such a person be doing till that miraculous provision drops”? “Does it really take a miracle to raise money to start somewhere?” While I cannot undermine the critical role of substantive capital in running an enterprise neither do I intend to minimize application of faith in personal lives including the marketplace, at the same time, I’m more comfortable with these two principles of- “using the rod in the hand to part the Red Sea” and “faith without works is dead. . .”

The real albatross for starting a business is self leadership gauge, it pops itself up a while after you have been charged up at a seminar, after reading a book or by someone’s success story. Self leadership gauge attempts to measure reality with enormity of the ideas; define abilities in terms of inabilities and shortcomings; determine how far this idea can scale through in intensity. It’s all subconscious but cognitive assessment. By the time the assessment on this self-leadership gauge is done, it’s either the dream fizzles away, ideas buried, plans forgotten or energized to set out despite inadequacies.

Starting a business doesn’t start by renting a space – office, shop, warehouse. Businesses start by imagining and creating circumstances around a product, a service or a concept and gradually building sets of activities to create value chains. The whole exercise of starting a business is a milestone comparable to cutting the first tooth in children. You do it one step at a time, systematically and consistently also. From idealization, to value definitions, packaging of products or service, value delivery either by driving a product or a service and then taking the lead in other peripheral activities of real management (optimizing on limited humans and financial resources). It’s all a roller coaster, not necessarily for amusement alone but of highs, lows, excitement, anxiety, fear, thrill all in one trip.

There is never a convenient time for starting out on a laudable idea. I have these thoughts that I encourage myself with at all times and it goes thus ~
“The best time is actually NOW! 
The best point to begin is WHERE you are
The best resources to use is WHAT you have”

Comments, contributions, questions and queries are welcomed on the article. 
Email:bankysanya@gmail.com Twitter: @Bankysanya

“Karakata” is a Yoruba word that literally means ‘to buy and to sell’ all in one breath. It describes the vocation of buying and selling. The two concepts joined together in one word describe industry, economic activity, the world of been busy and a vocation called business. The word ‘business’ /’biz-nes/according to Meriam-Webster dictionary describes the activity of making, buying or selling goods or providing services in exchange for money. The word “business” a few years ago was a vocation or job of some people describing their livelihood and source of income. When people are asked what they do, it was not out of place to says stuffs like “I’m a business man or business woman”, vocation or jobs involving some degree of activities and economic interaction but scope, scale and terms of such business activities might not be clearly cut out and might not readily come up for discussion. It sometimes sound like an evasive profession having wide range of activities hidden under the same umbrella terminology called – business. 

As a little girl in those days, I knew older relatives and acquaintances in different fields of endeavor – a teacher would outrightly be referred to as such, tutor or lecturer; a medical practitioner also would be referred to based on what they did, ie. a doctor, nurse, pharmacist. At that time employment was streamlined, you  either work with government or a big private organization and employment was highly predictable after the higher institution. Most people were teachers, agriculture officers, secretaries, few doctors, engineers and lawyers. There was this group of people who just referred to themselves as business man/woman, they were a small percentage of the populace and scope of their job are usually not clearly defined, we had to prod them to know exactly what they do for a living.

Modern day has brought with it so much evolution in the employment and job space, while government jobs and private organizations are gradually whittling away, the other group that used to be minority and not having clear definition have filled the space. Fortunately, nomenclature has changed from businessman/woman to entrepreneur with so much hype and more importantly, they are a lot more defined and structured than the latter. The concept of entrepreneurship has become a globally acceptable source of job/work and means of livelihood for many and a significant part of a nation’s economy. 

Entrepreneurship describes an active self employment and engagement for reward which can vary from profit, fame, gain, fulfillment and etc. Entrepreneurship involves starting a business, company, enterprise or organization and managing same for reward. Entrepreneurial activities include crafting business idea(s), developing a business plan, acquiring human and other (financial & physical) resources required, operating and implementing the business plan, managing all aspects of business. This is one subject that many folks would show interest in especially in this era where multiple streams of income is encouraged.

There are different levels of entrepreneurship; some start businesses building from the scratch, some build on existing business structure, some revamp and restructure an existing business structure, some diversify from an already existing business, some embark on the ‘sustainability drive’ of an existing business while some expand the scale of business. Whatever level or scale a business is, be it macro, small, medium and large enterprise, it can become a life buoy in the sea of economic uncertainties. It definitely requires consistent drive and energy for survival as it is a whole continuous cycle of activities and busyness, it’s not a joke!