New Jersey Entrepreneur

The first article in this series discussed entrepreneurial success in terms of three specific factors; they were Vision and Resolve that built on Talent. In this article I will focus just on entrepreneurial vision?.what it is and why it is important.

We define vision as the mental image produced by imagination and in terms of entrepreneurship it is more precisely the manner in which one sees or conceives their business idea. Entrepreneurs need to have the ability to look ahead specifically in a commercial and economically opportunistic way as to how to make money from their business idea. Many people dream about owning a chain of pizza parlors or discovering a new technical innovation, but for it to be true entrepreneurial vision one must be seeing these dreams in terms of how money may be made that will sustain the business enterprise.

As you are evaluating your jump into entrepreneurship, think about these key questions to determine if you possess the entrepreneurial vision necessary for success?

1. Do you look at things as they are and imagine how they could be changed for the better?
2. Do you observe how comparable things are priced and wonder why or why not some people would pay more for one over the other or you could offer something similar for less cost or better quality?
3. Has curiosity or passion led to you taking strong actions to satisfy that curiosity or passion?
4. Have you had experience formulating steps to reach major milestone in your life?
5. Do you encourage and motivate people around you to believe in your ideas?
6. Are you capable of challenging your dreams with facts to make sure they are based on a reality?
7. Do you envision yourself doing many, if not, all of the things necessary to turn your dream into reality?
8. What is your venture?s “competitive advantage” and what need does it satisfy for customers?
9. Have others had your same idea and failed and you know why and know why you will not?
10. How have you researched your business idea to project out its commercial potential for revenue and profitability?
11. Do you know who your customers are and what they would pay for your product or service?
12. What need is your product or service filling for your prospective customers? What value is it creating?

If you are answering positive to most of the these questions, much of your thinking is consistent with formulating a clear vision for starting a business. Some of the questions require you to have the skill of being analytical about the world around you and doing the necessary research about your prospective enterprise, other questions focus on your ability to progress towards your dream methodically and the remaining questions focus on your ability to motivate others to support you and join you.

Though the above questions were posed in terms of starting your business, it is good to reflect upon these questions as you build your business to insure that you are staying focused on the fundamentals for creating a profitable business. The business plan helps to draw out the answers to these questions which is why the business plan is considered the fundamental tool of starting and growing a business.

What separates investment worthy ideas from good ideas and vision from dreams are the details. Marshal the details about your business dreams to meet the test for entrepreneurial vision.

Jeanne Gray is founder of Enterprising Solutions Inc., a consulting firm specializing in growth strategies for small and entrepreneurial stage businesses. She is also the publisher of NJEntrepreneur.com. Jeanne may be contacted at jgray@NJEntrepreneur.com or by calling 732-662-9106.

Copyright 2005 Jeanne E. Gray