Small-business people all love a good success story - especially the one that shows how regular people like us can beat the odds and succeed in our own businesses. Trouble is, it's often hard for many of us to make the connection between our situations and the stories that we hear. Those of us who want to have our own businesses really need a map that boils down the key points from all the success stories in a way that makes them easy to use. We need access to entrepreneurial technology.
I have spent the past year developing this technology. It's based on a very simple idea that goes something like this: Just because we can't forecast everything we need to succeed doesn't mean we can't eliminate everything that we know will cause us to fail. Think about it: A technology that increases our likelihood of success by helping us to weed out the variablesthat cause us to fall.There are three areas that need to be examined: First, yourself - the venturer - do you have the necessary expertise? Second, your business opportunity: the venture itself - is it a "business," and can you keep it? And third, your connections to your business environment - can you correctly prioritize your venturing "stakeholders"? The technology of entrepreneurship should make it easier for you to assess these three areas, identify the "weeds" that need pulling, and show you how to weed out the things that can cause you to fail. After all, the first step in succeeding is not failing.
What does this technology look like? It's a combination of seminars, video-audio tapes and computerized assessment tools. Right now, we use the technology of entrepreneurship as the basis for our innovative bachelors' degree in entrepreneurship at the University of Victoria. I am also pleased to report that with the founding of the New Venture Institute, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to increasing economic freedom, this technology is now more widely available. In fact, the Institute is sponsoring its first seminar in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 1, 1996.
I think that it is possible to dramatically reduce failure by making the tools available to everyone who has an interest in new business success. We are in the middle of drastic changes in the way we earn our livings. I am concerned when I see large organizations continually backing away from job security commitments. Of course the reality is that we cannot expect organizations that are no longer secure to offer security to their employees. As individuals, we need to have the tools necessary to engage the economy directly - to take charge of our own economic futures.
Through the creation and dissemination of entrepreneurial technology I hope to do my part in discovering and mapping the economic territory for the next century. For example, I have proven that entrepreneurial expertise can be learned. I have also demonstrated how the six secrets to venture success can be organized into an effective venture assessment system. And I have developed tried and proven methods for effectively prioritizing the stakeholders in your venturing environment These "failure prevention" methods are now part of the entrepreneurial technology that I have licensed to the Now Venture Institute, which has made a commitment to "get the word out."
I am very pleased to recommend the seminars and programs of the Institute to the readers of this column. I am honored that this dedicated group of scholars, professionals and educators is sufficiently motivated by my commitment that they have selected my technology to form a key component of their programs. Institute seminars have been qualified for continuing education credit with, for example, the Utah Association of Certified Public Accountants. For information regarding the New Venture Institute, or to volunteer or participate in its programs, please write, fax or call the New Venture Institute, 4547 S. 700 East, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84107; Telephone (801) 265-3475; and Fax (801) 288-1705.