by Jeff Fritz
It's scary out there. Graduating from university, students would hope
to whatever belief system they holds dear that they'll be able to land
a job within their chosen profession, to finally start their adult
lives in earnest. "But what if that doesn't happen?" they might
wonder. "What are my options?"
For many soon-to-be-graduates, the answer to this existential query is
weighing more and more on their collective minds. And even with the
economy crawling out of a recession, finding work—any work—remains a
bloodsport. They will be competing with thousands of other new
graduates and hundreds of thousands of other adult professionals for
the jobs they want.
Success in entrepreneurship is as much who you know as what you know
or how innovative you are. … All things together, it's usually the
well-connected person who wins the game versus the individual without
connections.
Pile on to this the fact that since the 1980s, since the rise of
globalization, cost cutting trends have changed the rules of the game.
Specifically, such movements as downsizing (reducing organizational
size either through the number of employees or the number or breadth
of departments); delayering (restructuring the organization to possess
fewer levels of bureaucracy); outsourcing (getting rid of
organizational functions to instead purchase them from external
specialists); and casualization of work (part-time, flex-time, temp
work, volunteer, etc) have led to a complete shift in how most view
the concept of work.
Summarizing this shift, Professor Jon Kerr, a lecturer and coordinator
of the management area in the School of Administrative Studies in the
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, stated, "The
employment environment today is fundamentally different than the
environment 30, 40, 50 years ago. The idea of getting out of
university, getting into one stream of work and staying in that work
until retirement, those days are long gone."
Options
So what options are there? For some, taking action, taking command of
one's life to create one's own opportunities feels like a welcome
refuge from the thought of having to rely on the whims of external
employers. This mindset is entrepreneurship at its heart and many
young professionals are viewing this profession/lifestyle as a viable
option upon graduation.
One such individual is Moshe Lokshin, President of the
Entrepreneurship Society at York. Growing up in Israel, Moshe
developed a strong background in computers, so much so that at 17 he
decided to start his own business. To his surprise (and a great deal
of luck he adds), his business, M.n.B. Computers Ltd, grew over three
years to generate annual sales of approximately 3.5 million Shekels
(750,000 CAN).
Sitting down with him, we discussed the lifestyle of the entrepreneur.
Sure it provides the satisfaction of striking it out on your own and,
if you're successful, a great deal of wealth, but is it for everybody?
Moshe grinned. Then with a Russian accent confessed, "(When I first
started out) I had to sacrifice—initially it was a girlfriend, then
friends, my high school grades were lower, all the things that I
didn't know how to balance with my business, how to manage into my
schedule."
"You see, for entrepreneurs, you have to do everything, because
usually when you first start out, you don't have the capital to hire
anybody. … Those things, how to manage your time, you're not born with
them. It takes time to learn."
In the end though, Moshe confirmed that, for him, the pros outweighed
the cons. "Entrepreneurship is my life."
The conversation then shifted to the qualities a young professional
needs to succeed as an entrepreneur. "Generally, I would say (you need
to) have dedication, persistence, discipline, adaptiveness and
awareness. Things are always changing in the market place. You have to
be prepared for uncertain situations. And you have to be alert. You
have to keep up on the market, know who your competitors are and if
they make a mistake, know how to capitalize on it."
But Moshe added that above all else, "I think that it is very
important for entrepreneurs to be okay with failure, because it's
there all the time. You fail and you have to stand up and keep on
going."
If that last point hasn't scared prospective entrepreneurs off, then
the next likely question one might ask is, "Where do I begin?"
During the discussion with Professor Kerr, he pointed out that a good
place to start is through networking. "Success in entrepreneurship is
as much who you know as what you know or how innovative you are. On
two sides, it helps you with getting the resources you need to get
your venture off the ground … and also, at the market interface,
networking exposes you to different channels, new potential customers.
"All things together, it's usually the well-connected person who wins
the game versus the individual without connections."
Kerr went on to explain how, in terms of lack of funding, there are
also a variety of modest funding grants and loans offered by the
government for young entrepreneurs (that is, if you can't get funding
from family, friends, the bank, etc). Moreover, the importance is
pressed for those students who lack experience, to "weave
(entrepreneurship) into their education and choice of part time
employment, (to expose them) to the entrepreneurial landscape (as
early as possible)."
"But still," one could say, "the costs seem to high. Starting a
business, running a business, nowadays only the big corporations can
do that. How can I compete?"
Entrepreneurship 2.0
This mindset would have been perfectly valid and common only ten years
ago. For many, the costs of starting one's own business, competing
with the 'big boys' were staggering, not to mention the sheer amount
of industry or legal knowledge one would need to obtain to ensure
their business lasted past the first few years. But something arose
this past decade, something which acted as a game-changer: the
Internet Revolution.
It seems quaint to say this now, especially with how comfortable many
Gen Nexters are with the Internet. But that's the point! When one
thinks about it, the Internet—and the Information Age it helped
foster—has completely democratized almost every aspect of starting a
new venture. And for those Gen Nexter's, currently in their 20s,
they're the first generation to grow up with it, to know how to use it
intuitively.
So why pay huge sums of money to market one's product or service on
television or in newspapers, when one can do so for free (or next to
free) online (e.g. Ebay or SparkFun) and in a much more targeted way?
Why shell out thousands in consultancy costs, when one can access
reams of industry, legal, regulatory, pricing, logistical information,
etc, for free online.
Why invest millions of dollars in owning manufacturing plants,
warehouses, shipping fleets, etc, when one can organize online the
outsourcing of a product's complete production to foreign countries
like China (e.g. Alibaba.com: business-to-business marketplace), have
it stored in a nearby warehousing company, accept payments for
products online (e.g. paypal.com), then deliver one's products
anywhere in the world (e.g. government or premium mail carriers)?
Even for those archetypal, DIY garage inventors, they can now download
free design tools like Blender or Google's SketchUp to create 3D
renderings of their product, then purchase online the manufacturing
equipment (which have fallen in price from the hundred thousands to a
few thousand, e.g. MakerBot) they would need to build their products
at home or in their rented space.
The latter is the approach Moshe is currently taking with his new
venture, Up Entertainment. Started over a year ago, Moshe invented a
new television screen system for condo elevators that will show video
and advertisements to riders, but do so wirelessly instead of using
long bundles of cable, which is the industry standard.
He programmed the software himself and, with a business partner,
constructed a several prototypes of the screens, which were later
installed (as a trial run) in a number of smaller GTA condos. With
their success, Moshe has already contacted a Chinese manufacturing
company to produce more of these elevator screens at much lower costs.
If all goes well, he plans to soon shift his business into full
operation, installing custom screens in condo elevators throughout the
GTA.
In all, never before has it cost so little or been so easy to not only
start one's own business, but make it survive and even grow globally.
The only thing stopping most from doing so is the willingness to take
risks and invest their time to pursue those opportunities they see in
front of them.
For Moshe, there's one thing he would tell a young counterpart
interested in trying entrepreneurship, "(It's) a lifestyle, not just a
career. So what do you have to improve most? Yourself. I am constantly
trying to develop myself, looking for what I'm good at and what are my
weaknesses and trying to improve on them.
"There is no stop. You can always be better, always continue, always
improve, always explore other opportunities. It's like a never ending
marathon."
Entrepreneurship and the Gen Next
http://www.arbitragemagazine.com/features/entrepreneurship-gen
SEPTEMBER 24, 2011
