Passion to Profits. Alice LaPlante
down that path. Most importantly, you want to take control of your own destiny. This book is designed to help.
Think Like an Entrepreneur
What you are dreaming about is called entrepreneurship. The origin of the word is entreprendre, French for “to undertake.” Notice that this word emphasizes an attempt to act, and not the outcome of that action: you undertake something, and the implication is that what matters is that you have started on a journey and accepted that it’s an open-ended one. Someone who needs an extremely high level of security might be challenged by an entrepreneurial lifestyle, yet a lot of people who don’t think of themselves as embracing risk become entrepreneurs. The key is that although a successful entrepreneur takes risks, those risks are measured. Though entrepreneurs frequently go out on limbs, the ones that make it generally test that limb first to make sure it has a good chance of bearing their weight.
Entrepreneurship can be applied to virtually any field or profession. No matter what products and services are currently on the market in your area of expertise, there are always opportunities to improve them and to better serve the customers who buy them. That said, if you’re a true entrepreneur, you likely possess the following key characteristics:
■ You are driven to succeed. You’re so motivated to achieve your goals that you are prepared to overcome obstacles that would likely discourage or stop others.
■ You are a self-starter and go-getter. Rather than waiting for someone to issue instructions, you take initiative. And you can be innovative—you constantly think “out of the box” when attempting to meet challenges.
■ You routinely see opportunities where others see problems. Rather than feeling defeated when you encounter roadblocks to your goals, you feel energized. Challenges spur rather than deter you.
■ You take control of your own destiny and bear responsibility for your own actions. The buck truly stops with you when it comes to dealing with the results—both positive and negative—of decisions you make or actions you take.
■ You are willing to give up the security blanket of corporate life. You don’t mind working without the safety net of a regular paycheck or the benefits and social structure that an established employer provides.
■ You thrive on change. In the entrepreneurial world, change is a given. But rather than fearing it, you welcome it and enjoy the excitement of the ride.
■ You understand the importance of making a profit. You know that all of your best intentions and actions are for naught if you aren’t actually making a profit—that is, bringing in more money by selling a product or service than it costs you to provide it.
The Economic Importance of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs make enormous economic contributions to societies around the globe. In the U.S., for example, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA), small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms, employ half of all private-sector employees, and are responsible for more than 45 percent of the total private payroll. Moreover, they generate between 60 percent and 80 percent of new jobs annually. In terms of innovation, they also lead the pack: small firms produce 13 times more patents per employee than large businesses, and their patents are twice as likely to be among the top 1 percent cited by other inventors submitting new patents.
Most importantly, entrepreneurship is a road to financial freedom. The U.S. Federal Reserve reports that equity in unincorporated businesses made up the second largest share of total household wealth, second only to home equity.
CASE STUDY
Passionate and Powerful: Surf Divas Make Waves in Southern California
Twins Isabelle, “Izzy,” and Caroline, “Coco,” Tihanyi always knew they’d start a business together one day. The only question was, which one?
One thing was certain: the business would have to revolve around something the women absolutely love d. “We believe that you have to be passionate about what you do if you want to succeed,” says Coco. Agrees Izzy, “Going into business without that passion is like getting married without being in love. It just won’t work in the long run.”
In the end, founding Surf Diva, one of the world’s most successful surf schools for women—and one of the few women-owned businesses in the male-dominated surf industry—turned out to be the most natural decision in the world.
Having grown up by the ocean in San Diego, both women gravitated toward the outdoors and sports in general and the beach and surfing in particular. Izzy was a championship surfer who put herself through college at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), teaching others how to surf. Coco, after earning her degree in communications, also at UCSD, was employee No. 4 at Reef Sandals, a local startup that made surfers’ shoes which is now a globally recognized entrepreneurial success story. And it was a warm May evening in 1996 when the sisters sat down to have a glass of wine and found themselves talking about their dreams. “Izzy said she wanted more girlfriends to surf with. I said I wanted to design clothes and do business development,” recalls Coco. “We thought we saw an unmet need in the local surfing industry. We got all fired up and said, ‘Let’s give it a try!’”
The fact that Izzy only had $324 to her name to begin with didn’t deter her one iota. They were determined from the beginning to be self-sustaining and not take outside money, and today they still plow all excess cash back into the business. “We both worked other jobs for almost three years before we were able to quit and do Surf Diva full time,” says Coco. “We felt it was very important not to go into debt.”
With their comp any still privately held, the women don’t divulge their annual revenues, but at last count they had between 50 and 70 employees—more in the summer, due to the seasonal nature of the sport. The Surf Diva Costa Rica Surf Adventure, which the sisters founded in 2004, takes women and families on a high-end all-inclusive surfing vacation in Costa Rica, and has become one of the most popular women’s adventure destinations in the country. In 2007 they acquired the La Jolla Surf Camp for Kids, in La Jolla, Calif., and the Australian Surf Academy, a co-ed surfing school for teenagers. “We believe in always trying new things,” says Coco. “That’s part of the fun of having your own business.”
Both women urge would-be entrepreneurs to follow their dreams—but also to not be shy about paying their dues in more traditional ways. “We didn’t jump into this when we were 19 years old,” says Coco. “We did our internships when we were students, got our degrees, worked for other people, and climbed the business ladder before we felt the time was right.” Agrees Izzy, “you should never think of a job as just a job. Think of it as an education that comes with a paycheck. There’s so much you can learn from others, even when you’re just making the coffee.”
Sooner or Later, Everyone Is an Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurial endeavors are nothing new. Yet we seem to be entering a golden age of entrepreneurship. Although much attention is paid to technology-based startups—particularly those related to the Internet—you can find entrepreneurial behavior throughout all industries and geographic locations around the world. There are a variety of reasons for this:
■ No more “company men” (or women). The days when people assumed they would be working for one company all their lives are long gone. The reasons for this are many. For starters, a large number of businesses today run extraordinarily “lean.” Rather than hiring full-time permanent employees, many businesses are opting for part-time personnel or temporary or contract workers. And those that do hire full-time workers find that the average tenure of an employee is much shorter than it used to be. This is likely exacerbated by the fact that lifelong full employment is no longer a given. The average person born in the later years of the Baby