One of the most often asked questions by people new to business
is exactly, how do you become an Entrepreneur ? To be honest,
it's one of the first questions I asked when I started in
business, more than 10 years ago. The problem is, the more
people you ask, the more confusing it becomes. Everyone has
a different view. Are you born an Entrepreneur?
The answer to that is definately not. It's a skill that can be
learned, just like riding a bike, but if you don't learn it
correctly, true wealth will be outside your grasp, forever!
To fully understand the concept of entrepreneurship, you first
need to know it's place on the ladder of success.
There are basically 5 levels of Entrepreneurs and you need to
know where you're at right now before you can start jumping to
the next level. Level 0 is an employee. It's not really a
level at all - hence Level 0 - but if this is where you are, at
the moment, you need to use this time to build knowledge and
build capital. Try not to become a specialist. Remember,
specialists become obsolete! Rather, try to become a
Generalist. Look at it this way. If you are in the Army, who
makes the ultimate decisions? The General ! Not the infantryman,
not the tankie, not the Medic, but the General. Generalists
employ specialists!
Level 1 is the self-employed person. This is really where most
people start to climb the ladder. It's also where many people
stay, mistakenly thinking they are now an Entrepreneur! The fact
is, it's easy for self-employed people to become bigger and
bigger specialists. You need to use this level as a starting
point only and rapidly move on to the next level. Level 2 is a
Manager. You need to start developing a commercial business
that works when you are not there. You need to start building
passive income because a paycheck existance will never lead to
true wealth. In other words, start to work on your business
and not in your business. There's a very distinctive and
subtle difference!
In the above 3 levels, you either earn or make money. At level
3, you become an Owner/Leader. You're now starting to ask -
What's my Profit? There are basically 2 rules to being an
owner/leader. Rule 1 - employ people that are better than you.
This may sound silly, but you need to build a team of
specialists around you. Remember, you have to be the General.
Rule 2 - Build systems into your business. Without systems,
you'll be tied to your business 24 hours a day - you will be the
only one who can operate it. If I asked you does McDonalds make
the best hamburgers in the world? what would you say? Most of
you would answer no, but if I asked you who sells the most
hamburgers in the world? The answer is systems - systems! You
must have systems in place that anyone can operate.
When you reach level 4, you're now an Investor. Your interests
now extend above profits. You now want to know your Return on
Investment or ROI. At this level, your ROI comes from buying
businesses, building them up and selling them. Ideally, you
should be buying a business performing to 25% of capacity and
you sell when they are performing to 70% capacity. If you want
to know the 7 Rules to Buying a Business, just email me at
You've now reached the pinnacle - Level 5. A true Entrepreneur
is more interested in how much capital they can raise for their
next enterprise. An Entrepreneur is recognized by the number of
zeros in his/her annual income. Don't be the type of person I
call looking good, going nowhere. You've all seen them. The
type of person that buys the latest autos, the flashest clothes.
The path to true entrepreneurship is hard, but anyone can reach
the top. Remember, knowledge and wealth go together, not time
and wealth! Time is irrelevent. It doesn't matter whether you're
17 or 70. Gain the knowledge you need to get there - and you
will! Wealth is dependant on 2 things - Cashflow and Assets.
You use a business to create the cashflow and then obtain
the assets. Bill Gates is a prime example. Did Bill Gates become
the richest businessman in the world by selling software?
Some of you are nodding your head and saying yes. Wrong!
He sold software to create a cashflow. He became the richest
man in the world of business by selling his company - or
more precisely, by selling stock in his company. He obtained
the assets. Remember, cashflow + assets wealth.
About the Author
Graham Farley is CEO of Abstract Marketing International and
Webmaster of AmegoNet For more tips on Marketing, Promotion
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