Business

Self-Motivation: Short-term goals that lead to long-term success.

Engineers daily face the challenge of self motivation. Especially when working on a ‘big’ project. Engineers who master this self-motivation will do well in business because they understand short-term goals vs. long-term goals.

Imagine the Engineers day: “work on THIS bug” which helps me complete “this small task”…which leads to “this small feature” which leads to “this part of the product” which leads to “this product”. For that day, it was just that bug. Thats it. It will be months, years before that bug ‘doesn’t’ show up in that finished product.

In Business, this skill is absolutely necessary. Becoming overly fixated on “the long-term success” can lead one to do the wrong things at the wrong time. Like a good programmer, the businessman MUST fixate on the ‘current task’ while keeping in mind “the long-term goal”! For this, one needs a plan. ANY PLAN. It doesn’t have to be ‘the best plan’ it just has to make sense and be flexible. Like a good engineer, if ‘fixing this bug’ is taking too much time/effort and no end in sight, perhaps ignoring it and working around it is a better approach. The same goes for business. If ‘the current’ task/step is bogging you down, and forward progress seems blocked, we must be flexible enough to work on something else (a workaround) or a future step.

In essense, we must “Begin with the end in mind” as Covey would say. But we must also “Put first things first”! If you can’t imagine the long-term success… you are sunk. But you are equally sunk if you can’t put together a logical (if difficult) series of steps that get you there.

Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People

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Knowing a Small Business Idea from a Big Business Idea


I have many Engineer friends, many of whom have a business or product idea which they come to me for advice on how or even if they should begin. I always counter with this first key question: Is it intended to be a Small Business or a Big Business. The answer is invariable, BIG, and sadly, the idea is usually SMALL. So why the disconnect? The reason is that a business needs to have certain criteria in order for it to ‘grow big’. If it fails one or all of these, your business will either ‘be small, like mom&pop store’ or ‘bust, because its not sustainable’. In fact MANY, MANY Small businesses fail because of competition. This recent article from Bank of America (someone who knows failed businesses), highlights the 7 most overrated businesses http://smallbusinessanswers.yahoo.com/overrated and is a good short read.

My criteria for a big business idea vs. a small one are simple.
1. It must be Scalable – This is the most important! If your business is “regional, only works in Colorado for example”, or requires excessive infrastructure (like a building in every region), or requires an excessive workforce (like door-to-door salesmen, or many thousands of workers per factory), than you have a SCALABILITY problem. This kind of problem CAN be overcome, but very rarely by Entrepreneurs… we get too bored with it! The classic example of “not scalable” is that of the ‘Gaming Cafe’, where people pay by the hour to place games. This is just not a scalable business. You need buildings, infrastructure, people (to manage it), and so on. The only way to make this not a mom&pop is to make it a franchise… [see link above about 7 overrated businesses].

2. It must create Barriers to Entry for Competition – this can be patent protection (not just patents, but ones that protect), a unique advantage (like having done it before), a unique/strong brand, or a significant ‘lead’ or ‘leap’ in technology.

3. It must be more than 1 Product – having only 1 product leads to inefficiencies in marketing, sales, and lots of other funcitons. If you can’t leverage your workforce for multiple products (even in the same family is ok), then you might be stuck with an idle, overpaid workforce.

4. It must not rely on 1 customer or partner – this one is just too risky. A business CAN be big with this but at great risk. And if a big business relies too heavily on 1 customer or partner, the risk will prevent growth.

I’m sure that there are other criteria, and I didn’t really define a Big Business Idea is… but that is intentional. I never judge folks who ask me for this advice. Most “Small Business Ideas” can turn big with enough effort and thought. Lets face it, usually it comes down to raising money! Either from investors or bankers, having the right business idea/business plan is key to getting that first dollar.

One final comment: some people SHOULD consider the Small Business route. Mom & pop style shops and the lifestyle that they can bring can be very rewarding! There is nothing wrong at all with that, its just a problem when people expect ‘big business’ and are faced with small.

Why I made this blog…

As an engineer I tend to really try to reduce the world into problems and solutions. When I began my business career at U.T. Austin Evening MBA program, I really hoped to learn the science of business. What I learned was that business is far from a science, more like an art. This disturbed me, since I was really, truly, hoping to learn the “formulas” for business. I hoped to learn how to “talk to people”, how to “manage people”, how to “get people to buy my stuff”… As anyone who has gotten an MBA, there are no such tricks. It’s charisma, you got it or you don’t… or so I thought.

This blog is dedicated to those engineers who really do think there might be some “science” to business. It is also a place where I put my experiences working on my own businesses and helping others with their entrepreneurial ventures.

I will tell you this, there are a NUMBER of tricks and “formulas” I’ve picked up (not really part of MBA schooling) that have and continue to help me in my businesses. I am also always hungry for more learning and knowledge on this subject. Some of the Blogs I read (see left side) are great sources for such information as well (heck I read them every day).

But stay tuned, and learn why: Engineers would make the best Businessmen.