Reports from the Fitness Spot

Ask most aspiring and new entrepreneurs what they need the most help with, and you will hear a long list of answers. Most items on those lists relate to pressing tasks that burden the budding entrepreneurs' minds.

If the entrepreneur finds help with those items, sleep may be more restful and nerves may be less frazzled. However, the business may not improve.

Why? Unfortunately, such lists are almost invariably faulty, pointing to activities that either aren't very important or can be easily accomplished by anyone with some knowledge and skills. Shockingly, such lists usually omit the entrepreneurs' biggest needs and opportunities.

Why would entrepreneurs do that? It's simple. Inexperienced entrepreneurs don't know what they don't know about how to succeed.

How did I learn about this problem? I often run into such vulnerable ignorance while coaching and teaching aspiring entrepreneurs and scholars-in-training about entrepreneurship.

How do I help those learners improve? I rarely provide any specific answers. Instead, I teach learners the right questions to ask people who have deep understanding of what the budding entrepreneurs and scholars need to know, their potential customers, and more experienced entrepreneurs in similar businesses.

How do learners respond? Most cannot discipline themselves to ask the questions, to learn from the answers, and to apply what they learn. Instead, most such inexperienced entrepreneurs and scholars-in-training waste a lot of time implementing their own faulty ideas.

That's because many people feel a stronger need to "show the world" they are superior just as they are, rather than to "succeed in the world" as it is. The unfortunate results make me sad.

The good news is that learners accomplish much when they ask the right questions, find out the answers, and act on what they learn. To make the benefits of this approach clearer, let me share an example with you.

Tanzania has greater quantities of untapped potential in terms of people and natural resources than experienced, effective entrepreneurs. Yet, the young people there are eager to start businesses, realize they have a lot to learn, and are perfectly willing to work hard. What's missing?

Dr. Ikandilo Kushoka, a Ph.D. graduate of Rushmore University, wanted to find out so he could identify ways that more entrepreneurs there could succeed. With infinite patience, he first crisscrossed the country to visit all the major towns and many rural areas, searching for the nation's most successful young entrepreneurs. Then, he asked these top performers to describe what assistance would have been most useful while they were starting their successful businesses.

As a result, he identified what the most important issues had been, rather than what today's new entrepreneurs believe to be the most important issues. The answers were revealing for diagnosing various kinds of ignorance that are major barriers to success.

Based on the specifics of what he learned, Dr. Kushoka proposed some minor changes in primary school education and providing universal access to a few types of much improved entrepreneurial information. With these small improvements, he estimates that great strides could be made quickly, at little cost, to prepare millions of under- and unemployed people to thrive by starting much-needed businesses.

What's even more remarkable, he developed a general method for measuring and identifying the best ways to increase successful entrepreneurship that can be applied quickly and inexpensively in any other country. If his methodology and findings are widely implemented, millions of people need not be condemned to lifelong poverty and misery. What a blessing that would be!

Since completing his research and dissertation, Dr. Kushoka has applied his knowledge to teaching entrepreneurship and small business management at the Institute of Accountancy Arusha in Tanzania. He has also turned his dissertation into a soon-to-be published book that can serve as a template for other developing nations in Africa, as well as those in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. In addition, he looks forward to sharing his findings with other economic development scholars and experts.

Not satisfied with such accomplishments, he has several plans for promising new research projects, including a proposal to study the effects of Pentecostalism and charismatic Christianity on economic growth in Tanzania. He would also like to establish an entrepreneurship research center where his findings about preparing entrepreneurs to be more successful can be tested and improved.

Dr. Kushoka has gained many benefits from asking his questions, learning from the answers, and thoughtfully acting on the lessons. He now feels confident about helping entrepreneurs to be more successful as well as engaging in valuable research activities. As more people follow his scholarly methods, the benefits for aspiring and new entrepreneurs will grow.

Let me address your situation. What are the questions you, as an entrepreneur, should be asking?

Start by personally interviewing at least 25 successful entrepreneurs who operate in your line of business and are near your age. Keep in mind that you will probably receive more helpful answers if you contact people who are unlikely to become your direct competitors.

Ask for their advice about starting a similar business today. Next, ask them to check your knowledge to help you identify what subjects you need to learn. Then, ask the entrepreneurs what you should be learning from customers to be sure you acquire enough of them. Subsequently, ask the entrepreneurs how to quickly test the business concepts you develop as you fine-tune your operations. Finally, ask if you can work in their businesses for two weeks to see how they do things.

After gaining this knowledge and work experience, identify 300 to 1,000 high-potential customers for your business. Personally interview at least 300 of the decision makers for those customers to learn which suppliers they buy from, what they like and don't like about their current suppliers, what they are looking for from a new supplier, and what would cause them to add or to drop a supplier.

In addition to seeking those answers, also ask customers questions based on what the entrepreneurs told you to find out for gaining lasting success in this kind of business.

That's it. If you ask, learn the answers to those questions, and act on what you learn, you will probably succeed well beyond your expectations.

You can either take these steps or you can learn by making lots of mistakes. It usually takes 50 hours of mistakes and $1,000 in wasted expenses to equal what you gain from every hour and every dollar spent in asking and answering the right questions. The choice is yours about which method you will use to seek success.

What good things do you suppose wait for you from asking the right questions and acting on what you learn? I can hardly wait for you to find out!

About the Author:

Donald W. Mitchell is a professor at Rushmore University who often teaches students interested in career improvement and entrepreneurship through gaining knowledge of advanced business practices through MBA, DBA, and Ph.D. degree programs. . For more information about ways to engage in fruitful lifelong learning at Rushmore to increase your effectiveness, visit

http://www.rushmore.edu .

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