Entrepreneurs are eccentric ranks slightly below elephants are large among obvious observations. The opportunities that they pursue, as well as the businesses that they run, singularly point toward an unconventional world of risk, reward, value, and victory! Essentially, they see the world differently. Whether they pursue niche markets, or unconventional low-cost solutions, their boldness is equally embedded in their DNA and revealed through their actions. They live the value that they communicate and create. Their eccentricity is the pathway to outperforming the status quo, or at least betting their livelihood on the belief that they will.
Create Value
Before entrepreneurial wings take flight, these business’ leaders have a vision. Eventually, an idea, a service, a product, or an advantage surface. The vision actually reflects seeing the unseen. These people fundamentally, leap and learn to fly on the way down. Regardless how brilliant, safe, or guaranteed a particular opportunity appears, staring professional and financial risk in the eye requires a different kind of personality. Eccentricity, more or less describes it. But, once the operation launches quirkiness does not accurately capture the behaviors or emotions.
The successful entrepreneur must singularly focus to create value based on an idea and strong belief. More specifically, the entrepreneur must create more money based on knowledge, instincts, and tenacity that they can grow their initial sum. Value makes the operation sound rational. Frankly, taking a sum of money, working hard doing something new, then creating more money sounds closer to alchemy. However, the alleged magic happens often enough to inspire more dreamers to try for themselves. Only an eccentric can exercise that level of faith. Yet, individuals and teams pursue this path regularly.
Execute Ideas
In concert with value creation, inhuman tenacity, and wild ideas, the work begins and execution must happen. Remember that the whole process starts with an idea. The idea’s execution becomes the created value! Then, processes start becoming replicated and improved. The eccentricity intervenes at this point because customers and deliverables are both new to each other, and both parties are trying to achieve a sense of normality. Even if the involved individuals are familiar with each other, the environments that they now occupy have changed in respect to each other.
An entrepreneurial venture adopts a new personality for the marketplace regardless of the familiarity of the personnel. Potentially, the personalities can change for the better. However, the uncertainty directly feeds the eccentricity. Something as simple as 30 days payment terms that rounded up to 35 days harmlessly in the previous environment, now creates a cash crunch in the new venture at day 31. Cash crunches in all businesses causes behaviors to change. Still, entrepreneurial operations tends to create a higher sense of urgency than most corporate environments. Fortunately, successful entrepreneurs compensate with better service, less bureaucracy, or superior performance. The ultimate benefit happens when better idea execution means better value creation.
Takeaways
Eccentricity equals genius when it works! Consequently, successful entrepreneurs are rightly celebrated. Creating value is the foundation of capitalism. Having the confidence to find an opportunity, execute the idea, and create value is rare. Successfully performing these steps is even more rare. Creating an entity that sustains its value is more rare still. Successful entrepreneurship is valuable for that very reason. Perhaps these entrepreneurs are called eccentric because they are slightly strange. Or, maybe they are so rare that they simply appear strange when compared to the status quo. Regardless, the eccentricity of entrepreneurship is worth admiring, and for professionals bold enough to build value through risk and execution, it is worth rewarding.
By Glenn W Hunter
Managing Director of Hunter And Beyond, LLC
Hunter And Beyond, LLC 