Common sense wins the world: the common secret of successful people

Chapter 14 Common Sense of Entrepreneurship--Understand it and you will be successful! (2)
The purpose of continuous innovation is to make the same or the same type of products have more powerful functions and better user experience.For example, the replacement of Apple mobile phones is essentially this kind of innovation.It has no real creation, but only designs the original functions to be more humanized and experience richer.

Disruptive innovation represents a fundamental change. In order to subvert the market structure, seek opportunities for oneself, or beat competitors, redefine the product structure of one's own company, or launch a new product that is completely different from the previous one, to break the The original competitive landscape had a strong impact on the market.

Most entrepreneurial teams today fall into the last category.They hope to achieve destructive innovation, launch a perfect product to shock the market, and achieve rapid expansion, but the problem is that the life cycle of their innovative ideas is extremely short, often short-lived, and it is difficult to form a sustained impact on the market.They sometimes confuse the difference between "different" and innovation, thinking that as long as they have their own personality, they are innovations.Blind pursuit of individuality, ignoring market demand and user experience, failure is inevitable.

Therefore, we often find that many entrepreneurial companies have been booming for a few months or one or two years, and they have eaten up the initial innovation dividends, and then they will immediately wither.Although sometimes large companies cannot avoid this problem, most of the time it happens to new small companies.

What needs to be pointed out is that we need innovation, but we cannot innovate for the sake of innovation

"Do you have to innovate to be successful?"
"If you don't innovate, you will die?"
This is another question that requires our dialectical understanding.A successful Chinese entrepreneur said: "Grand, my experience is that if the market needs us to innovate, then we will die if we don't innovate; if the market doesn't need it, then there is no need for it for the time being. First look at the market demand, The second is to look at your own conditions and corporate goals." Many innovations are actually discovered by people after meeting the needs of users, rather than launching an empty concept before the market has yet appeared - this is neither practical nor Not affordable.

Therefore, the primary purpose of entrepreneurs should be to launch products that people need.The product can be old or new, but only if - there is a huge demand for it.After satisfying this demand, it will be safer for you to study new problems.

In-depth discussion: How do entrepreneurs face innovation?
good use of information
Innovation is based on the collection and analysis of information.Whether you can effectively use the information you have is the first condition for whether you can achieve innovation.For example, your collection and analysis of market conditions, your grasp of relevant business policies, your understanding of competitors' product technologies, etc., are all valuable and indispensable information.Every entrepreneur should not ignore this information, no one can do their business well with their eyes closed.

Better not be the first to eat crabs
When it comes to innovation, those who are at the forefront are glorious, but they can also be miserable.For example, in the domestic blog industry, we know that Fang Xingdong is the godfather of blogs in China, he is also the founder of blog.com, and he is the first person to eat crabs.When the blog first appeared, people could see Fang Xingdong's name in news reports every day.However, Sina came from behind. Through the observation and research of Blog China, when the time was right, it launched a better Sina blog, and soon seized the market that Fang Xingdong's team worked so hard to develop.

This is because the No.1 people are often at the stage of crossing the river by feeling the stones. They still don't know how big the market is, and many decisions and actions are inevitably incomplete.One wrong step, and the whole game may be lost.One's own experience is learned, and lessons are learned.If you follow behind, you can learn from the lessons of the predecessors and summarize the experience of the predecessors, so you can prepare more fully, act more confidently, and have a greater probability of success in innovation.

Must have: Patience and determination

No one can guarantee that they will make money, customers will buy it, and innovation will be successful.Maybe you will encounter countless difficulties in the early stage, and you may also fall into a difficult predicament.But as long as you are on the right path and can persevere, your innovation strategy will definitely see results.

Just like Qihoo, they took the lead in launching the "free for users" route in China.It didn't work at first, but they persevered for a long time with great patience and determination, and finally began to use advertising and other channels to make money.In this process, if the decision-makers hesitate a little, they will not wait until the day when the spring blossoms.According to our statistics, in 2013, 10,000+ new companies established within three years closed in China, and more than half of them fell in the night before dawn.When they needed to grit their teeth and persevere the most, their leader chose to surrender.

Now, we can discuss what you should have.If you plan to devote yourself to entrepreneurship but don’t know how to find the path that suits you, I suggest you refer to the following steps and check yourself step by step to establish your own path to success and formulate your own innovation plan.

What is your hobby?
First of all, you must discover your own interests. From the selection of industries to the positioning of specific projects, and then to actual operations, you must conduct a series of investigations and plans.This process must be combined with one's own capabilities and cannot be divorced from the actual situation.Only when you find the place of fun can you have the motivation to innovate, otherwise the subsequent work will become passive water.

What are you best at?
Ask yourself: "What am I best at?" Entrepreneurship requires professionalism, that is to say, we must show what we are good at, use the best skills to provide users with products, and let people feel that the services you provide are genuine and even valuable. You can get a stable user base with great value for money.At the same time, professionalism is also the guarantee of innovative technology and a valuable quality to win the trust of customers.

What is your position?
Our lives are always determined by positioning.Positioning is like a ship, is it suitable for navigating inland rivers, or can it go to the ocean?There must be a clear understanding of this.The first is the positioning of mentality, which depends on whether your mentality is calm, stable and calm when starting a business; the second is the positioning of ability, which depends on your evaluation of yourself, what characteristics you think you have, and what you can do degree; the last is the positioning of our products, what products can I provide.If these three positionings are not done well, you may fall into an unrealistic quagmire. Without a healthy and good attitude, it will be difficult to achieve success.

Your understanding of the pattern?
Don't think that there must be a certain model in this world that is definitely profitable, there is no such thing!Even the most successful business models that others are adopting may not be suitable for you; if other people's innovative methods seem to work, it may not work for you.Therefore, we must have an innovative spirit in the model, and finding a business model that suits us is the guarantee for our continuous and stable operation.

What is your strategy?
Look at your own strategic landscape, is it vague or clear?Are you pragmatic?Do you have a long-term vision?This determines whether your attitude towards innovation is utilitarian, and determines the height of your career development.A person with a big picture in mind will have long-term expected strategies and ambitious goals.He is willing to pay a short-term price for future success, and he can also endure the loneliness and isolation, people's incomprehension, and related gossip that must be endured in the innovation process.

your management skills?

Do you have the ability to manage?We must know that the success or failure of entrepreneurship is largely determined by the success or failure of management.The future performance of your career is also determined by your current management performance.We must strengthen our investment in management knowledge, accumulate experience in this area, and study hard.Management is the wings of innovation and the solid core of successful entrepreneurs. It is a high-quality ability.

How much is your capital?
If your funds are very limited, such as only 10 million (this is all your assets), do not use more than 30% of the funds you raised when starting a business, and make decisions carefully when innovating, and do not blindly invest in innovation And invest too much money, or you will take huge risks.

Entrepreneurship must be done according to one's ability, and it is safer to formulate a development plan according to one's own capital.Many business people approach me for financing and ask me to formulate strategic plans for them. They all have a great appetite.Someone has a financing demand of tens of millions of dollars, but after I analyzed his company, I found that his project does not have such a high profitability, and the future is very uncertain.If such a large amount of money is invested, if he does not succeed, he will be very unlucky and become a hapless ghost with tens of millions of dollars in debt.

The quality of your team?

Building a team is necessary and a prerequisite.We need a team to expand our business, and we need a team even more for innovation.This will check your ability to employ people and test your charisma.When forming a team, there must be strict standards and corresponding conditions, so that everyone under him can get something and get paid according to their work.Don't treat anyone badly, and don't give special treatment by ignoring their abilities.Some people like to place cronies in the team - their own relatives or friends, and let them help them supervise employees. This method is wrong, and it is also disastrous to the innovation and development of the enterprise.

Your decision-making level?

Ask yourself in terms of decision-making ability, and at the same time try every means to improve yourself.You may not have a long-term strategic vision, but you must have decisive decision-making ability.You have to often feedback and compare the actual results with the expected value when you make a decision to verify whether your decision is successful.Finally, make the fundamental decisions related to innovation to move your career in the right direction.

Is there anyone who can help you?

People who can help you are what we often call "noble people".They either have wealth or connections, and they can give you help when you need it.This kind of people can be met but not sought, just like a gift from heaven, it is accumulated from the usual, and it is also related to one's background.We can neither force nor give up any opportunity to find noble people in our own business, come together with them, and join their circle.The essence of innovation is a kind of adventure. With their support, you can avoid detours and get powerful help when you encounter difficulties.

The process of innovating in entrepreneurship is the process in which entrepreneurs gradually form advantages and maintain their unique personality.Everyone's success is unique, and you don't need to follow someone else's pattern carefully.But at the same time, innovation is not [-]% successful. You have to make the final decision based on your own abilities, interests and characteristics.

Prioritize cash flow
Sanchez in San Francisco asked: "What business is the most profitable?" He doesn't have a job, but recently received a $50 inheritance from his father, and wants to use the money to start a business to support his wife and four children.This is not an easy task, and 4 is not a small amount.If he chooses the wrong project, the consequences he faces are serious-the family may no longer have any support, and his wife may abandon him.During the consultation, he repeatedly talked about his wife's dissatisfaction with the family's financial situation, which was one of his motivations for eagerly wanting to use the money to start a business.

If you have money in your hands, what business should you do?
This is a question that haunts almost every entrepreneur's mind all the time.There is no doubt that many people will immediately answer: Of course it is a profitable business!For example, stocks, real estate, automobiles, energy... There are many profitable transactions in today's world. This is common sense, and people know it, but can they all be done?
What you need is a realistic answer to the question: "What kind of business should an entrepreneur start with first, and how can he make more money than others in this industry?"
There is only one correct answer, as I said to Sanchez: "The most profitable business is the business with a fast turnover, not a business with a high profit margin." If you do the same thing as another person, your turnover will be faster than his , then you can make money.Of course, the premise is that your capital is the same.If the turnover is fast, it doesn't matter if the profit is lower.

Sanchez took a detour for two months before, and was almost doomed.When a person suddenly has money, many relatives and friends will gather around to offer advice and suggestions, among which a few speculators will inevitably come up with bad ideas with malicious intentions.One of his distant cousins ​​immediately ran over from Las Vegas when he heard the "great news" (the news of his inheritance), wanting to lure him to do business together: "Let's invest in the video game city together, This is the most profitable business today, you just don't know how popular this business is, there are huge crowds of people every day."
Sanchez knew nothing about this industry, and his cousin talked nonsense. He was moved and went to meet another investor (partner) together.This guy lived in Las Vegas and happened to have some money lying around and wanted to start a business.Sanchez's cousin became their go-between and one of the investors.

He inspected Las Vegas for a period of time and visited more than a dozen video game malls. Sure enough, the flow of people was very large, and it was a good deal.He excitedly agreed to the cooperation intention, but when the three of them were about to draw up the contract, he suddenly thought: "I invested the 50 US dollars in one go, when will I get back the money?" The other party replied: "The three of us invested a total of 100 million US dollars, and another 100 million US dollars in financing from the bank, so much cost, I am afraid there is no way to recover it within three years."
(End of this chapter)