Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo
Seminar Summary - Kerry Kennedy
2004 04 06
Entrepreneurial Success Factors
- Do you have what it takes?
Mr. Kerry Kennedy
April 2004
On April 6th, Kerry Kennedy, President of Kennedy International Co., Ltd presented EA-Tokyo members with his insights into the ABC's of Entrepreneurship gleaned from over 25 years of living and working in Japan. Kerry has been running his own company for the last 15 years and has notched up an impressive list of accomplishments including being the first foreigner hired by Toyo Keizai Shinposha, the first foreigner to hold a committee chairmanship position within the Japan Direct Marketing Association and last but not least, setting up Japans first virtual television network, iTV Japan.
Kerry presented a very interesting "nuts and bolts" look at some of the important requirements and characteristics of successful Entrepreneurship.
Attitude - the most important thing about being an entrepreneur is your attitude. To be a successful entrepreneur, you have got to have an attitude that stems from a basic belief in yourself. I have seen a lot of people who have come out of corporations who have tried to start businesses and after about a year they have decided to go back to a corporation - they discovered that life without a paycheck on the 25th of the month, without benefits, housing packages and a PA just weren't for them. To be an entrepreneur you have got to be on the edge. This creates an attitude which is you have to believe in yourself and the idea that whatever happens day by day, you are going to be there with it.
Balance: Finding a Balance - as an entrepreneur running a company it is very easy to get overloaded in your work - it can quickly become a 24/7 affair. I think you have to have balance in your life and I think so many people go overboard and lose that balance, sometimes ending in divorce.
Balance has to come from education. As an entrepreneur, you can't know everything and so you will have to continuously learn, which means giving yourself space to do so.
Confidence - if you start a company you have got to believe it is going to work. You also need to realize that things will be tough at times but you are going to ride through it. What we know is that whatever we did yesterday is gone and the future isn't here yet and so what we do here today is what really matters and these are the steps we are taking for the future.
Day to Day - Entrepreneurs just have to get up every day and do their best!
Excitement - if you are not excited about your business and your life as an entrepreneur, you are not going to be able to be successful.
Expansion and Extension - what are you going to do with your business when you reach your first or second goal? What are you going to do afterwards? Are you going to stay at your level forever? Plan your work and work your plan.
Be a First Mover - Kerry once heard a speakers advice, "I don't care if my product isn' t the best, I just want it to be the first." The first on the market with a new product or service will be "blazing the trail"so to speak and can be compared to an adventurer hacking his way through the jungle with a machete in search of the lost temple. The second person on the market will be in the advantageous position of being able to "get to the temple via helicopter" but there is definitely a first mover advantage.
Flexibility - the best laid plans can all of a sudden fizzle out and come to nothing. If you don't have a flexible attitude, you are not going to last. Being an entrepreneur is very much about being there for the long term. It is to say "I am committed to what I am doing, I have a vision, I am going to keep the balance, I am going to work on this on a day to day basis, I am committed to what I am doing and I am going to be flexible!"
Measuring Success - as an entrepreneur, what is your measurement? - do you want to make millions? Or do you want to have personal freedom? How about power, politics, sex, drugs and rock and roll? As an entrepreneur, one of the important things to do when thinking about your company and what you are going to do, is to define your measurement for success.
Multi-tasking - If you have come out of the corporate environment where you have been doing one thing for 20 years and you are not prepared to do 15-20 different things including taking out the garbage, changing the printer toner, fixing the coffee machine and banking, you are not going to be successful because many entrepreneurs do not have the money to hire someone to manage all these little tiny details that come with running a company.
Focus - it is very important to focus like a laser on your goals.
Mistakes - how you deal with mistakes is really a test of who you are. We are all humans and we need to acknowledge that we are going to make mistakes. Some will be personal mistakes and others will be professional mistakes. They are all part of the picture. You can't beat yourself over the head with them; you've just got to move on.
The X-Factor - no matter what we do, there are going to be things that come out both positive and negative that are out of our control. The flexibility that we have is going to be how we approach that x-factor.
Network - look for the many different organizations, chambers of commerce, etc, that give you chances to network with people.
Partners - you have got to have partners that are realistic about all the areas you are weak in. I think most entrepreneurs try and take on too much and it can make a huge difference to your business if you can find a partner who balances out your areas of weakness. I think the best move is to start a business with a partner rather than trying to do it by yourself.
Perception - if people see you are doing great things, they may hold you and your company in greater esteem which may well lead on to bigger and better things including new business, partnerships and opportunities.
Entrepreneurs have a chance to reinvent and reengineer themselves. Entrepreneurs don't have to stay in the same area which leads to Expansion and Extension. If one area of your business isn't working, try another. Experiment with business models until you find the ones that have a satisfactory payoff.
Find out more about Kerry's leading edge virtual television network at: www.itvjapan.com
Text: Jonathon Walsh
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