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Entrepreneur (True Business Owner).
The entrepreneur is one who has learned how to do several different things TO his business so that the
business can work independently of him, FOR HIM. What are some of those things?
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Organizing the business into functions1. That means delineating job duties down to the last
detail in the way they need to be done in order to obtain a standard, predictable result, without variation.
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Mapping those functions onto an organizational chart with flows2 and communication channels so that
employees understand hierarchy and how things are done in an orderly fashion.
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Assigning those functions to qualified individuals.
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Assigning metrics3 to those functions so they can be analyzed for optimization.
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Qualifying4 those functions to ensure a standard is met and establishing a method of correction and
future detection/prevention of deviation.
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Establishing, developing and promoting leadership in the key areas of finance, marketing, production/delivery,
and administration in order to oversee the execution of key sub-functions within those areas.
Of course, many more areas are necessary for the success of a business, but the above rudiments alone will
help any business to start looking like a real business, rather than a thrown-together group trying to get by.
Entrepreneurs have big ambitions. They're the type that will throw caution to the wind for the
gradiosity of their dreams. In their mind, they've often won the game even before it's played. But without the rudiments above
and much more, they will find themselves capable of backsliding into being self-employed.
A decade ago I worked for an individual who had a relatively successful small business: two major divisions
and doing over $2 million a year with nearly two dozen employees. In the course of nine months however, I watched the enterprise
unravel and dive headlong into bankruptcy and the proprietor retreating to working out of the basement of her home with only one person
left.
It still saddens me to have seen that occur when it didn't need to. Why did it
happen? Many reasons that I won't go into.
Nonetheless, the business must have the rudiments above plus become profitable while growing in
value. Then the business becomes an asset.
Assets are what determine net worth. Assets, therefore, are very good things to have as they
build security and wealth, establish and raise credit, and generate income streams.
Investors.
The final part of Kiyosaki's quadrant is for investors. Having developed assets, the investor can
begin to leverage the value of his assets to invest in other income-producing or asset-creating functions.
For example, a print-shop owner whose operations have expanded and has 20% year-end profit, may elect to
upgrade or add higher output printers which, in turn, allow for greater production and quicker turn-around time at less cost. This may add
12% to production over the next two quarters and higher revenues.
Or, an investor may have a $250,000 profit after taxes and choose to work with a financial planner on
aggressive ways to grow that to $1 million in the next 4-5 years.
The bottom line is that investors are now thinking of wealth creation as their modus
operandi5. Their business is just one asset in a portfolio of assets designed to contribute to that wealth
creation.
What bringes it all together?
Continue reading...
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