So often, entrepreneurship and the premise of being an entrepreneur is driven toward sustainability, long term growth, long term profitability and so forth. These are all great approaches and topics BUT what if that’s not for you? Then what?
This is where what I call “Quick Wins” come in. Quick wins can be a large variety of things when applied to entrepreneurial ventures. Sometimes the quick win is picking low hanging fruit in the market in order to grow your business or sometimes it’s the completion of small incremental goals. My application of quick wins are for starting the idea, making it happen, and moving on. In this case, quick wins are for the serial entrepreneur.
Serial entrepreneurs constantly run into a dilemma. They are not interested in running day to day, mundane operations of a business. They don’t want to count “beans” or look at flowcharts, or pay scale samples, inventory cycles, or financial reporting tactics. Basically what I mean is the serial entrepreneur thrives on the development of new ventures but is ready to get out or move on to new ideas after the business has taken off. They get it going and are ready for the next adventure.
I like to think of serial entrepreneurs as adrenaline junkies. Its funny, but if you really think about it, you’ll start to identify these people in your life. They seem to be high energy, almost ADD type of people. In my opinion, this is not a bad thing if they are passionate about seeing their ideas through. There is a difference between a serial entrepreneur and someone who has ideas. The idea maker will tell you the idea, help a little maybe, then leave those involved to fend for themselves. The true serial entrepreneur will get it up and running, ensure its stable and on the right track, then transition duties to someone more willing to focus solely on that venture alone while they can start more companies from their other ideas.
The serial entrepreneur’s quick win is in the timeframe of about 1-2 years. I would venture to say that some can range up to 3 years but at that point, the business should be well underway. As with venture capital, serial entrepreneurs want to be out in 3 years or less. Of course this is just my opinion.
The quick win approach is not for everyone and running a business long term is not for everyone. The push to focus on sustainability and long term growth are over marketed in my opinion. They are the low hanging fruit for the marketing and startup industry analysts. They can push the “popular” idea easily and build their content easily but that doesn’t mean that it’s the only way in. Quick wins can be a great way to get your feet wet in entrepreneurship. They are easy to implement (think low cost) and can have a high impact (think large customer base). Think of how many ideas you have probably had and dismissed because they weren’t sustainable or they couldn’t grow big enough. Does that mean the guy who invented zip ties didn’t possibly think the same thing? Imagine if he had dismissed his idea because there were already wire ties and all sorts of other fastening products. Although this grew to be a huge market, he didn’t know that when he started.
The premise here is not to overlook the quick win if you are able to start a company and move on or are interested in trying out many different ideas. Sometimes you can be as successful as you dare to dream just by having a few different companies up and running. You can be in many industries all at once and you can start new ventures in others while doing so. Don’t overlook the possibility of the quick win because it will likely be more fulfilling, more rewarding, and way more fun than your day job.
Disagree with me? Agree with me? Please leave a comment below!
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Great post, Adam!
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Thank you Branden!
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Solid article Adam!
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