Thursday, 26 June 2014
Wednesday, 25 June 2014
Your Passion<->Your Profession
Everyone feels passionate about something. For some, it might be computer games, handmade candles, or chocolate cream-cheese crunch cake. For others, it may be skydiving, scrap-booking, or just good old-fashioned loafing around.
Whatever your fancy -- no matter how eccentric, exotic, or mundane -- you enjoy it, and that's all that matters. But invariably, some enthusiasts have the proverbial eureka moment, becoming convinced that they have a million-dollar business idea on their hands.
So how can you tell whether or not your particular passion has what it takes to make it out of your basement and into the big leagues?
STEP BACK. Begin by vetting it like a standard entrepreneurial endeavor. "It's not any different from any other business," says Gene Fairbrother, lead business consultant for the Dallas-based National Association for the Self-Employed. "You've got to determine first if there's a market for it, then determine how much profit is in it."
Hard as it may seem, you need to stand back and look objectively at your precious idea's potential. While you might enjoy spending an afternoon crafting a piece of jewelry for your colleague's neighbor's wife, it wouldn't make good business sense if you could sell it for only $10. And just because your friends seem delighted every time you give them one of your beloved ceramic frogs, it doesn't mean complete strangers will shell out $40 a pop.
With a hobby-turned-business, you also have to look out for what Steven Rogers, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, calls the "me too factor" -- that irresistible urge to jump on the bandwagon once others start successfully commercializing your avocation.
FORGET UNDERCUTTING. "The question is: Is there something distinctly different between your idea and what's already available out in the market?" says Rogers, director of Kellogg's Levy Institute for Entrepreneurial Practice. "You need a distinctive competitive advantage that is not 'me too.'"
In lieu of such a difference, many enthusiasts try to distinguish themselves through lower prices, but Rogers says that's one of the worst ways to compete, since it's almost impossible to maintain once the market grows saturated. Instead, scour your industry's entire range of sales, distribution, and manufacturing channels for a creative approach that'll give you a first-mover advantage.
Rather than simply selling model trains, you could put together auctions and seminars for beginning hobbyists. Instead of opening a fancy restaurant, you might consider supplying upscale supermarkets with gourmet snacks. "There are all different types of tangents that will capitalize on your talents," Fairbrother says.
GOTTA LOVE INVENTORY. Once you've found your niche, do some thorough market research. But beware: Although seemingly straightforward, this is the stage where many passionate hobbyists fail. "People are so doggone convinced that the thing they love is going to be loved by other people that they won't let the research tell them the real story," Rogers says. That's why it's important to have the numbers evaluated by one or more independent third parties, and listen carefully to their feedback.
Even if they give you the green light, you've still got to ask yourself one final hard question: Aside from your passion, do you have any real interest in the business side of things? "If not, you'll take something you really enjoy and mix it with something you really hate," says Jim Bellas, founder of Turning Point Associates, a strategic consulting company in Falls Church, Va.
If you don't have a business bone in your body, he suggests looking for a partner -- someone who may not give a hoot about your collection of all things Sex in the City but does cartwheels over things like inventory, accounting, and customer service.
KEEPING THE SPARK. Finally, keep in mind that hobby industries can be fickle. You'll want to proceed with caution but not move so slowly that your fledgling business hovers indefinitely in the limbo between pastime and profession. If you're serious about taking things to the next level, Rogers recommends striving for profitability within two to three years.
"I'm a big believer that doing what you're passionate about makes a big difference, but it's not just about your passion," says Bellas. "The operative word here is 'doing it as a business.'" The trick is to do that while maintaining your passion.
Whatever your fancy -- no matter how eccentric, exotic, or mundane -- you enjoy it, and that's all that matters. But invariably, some enthusiasts have the proverbial eureka moment, becoming convinced that they have a million-dollar business idea on their hands.
So how can you tell whether or not your particular passion has what it takes to make it out of your basement and into the big leagues?
STEP BACK. Begin by vetting it like a standard entrepreneurial endeavor. "It's not any different from any other business," says Gene Fairbrother, lead business consultant for the Dallas-based National Association for the Self-Employed. "You've got to determine first if there's a market for it, then determine how much profit is in it."
Hard as it may seem, you need to stand back and look objectively at your precious idea's potential. While you might enjoy spending an afternoon crafting a piece of jewelry for your colleague's neighbor's wife, it wouldn't make good business sense if you could sell it for only $10. And just because your friends seem delighted every time you give them one of your beloved ceramic frogs, it doesn't mean complete strangers will shell out $40 a pop.
With a hobby-turned-business, you also have to look out for what Steven Rogers, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, calls the "me too factor" -- that irresistible urge to jump on the bandwagon once others start successfully commercializing your avocation.
FORGET UNDERCUTTING. "The question is: Is there something distinctly different between your idea and what's already available out in the market?" says Rogers, director of Kellogg's Levy Institute for Entrepreneurial Practice. "You need a distinctive competitive advantage that is not 'me too.'"
In lieu of such a difference, many enthusiasts try to distinguish themselves through lower prices, but Rogers says that's one of the worst ways to compete, since it's almost impossible to maintain once the market grows saturated. Instead, scour your industry's entire range of sales, distribution, and manufacturing channels for a creative approach that'll give you a first-mover advantage.
Rather than simply selling model trains, you could put together auctions and seminars for beginning hobbyists. Instead of opening a fancy restaurant, you might consider supplying upscale supermarkets with gourmet snacks. "There are all different types of tangents that will capitalize on your talents," Fairbrother says.
GOTTA LOVE INVENTORY. Once you've found your niche, do some thorough market research. But beware: Although seemingly straightforward, this is the stage where many passionate hobbyists fail. "People are so doggone convinced that the thing they love is going to be loved by other people that they won't let the research tell them the real story," Rogers says. That's why it's important to have the numbers evaluated by one or more independent third parties, and listen carefully to their feedback.
Even if they give you the green light, you've still got to ask yourself one final hard question: Aside from your passion, do you have any real interest in the business side of things? "If not, you'll take something you really enjoy and mix it with something you really hate," says Jim Bellas, founder of Turning Point Associates, a strategic consulting company in Falls Church, Va.
If you don't have a business bone in your body, he suggests looking for a partner -- someone who may not give a hoot about your collection of all things Sex in the City but does cartwheels over things like inventory, accounting, and customer service.
KEEPING THE SPARK. Finally, keep in mind that hobby industries can be fickle. You'll want to proceed with caution but not move so slowly that your fledgling business hovers indefinitely in the limbo between pastime and profession. If you're serious about taking things to the next level, Rogers recommends striving for profitability within two to three years.
"I'm a big believer that doing what you're passionate about makes a big difference, but it's not just about your passion," says Bellas. "The operative word here is 'doing it as a business.'" The trick is to do that while maintaining your passion.
Monday, 23 June 2014
Currently Hiring >>>>>>
Hiring across locations >>>>>>
- Skill 1: Android Architect with 3+ yrs of experience.
- Skill 2: iPhone Architect with 3+ yrs of experience.
- Skill 3: HTML 5 Lead + Snechatouch/jQuerry(Mobility experience mandatory) with 3+ yrs of exp.
- Skill 4: IOS Lead + version control systems such as SVN or Git with 4+ yrs of exp + App exp with Agile methodology.
Any one interested can share profiles: Shukantula.dhar@cognizant.com
Absolutely inspiring......
Most Stirring Speech Ever By An MBA:
It’s rare that a commencement address rises above the ordinary, a nice got-to-have speech filled with cliches about fulfilling one’s promise. It’s even rarer that a graduating student shows up the official invited speaker at a commencement to deliver a highly memorable and rousing oration.
But it happened last month at Harvard Business School when one of the some 900 graduating MBAs stepped behind the podium and before the microphone.
With surprising poise and self-confidence, Casey Gerald rose to the occasion, giving the most inspiring and stirring speech we have ever seen given by a graduating MBA.
His 17-minute Clintonesque exhortation–without notes–to fellow students and their families even overshadowed Khan Academy Founder Salman Khan who returned to HBS to deliver the official address to the Class of 2014 at the annual pre-commencement Class Day ceremony.
Gerald spoke movingly about a near-death experience with armed gunmen in his hometown of Dallas, and how that changed his life forever. “A strange thing happened as I accepted that I was about to die: I stopped being afraid.” He then decided to “give my life to a cause greater than myself.”
A LAWYER AT YALE SAID THAT IF YOU WANTED TO CHANGE THE WORLD IN THE 21ST CENTURY GET AN MBA
Initially convinced he would become a lawyer, a summer internship within a law firm “quickly disabused me of the idea.” Investment banking came next as an intern at Lehman Brothers in the summers of 2007 and 2008. He got an inside view of the firm’s dramatic collapse. “It’s the story of my generation,” Casey says. “No one thought an institution like that would come tumbling down. But we all saw how fragile and vulnerable any institution can be.”
While at Yale, Casey attended a law school event at which the speaker made an observation that had a lasting impact upon him. “He said law was the instrument of social change in the twentieth century,” Casey explains, “but if you want to change the world in the twenty-first century, get an MBA.” Casey applied, and was accepted into, HBS’ deferred admission 2+2 program, using the two years of work experience to explore options in both social policy and business. He worked for the Center for American Progress, the Cities of Service Coalition, and Reboot, “a design-based approach to innovation in the public sector,” and the latter through Neiman Marcus, where he worked on the president’s five-year strategic plan.
After arriving at Harvard Business School from Yale, Gerald said that HBS “changed who we were; it reminded us who we could be. It reminded us that we didn’t have to wait until we were rich or powerful, or until we actually knew finance, to make a difference. We could act right now.”
ON THE FRONT LINES OF CHANGE
With three classmates, Casey founded a non-profit, MBAs Across America, which is a movement of MBAs and entrepreneurs working together to revitalize America. “We saw the signs for hope in entrepreneurs who were on the front lines of change. They showed us that the new ‘bottom line’ in business is the impact you have on your community and the world around you — that no amount of profit could make up for purpose.”
Last summer, Gerald set out on an 8,000-mile journey across the country with three other classmates to talk to people in “nooks and crannies, and the unbeaten paths,” to discover the interconnectedness of people’s lives, dreams, and aspirations.
The conclusion of his speech was a remarkable exhortation to his classmates, leaving little doubt that Gerald has at least the potential to become the next Obama.
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