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Anyone Can Do It: Business Myth or Matter of Fact?

27th Sep 2011
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Lord SugarTwo years ago Lord Alan Sugar – then just a humble Sir – became ‘Enterprise Champion’ in a cabinet reshuffle ordered by Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. It is unclear whether Brown was attempting to capitalise on the popularity of the self-professed ‘East End boy done good’, whose belligerent putdowns and cantankerous style on The Apprentice proved such a hit with the masses. Without doubt, however, what Brown wished to demonstrate in his appointment of Sugar as his business ‘tsar’ is an old adage in business: ‘Anyone can do it.’

Sugar, of course, is just one example. A self-starting Londoner who started his flagship Amstrad electronics company when he was twenty-one, he is now the most recognisable scion of British entrepreneurship, with an estimated fortune of £770 million. If the adage is correct, Sugar is the man to promote it. Having left school at 16, he began selling car aerials out of a van and has never looked back.

In Alan Sugar’s autobiography, released last year, the tycoon claims that entrepreneurs are born, not made: ‘You can’t go into Boots and buy a bottle of entrepreneurial juice,’ he wryly asserts. No, not yet; but with the correct mentorship and guidance, the bottle won’t take long to fill.

Of course, Alan Sugar is by no means the only entrepreneur whose business acumen has taken him all the way to the top. Branson, Buffett, Trump – they are all as abstractly fortunate and gifted as Messrs Rooney and Ronaldo. But while the latter duo’s talent relies heavily on instinct and God-given skill, the best businessmen tend to have acquired their skills as they went along – with plenty of slip-ups along the way.

Budding footballers can, of course, study religiously the movements of the best players in the world, but replicating them is not something that mere attentiveness can enable. In business, however, paying heed to what has gone before can pay dividends.

Experienced business professionals can teach you to navigate common obstacles that they’ve encountered; they can share contacts and resources; they can demonstrate best practice and offer valuable strategic advice. Tapping into the resources offered by mentors and training academies can enable ambitious businesspeople to get ahead – and stay ahead – of the competition.

You can’t help but recall a story from Dragon’s Den impresario Duncan Bannatyne’s book, relevantly titled Anyone Can
Duncan Bannatyne

Duncan Banatyne - Anyone Can Do It!

Having built the first nursing home in what would ultimately became a thriving enterprise, Bannatyne’s bank manager informed him that the home had to be at full capacity in order to facilitate the bank’s loan. What to do? Bannatyne ingeniously encouraged his elderly mother to bring her friends around on the day of the bank manager’s inspection to populate the property.  The loan was subsequently approved.

Whilst we don’t encourage you to adopt this style of running a business, these vein, strokes of genius are sometimes  just as essential as good resource management and networking skills. Focus and drive to succeed are often innate, but knowledge can be learned and put to the advantage of entrepreneurs the world over. Until they start selling entrepreneurial juice in six-packs, the Matrix Business Academy presents your best bet of making it to the top.

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
27th Sep 2011 11:55

Xero accountants

Not sure whether saying anyone can do it is accurate. They need drive, purpose and determination, which not everyone has.

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Replying to efficiencycoach:
By waynemorris
27th Sep 2011 12:27

Business Myth or Matter of Fact?

That is very true they do need drive, purpose and determination, which not everyone has and even with those strengths there is still no certainty even then of success

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