Success stories of billionaires who started a business from scratch (20 photos). What to do in a crisis

What does the term "businessman" mean? The meaning of this word refers to a person who carries out economic activity and enters into market relations with other subjects only of its own free will. As for the very concept of business, it is an activity that is aimed at making a profit by creating and selling products or services.

Who is the real businessman? The definition of the word is simple - it is a person who is engaged in business, that is, an entrepreneur, a merchant. He is the owner of his capital, which invests in various projects to achieve the goal. An entrepreneur can do business himself, or he can resort to the help of employees, managers, providing resources and conditions for work and setting certain tasks.

Who is a businessman?

This profession is definitely associated with the risk of losing money, time, effort and resources. After all, a person can always make a mistake in the calculations and lose their investments. Financial condition a businessman may depend on the economic situation in the country, sudden changes, for example, economic crisis, high competition and other difficulties in making sales or other factors that affect the efficiency of work and income.

Who is a businessman, you ask? This is absolutely any entrepreneur, business person, person who is engaged in his personal business and has a clearly defined goal - making a profit or some other benefit.

In fact, this is not a profession, but a way of life, the purpose of which is to get a stable income with a further increase. The businessman does not have a specific work schedule. The beauty of employment is that a person works for himself, and the level of his income and business development depend on him.

About activity

Who is a businessman and what is his purpose in life? Over the past two decades, this profession has become very popular and in demand compared to other work areas. Even those who own a small grocery store can be considered merchants. Anyone will agree that you don’t want to work for your uncle and get a penny, living from paycheck to paycheck. Today, many people dream of opening their own small or big business and gradually develop it.

Pros in the profession

The main thing will be the development of your personal business. This area requires confidence, endurance, because sometimes you have to make very important, complex and even risky decisions. But only thanks to this, you can develop qualities in yourself in order to understand who a businessman is and decide for yourself the importance of this area. Purposeful businessmen improve their knowledge, experience and thanks to this they achieve great results.

Minuses

Of course, this profession involves certain risks. A few years ago, they were associated exclusively with material losses and high competition. Now the risks reach the point that because of the business they can take lives.

In general, the work of an entrepreneur is very dangerous, but if your occupation is legal, then there is definitely nothing to worry about. Where there is big money and tax evasion, there are always problems and the threat of losing everything. If you work honestly and conscientiously, then you will not be afraid of either bandits or public services, no other complications.

Myths around entrepreneurs

Your business brings in a lot of money. We know only about those businessmen who were able to rise, but meanwhile there are many more people who have invested their nerves, money and strength in their business.
Money as an end in itself is not true. Money for a businessman is just a tool to achieve a goal (implementation of ideas).
A businessman has a lot of free time, and main job perform wage-earners. As for the subordinates, they are responsible only for their duties, while their boss is worried about everything. Therefore, he works all the time, even on vacation, and his thoughts are always at his enterprise.

What does it take to be a successful businessman?

The profession requires a lot of knowledge and skills, so you should be aware of who a businessman is and what he is strong in. He must know:

economy;
psychology;
Accounting;
legislation;
marketing system;
employee management.

In whatever area of the market you are thinking of starting commercial activity need to be able to organize work. Even if you have one employee, and it turns out to be you yourself, a well-thought-out organization of work will be the key to a successful enterprise.

Learning to be a businessman is easy

Today, the winner is the one who has more knowledge, information, who does not need to learn from their mistakes and what others already know. The meaning of the word "businessman" in the explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language is a businessman, an entrepreneur, the person who does business on something. Businessmen are constantly learning, developing and learning something new. But are there universities or special institutions that teach this skill? There is, and a very broad profile. This is an enterprise, business, and educational institutions of a narrow focus (restaurant, hotel business).

The profession includes endurance, self-confidence, keeps you in suspense, makes you constantly develop and grow. But this sphere, of course, makes it possible to express oneself and learn new and interesting things. As said famous millionaire and writer Harvey McKay: "The more fortunate people are distinguished from others by an extraordinary need for recognition and approval."

There is a strong belief in our society that the entrepreneur is the pinnacle of the social chain. That there is a high spire on Maslow's pyramid, and his name is business. Own business is good, but it is wrong to think that everyone needs it and everyone is capable of it.

This article will be useful to those who want to start their own business or are worried that they are not an entrepreneur.

Who is a businessman

Within the framework of this article, we will agree to call businessmen (entrepreneurs) people who create some value - material or not - and sell it on free market. They themselves look for buyers, solve administrative issues themselves, pay their own salaries, and pay taxes to the state.

Employees - the level of ordinary performers or top managers who are paid in company shares and options - are not businessmen. Yes, to some extent they own part of the company and they can take part in operational management her, but the business is still someone else's, they have less responsibility and headaches.

A simple farmer who grows and sells cucumbers is much more of a businessman than a fancy programmer at a start-up who is paid part of his salary in stock options.

The first one builds greenhouses, plants seeds, monitors growth, saves a dead crop, looks for wholesale buyers, concludes contracts, solves storage and logistics issues, reinvests profits in the business - and so on in a circle. The second one comes to the office, writes code and receives a fixed salary.

We do not in any way belittle the work of a programmer and do not praise the farmer - we only say that their work is fundamentally different.

If everyone were entrepreneurs

Imagine a society in which absolutely everyone is a businessman, of greater or lesser caliber. Everyone would have to try their best to earn a living with their skills.

One man is unable to build big company, factory, enterprise. This means that those things and processes, the creation of which requires machine labor, hundreds of hands and the accompanying chain of research, logistics and marketing, disappear. On the other hand, niche and “craft” industries, handicrafts and retail trade are developing.

In a thriving small business society, competition is fierce.

The number of the same type of offers in the markets rolls over. Citizens of a society of self-employed lucky people are forced to seek and dig blue oceans in the desert - otherwise the business will not survive.

Entrepreneurs are forced to join pools in order to do together what cannot be done alone. For example, to establish a network of supplies of goods from / to another continent, to build a factory.

In any case, produce cars, household appliances, medical equipment, weapons are beyond the power of one, even the most savvy and skillful lone businessman. This requires a simple (and preferably cheap) work force, the fact of existence of which does not fit with the idea of sweeping entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurs are not born

Of course they become. Important role upbringing plays a role in the formation of a future entrepreneur. A child who observes the efforts and results of a self-employed parent develops a different way of thinking. He sees an example, and working for himself becomes as natural a model for him as "school - technical school - factory" for some of his peers.

Such a child is no better or worse, he just looks at things differently. But even for him it can be useful to work for hire in the future in order to understand how everything works, how to work in a team, how to be responsible not only to himself, but also to someone else.

As a rule, everything successful businessmen:

1. They try.

If they see potential profitable idea on which you can earn. They take action, which is why they are called entrepreneurs. The mindset of many people is simply not sharpened by the search for opportunities.

2. Not afraid to make mistakes.

Entrepreneurs understand that failure is an integral part of business. They are as natural as the change of seasons. There are no failures only for those who do nothing. In our society, failures are shy and prefer to remain silent about them. But in vain - they say that a person tries, searches and does not give up. Many Western recruiters note that they are more willing to hire a person with experience in their own business/project than without it.

3. Take risks.

In business there is general principles but there is no guarantee of success. Almost everyone would be a businessman if business was not accompanied by risk. But there is always a risk, and many are more comfortable avoiding it, preferring stability. Alas, stability is the same today and tomorrow. And if you take a risk, you can earn more money.

4. Plow.

This word well reflects the volume of work and lifestyle of businessmen. They do not have the concept of "working day" and even more so "end of the working day." But there is a business that needs to be constantly developed. Not all of us are ready to work 12-16 hours a day, even if in the long run it will give more freedom and money.

5. Rely on themselves.

All successful business people have an internal locus of control. That is, they take responsibility for their business and life. Do not shift it to the employer, the state, relatives, colleagues and difficult times. Making excuses is the national sport. It is easier for many to "find" the external cause of their failures than to admit their mistakes.

6. See opportunities in problems.

Sounds like a rule of life from a glossy magazine, but it's true. Competition, conquest, struggle - this is how ideological entrepreneurs see their life and work. Such a fighting approach helps, especially in our realities with devaluations, income surges, bribes and kickbacks. Against this background, the greenhouse conditions of employees look like a fairy tale. In it, a good employer himself defeats the villains - the Crisis and the Competitor.

Main difficulty

It lies in the fact that any product or service must be able to sell. And with this, many of us have very big problems. We are either modest and stewed, or we go too far with perseverance. In the second case, a person gets the feeling that they are trying to "sell" him. So, it’s not even worth evaluating - immediately in denial.

Selling is not easy, but it is sales that help a business survive and grow. No wonder the American proverb divides profits so categorically: "A dollar - to the one who invented it, 10 - to the one who made it, 100 - to the one who sold it."

Are you familiar with the idea that Apple was able to achieve success thanks to a powerful tandem of engineer and entrepreneur? Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak complemented each other perfectly, and each of them alone could not build a successful corporation. It is worth recognizing that there are more Wozniaks in the world. There are far fewer people with a strong entrepreneurial acumen, "feel" and charisma of a leader than talented engineers or just hardworking performers.

You can do your job very well. Bake delicious cakes. Lay "eternal" stoves. Develop a beautiful design. But if you can’t sell yourself as a specialist (you are shy, you suffer from the “impostor syndrome”, you are lazy), your fate is hired work. And there, on it, you, most likely, one day will become cramped and bored, and you will think: “But it could…”

Perhaps they could. But here the employer will take care of everything. He will share a piece of the pie with you, and take the bulk of it for himself and put it on a plate marked "entrepreneur." Just do not think that this plate fell into his hands by accident and he is a lucky man who was smiled at by the bird of happiness of tomorrow. He earned his plate and pie on it.

but on the other hand

Many try to start their own business, fail one or more times and go back to work for someone else. Most often this happens because a person brings his old employee mindset into his business. He wants to get the results of business in the form of independence and money, but he does not want to work like a businessman and does not know how.

The level of motivation is what distinguishes employees from entrepreneurs in the first place. A vigorous start to your business without strong motivation and passion will gradually die out under difficulties and laziness, turn into survival and testing. And your unloved business is something even worse unloved work for hire: the latter can often be left without much consequences.

Your own business is a fundamentally new level of responsibility for your life, courage and desire for freedom. Do you want to start your own business? Fine! What drives you in this desire? Only the crunch of fresh banknotes without love of freedom will not be able to motivate you for a long time and lead you through the deserts of crises.

Does everyone have to be businessmen?

Of course not. Most people are simply not able to run their own business due to their thinking, character, personality traits. But that doesn't make them losers. They can be excellent specialists, diligent workers and talented people.

Entrepreneurs are not a profession that can be learned in correspondence courses. It is a way of thinking, a system of values and an outlook on life. You can learn this only in practice, ideally with a good mentor in the form of a business partner. In the second case, education by an entrepreneurial parent can be a powerful tool for a future businessman.

Are you unable to sell yourself as a specialist? Are you trying, but a wave of uncertainty, fear and a desire to sit behind the safe wall of the “contract” immediately rolls over? The business is not yours. At least for now.

Text: Alexander Litvin, Illustrations: Konstantin Amelin, Photo: Shutterstock.com

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Anyone can experience negative emotions. Everyone has problems, stressful situations, difficult days ... All this pumps out a ton of vital energy from a person, makes him lethargic and tired, doomed and sick. Negativity causes quarrels with loved ones, rude communication with others, curses between people and hatred for the whole world.

A crisis situation is characterized by internal or external events that make the usual pattern of life impossible. As a rule, such changes are accompanied by negative feelings and thoughts, the emergence of a new life status. The crisis period makes it necessary to reconsider life, change priorities and values. This is the time for change.

How to attract love into your life, what needs to be done for this and is it necessary? Firstly, there are no universal recipes, tips or manuals to follow. Secondly, if in this case, in principle, the word “work” turns out to be appropriate, then work should begin with oneself, changes should be primarily internal.

Everyone had problems associated with a decline in mood, a stressful state, a breakdown in close people over trifles. This must be dealt with, as it can cause discomfort to the human body. After all, physical and mental health are interconnected.

Toilet paper, pasta, canned food, soap are just some of the items that are rapidly disappearing from supermarket shelves in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak. Let's call a spade a spade: it's not buying out of necessity, but buying out of panic. And although this is a completely understandable reaction of people to an uncertain situation, it does not affect the lives of others in the best way.

The level of self-esteem in one way or another affects the actions of a person. A person constantly underestimates his capabilities, as a result, “life prizes” go to others. If your self-esteem is getting lower and lower, then the 20 tips in this article will help you. By starting to apply them in your life, you can increase your self-esteem and become a confident person.

Many will agree that, from time to time, they are overwhelmed by unwanted thoughts that cannot be rid of. They are so strong that even doing interesting things does not help at all. This is accompanied by negative emotions that add to the painful sensations. Sometimes it seems that it is not possible to defeat such thoughts, but if you consider the problem from different points of view, you can find the right solution.

A person's life changes with age, desires and priorities change. This is a completely normal process, although each of us is individual. If you want to make the most of your life after 30, the following 9 tips will help you.

In this article we will talk about the rules of life of great businessmen.

A few concise and seemingly simple principles helped them change themselves, their attitude to the world, and then the whole world. They created huge businesses and led millions of people. Their names have become a symbol of success, and their words have become a guide to action for thousands of beginners and experienced entrepreneurs. What is their secret? As experience shows, before you can change the world, you need to change your attitude towards yourself and others. Let's figure it out.

Tip 1. Be selective in your communication

Brian Tracy - an internationally recognized specialist in human development, advises: “Avoid at all costs associating with negative people. They are the main destroyers of self-confidence and self-esteem.”

Communicate more with those from whom you can learn something, who give you energy and are optimistic about the future. Let go of failed relationships and old acquaintances that drag you back to the past. Focus on today and what you want to achieve tomorrow.

Tip 2. Dream

As the famous song of the rapper and successful Russian businessman Vlady says, “there are millions of chances that everything will come true soon.” Dreams let you know exactly what you want. Only by dreaming, you will correctly prioritize and be able to set goals for the long term.

There is another useful side of the dream - the process itself. It brings pleasure, and you turn off your inner critic, leave all problems and worries behind, and take you as far as your imagination allows. The main thing is not to put spokes in the wheels of dreams and not to limit the flight of fantasy. After all, as the founder of Starbucks said Howard Schultz, “dreaming small, you will never succeed big. Who needs a dream that you can reach with your hand?

Tip 3. Plan

Yes, of course, not all items from the original plan will be implemented. Especially at first. But planning is important. So you do not lose sight of your goal and do not forget about important, even small things. Plans will also help you distribute time between tasks so as not to scatter and waste time.

In planning, as in dreams, process is important. Even if the plan changes beyond recognition in a matter of seconds, the planning process itself will allow you to delve deeper into the situation and imagine the full picture. That's why the Army General and the 34th President of the United States Dwight Eisenhower liked to say: “Plans are nothing. Planning is everything."

Tip 4: Unplug

John Rockefeller once said: “He who works all day has no time to earn money.” If you work daily without raising your head, then there simply will not be an opportunity to look ahead and see the world as it is. And without a fresh and sober look, there can be no success either in work or in business.

Another businessman, whose name has long become a household name, Bill Gates believes that "business is a game in which maximum excitement is combined with a minimum of rules." And do not turn the game into a routine. Know how to switch off so that you constantly enter the ring with new ideas. Moreover, let's continue the quote, "... the score in this game is kept in money."

Tip 5. Focus

Swedish entrepreneur Bertil Hult - founder of EF English First, which has helped millions of people around the world learn English language, when asked about the secret of his success, he answered exactly like this: “Stay focused”. No matter what happens around, no matter what new projects are looming on the horizon, be careful and collected on the way from the goal to the result. Concentrate on the main thing and remember why everything was started.

Tip-bonus! Learn English

This is a bonus tip that we give without reference to the greats. And yet it is important. Because knowledge of the language, although it will not change your life with a wave of a magic wand, will allow you to expand your social circle, gain self-confidence and get rid of sticky stereotypes that something is not given to you.

And, of course, English will be an indispensable tool for those who want to succeed in business or career. After all, sooner or later, each of us is faced with a dilemma: either to receive dividends from knowledge of the language, or to blush on the sidelines and continue to miss our chance.

A collection of tips and quotes compiled with love by EF English First. If you want to quickly switch from English to you, come to us on April 11 at 13:00 and 15:00 for the Open Day at the address: st. Bauman, 44/8, EF English First language center. Take a free test and trial lesson, get a personal discount and learn about unlimited English.

In conclusion, we want to quote the famous entrepreneur, founder of the Virgin Group Richard Branson. He made these words the title of his most famous book. "To hell with all of it! Take it and do it!

Focus

The path of an entrepreneur is thorny and full of problems. Blows to self-esteem, distrust, inability to spend money from the account own company is a natural part of business life.

Your own boss, a free schedule, enough money and pride in your brainchild - this is how many imagine the life of an entrepreneur. larry kim, CEO Mobile Monkey and founder of WordStream refutes this myth. It turns out that along the way you will have to experience a feeling of humiliation and shame, constantly prove something to everyone around and tightly control your own daily routine and spending.

The American dream has changed beyond recognition. For a few more decades, it was a good house in the suburbs, an SUV and money to educate children in college. Today, many young people are happy to sacrifice even the house they inherited in order to become an entrepreneur, to develop own business and be your own boss.

Launching WordStream and its successful work was a great experience for me, everything went great. But I encountered aspects of the entrepreneurial life that no one warned me about. Today I believe that before plunging into the world of business, you must be aware that it is not always warm and sunny in it.

Dropping out of college won't make you a Steve Job.

Many young people believe that if they could throw off their "suffocating shackles" higher education, then they would immediately create the next . Alas, the abandoned college does not guarantee this.

The truth is, they didn't drop out of school to eat chips and play computer games all day. Steve Jobs went to lectures for another year after his official expulsion. Gates, on the other hand, had been preparing for a year to open his own company before leaving Harvard.

These people are rare exceptions. You would probably be better off getting a good education before taking on a business. Just remember that Einstein was an excellent student and mastered advanced mathematics by the age of 15. He also didn't wear socks, but no one stops wearing them hoping to become a great scientist.

You must be insanely self-motivated

Just saying that you need to be motivated to be successful in business is an understatement. You have to be a person who asks 4, 6 times more from himself than those around him.

In addition, you need to be very curious, look for solutions to a variety of problems. Be prepared to be alone when you start. Yes, later a team of talented people may appear who will stand shoulder to shoulder with you, but the first stage must be completed alone. This means that you and only you will be a marketer, financier, customer service manager, etc. It is important to be prepared for this.

You won't be as rich as you think

When a business develops and reaches a certain level, it's a wonderful feeling. You see how the flow of money into the accounts increases, and at that moment there is a huge desire to start spending all this. Buying, of course, makes you a superhero in your own eyes, but it is important to keep the balance. You need to reward yourself for your efforts, but at the same time do not forget that you need to continue to “feed” the business. You need to develop the business at the expense of the money that it brings. The business is not yours. In order for a startup to turn into a reliable profitable business, pay yourself a minimum, otherwise nothing will come of it.

Delay is a death sentence

Postponing things for later becomes a habit for many at school or university. And although one sees that this leads to sleepless nights and constant anxiety, procrastination continues to bloom.

Once you become your own boss, there is no one else to punch you in the neck (teacher, professor, director). Now you yourself determine what you need to do in a day and what time you need to get up for this, where to work - at home, at a table in a coffee shop or rent an office. The lack of a clear structure, a clear understanding of the daily routine at the first stage of business life is very dangerous for a procrastinator (after all, you can watch one more episode of the series, and only then return to work). There is a risk of finding yourself in a situation where the clock is already one in the afternoon, and you order pizza for breakfast and go to brush your teeth in pajamas.

To prevent this from happening, it is important to immediately consider it as serious, which requires the preservation of working hours, only this will allow you to move forward.

Finding a dream team is hard

Your startup can be very interesting and promising, but it is often very difficult to explain and prove it to others. Don't be surprised if your friends, colleagues, and family members aren't overly interested in joining your cause.

You need to understand that you offer people to significantly change their lives, just by believing in you. We all have families and obligations, so take risks stable income few are ready. In order for people to come to you more confidently, you need to demonstrate the value of the company and its stability. As soon as you can prove to people that you are able to constantly pay them decent, there will be no problems with the team.

Pride can be seriously hurt

The harsh reality is that approximately 80% of startups fail. Worst of all, by the time of the crash, all your friends, acquaintances, and family members already know what you are doing and regularly ask how things are going. Imagine how fun it will be to meet everyone on the New Year or birthday?

It is important to accept the fact that failure is possible. It's just important not to lose your temper, but to learn from your mistakes. Many entrepreneurs go through several failed startups before they succeed. It takes a certain amount of humility to accept the fact that you were wrong, so you have to hide your ego deeper.

Success has never been so beautiful

The path of an entrepreneur can be very difficult, but the rewards are enormous. You can read a lot about what businessmen have experienced when they have been successful, but you can't really understand it without experiencing it firsthand.

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