Even Small Businesses Need Visionary Entrepreneurs to Succeed

Your business may start small in the beginning, but if you have a clear vision where it is headed, and where it will be 5 years from now, and coupled that with good business planning and marketing, there is no doubt that you will succeed.

Why don’t you learn a principle or two from a man of vision that much of the free world owes its freedom from –Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd US President. As if I have transcended through time as I hear him speaks to the hearts of the struggling Americans of his time through his radio broadcast, rekindling their faith and hope for a better future amidst the suffering and hardships they were going through. He saw a great nation rising above the “great depression” his country faced, and inspired all to rally behind him. He sow optimism at the heart of everyone. His presidency probably have suffered the worst crisis that beset US. Other than the economic slowdown, worse than what we are facing right now, he led a struggling nation in the Second World War against a tyrant who threatened the very fabric of democracy.

What principle can we glean from his leadership style which we can aptly apply to small business management?

• Small businesses need visionary entrepreneurs to succeed.

  A vision is not only for corporate giants. It is for small businesses as well. A clear vision gives you both a direction and a destination. Define your vision, write it down, and share it with your stakeholders and employees. Let that vision guide you in all your business planning and operation.
  

• Resiliency, faith, and hope are necessary traits for any successful entrepreneur.

  Visionary entrepreneurs continue to do business regardless of economic recession, and do better. They find opportunities in any crisis. Thus, even when the odds are against them or when most of their peers are closing shop, they are resilient. Because they take the words of Roosevelt seriously and emulate him:

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”

So, what’s your take?