It’s true indeed, entrepreneurship can be taught. I have read how.

I always thought that I can be an entrepreneur just by getting some ideas and then try it out in the market. Sadly until now, I haven’t started a business of my own yet. I have a lot of ideas but I was never sure if they will be able to be successful. I am too afraid to lose money because I don’t that many resources available. This book disciplined entrepreneurship is a help for those who want to start their business and help for those who are already starting but wanted a clear direction for success. One thing this book taught me is to correct my midset. He described in this book that there are two distinct types of entrepreneurship. First is a Small & Medium Entrepreneurship that focuses only on the local market. This is always the kind of entrepreneurship that I have in mind. The book focuses on the second type which is the Innovation-Driven Enterprise. It made me think that I can also start my own company if believe and learn how to. Like what was mentioned in the book, it infected me with the contagious “entrepreneurial virus”.

The book is a guide for those who are new to this venture. It composes of 24 steps divided into 6 themes. Those first few steps talked about market segmentation and leading into making your own end-user persona. That step alone corrected my view on how to start a business. I always thought I need to create a product first but that is not the case. Sometimes it does work but most of the time it doesn’t. As was asked in the book, “What is the single necessary and sufficient condition for a business?” Well, the answer to that just corrected all my false beliefs. It is a paying customer! Of course, business is about the customer paying what you offer to them. Without that one condition, the business will fail. So do not focus on what to offer or what business plan to use. I have learned that I should learn about my customer first. Since the market is big and I don’t have enough resources like billionaires have. I need to focus my efforts on those that will give me a positive cash flow. The strategy is to create an innovative product where no market currently exists. If a new market is created, there is a very high chance to dominate market share. I have learned that I cannot sell to everyone. Since starting a business requires money and time. You cannot afford to lose them by trial and error. You will act in a way where you have a high chance that you will get a return from your efforts. Market segmentation is started by brainstorming a wide array of market opportunities. Then talk about your idea with potential customers and get feedback from them. You will then identify in which category of the market you will have good success. First of all the criteria is to make sure that those markets have money. You should select a beachhead market. As was explained, the beachhead strategy is used by the US military in taking over Europe during world war II. They first take over the Normandy coast then set camp there. It is like the gateway for them to take over other places they need to conquer. You will have to analyze 6–12 market opportunities and choose one to pursue. You need to further segment your market to determine your beachhead market. The other most important thing to do which was a common difficulty for entrepreneurs is to “ignore the other markets.” An entrepreneur should have a focus on their target to ensure success. Also, it was weird to me at first but I did understand that it is better to avoid selecting the largest or very large market. It was that it’s better off to start in a market where you have great ability to dominate the field. The next thing to do is to Build an End user Profile. You will now clearly describe who your customers are. You will do this by choosing a specific demographic for a customer. As was taught in the book. The goal is to “create a description of a narrowly defined subset of end users with similar characteristics and with similar needs. It was also suggested that it’s better to have an end user as part of your team. Then after you created a and end user profile you will then now create a Persona for your user end profile. You need to choose one potential customer to be your Persona. The question to help you choose that persona is this. “If I had only one end user to represent our end user profile, who would it be?” Then after doing that you need to focus all your decisions based on that persona. Knowing what your customer in a deeper sense will help you decide what product or service to offer them. All this I learned from the book Disciplined Entrepreneurship.

• Aullet, B. ( 2013). Disciplined Entrepreneurship — 24 steps to a successful startup. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.