The 8 Superpowers of Successful Entrepreneurs

From Zero to Hero: The Business Strategies Adopted by Global Icons

Marina Nicholas

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781637420010
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

THESE STRATEGIES WILL GIVE YOU SUPERPOWERS

Many books have been written about the high-performance habits successful entrepreneurs adopt, from their daily meditation to how they lead their teams. For Marina Nicholas, her fascination was more about their entrepreneurial journey.

• 1. From Zero: When starting a business, what strategies did they adopt to overcome the odds?
• 2. To Hero: As a highly successful entrepreneur, how did they use their wealth to help humanity and the planet?

After years of extensive research, Marina discovered that just eight strategies were adopted by billionaire entrepreneurs.

PROBLEM—PERSEVERANCE POSITIONING—PROXIMITY—PEOPLE—PARTNERSHIPS—PROCESS—PLANET

Whether you enjoy inspirational stories or seek to discover your superpower, the strategies and exercises in this book will help you. Each of the eight strategies is illustrated by real case studies.

Over 25 case studies like these:

• • A white trouser problem led to a billion-dollar empire
• • The invention of a passionate surfer leads to sales of 35 million cameras
• • A 7-year journey of poverty and rejection led to a $500 million franchise
• • A happy tribe built a $1.2 billion company
• • A monk builds a tribe of 35 million followers within 4 years
• • A village visit resulted in 100 million pairs of shoes gifted

CATEGORY I

Mindset

CHAPTER 1

Power of Problem

Solving Problems

Entrepreneurs with a problem solving mindset are driven to create solutions. Products are used daily that trigger thoughts like “this would be better if….” and “if only this was faster…,” yet the majority of us accept the status quo. There are a minority who decide to take action, create and launch a new product. What drives these entrepreneurs? Do they have a unique outlook and approach?

There are several approaches to problem solving.

1. Algorithms

Algorithms simplify the complex by using step-by-step instructions that will produce the same result every time they are performed. The earliest algorithm recorded was in the Babylonian times, 1600 BC, on a clay tablet, an early form of an instruction manual to solve a class of problems. Today, the most famous publicized algorithm is PageRank, Google’s algorithm to rank the pages on the search engine, created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while studying at Stanford University.

2. Heuristics

Heuristics, derived from Greek word meaning “to discover,” uses shortcuts to produce good-enough solutions in a given timeframe. They enable quick decisions particularly when working with complex data. You may solve the problem through trial and error, having an educated guess or using rule of thumb thinking.

3. Insights

Defined as the moment of sudden comprehension of a problem and the solution is often accompanied by an aha experience (Ollinger et al. 2013). Researchers say that an insight occurs because you realize that the problem is actually similar to something you have dealt with in the past. In most cases, the underlying mental processes that lead to insight happen outside of awareness.

In the field of cognitive psychology, studies show that intuition and insight problem solving are intertwined. Intuition is an unconscious process, which provides a gut feeling or hunch for the situation. Often called the “Eureka Moment” as the solution presents itself suddenly and unexpectedly.

Studies assessing brain activity during insights show increased activity in the right side of the brain compared to problem solving not requiring insights. Many studies have shown that unconscious problem processing may take place while a person is asleep and the solution presents itself in a dream or upon awakening. Some of the world’s most celebrated artists, scientists, athletes and inventors had their eureka moment during sleep.

• Chemist Dmitri Mendeleev spent 10 years trying to create a pattern that connected the chemical elements together. It was in 1869, the inspiration for the Periodic Table came to him. Writing in his diary, Medeleev said, “I saw in a dream a table where all the elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper.”

• One of the greatest golfers of all time, Jack Nicklaus struggled to understand why his game was below par until a new grip and golf swing came to him in a dream. Jack has won 117 golf tournaments and 18 major championships over his career.

• Film director James Cameron created both The Terminator and Avatar during dream states. The Terminator franchise has generated over $3 billion in revenue and Avatar remains the highest grossing movie with $2 billion in revenue. Not bad for a dream!

Regardless of which method the entrepreneurs featured in this chapter adopted, the common characteristic they share is a problem solving mindset. This is their superpower.

The Mantra

“I’m driven to create something new to solve the problem.”

Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.

—Sara Blakely, SPANX

When you start a company, it’s more than an art than a science because it’s totally unknown. Instead of solving high-profile problems, try to solve something that’s deeply personal to you. Ideally, if you’re an ordinary person and you’ve just solved your problem, you might have solved the problem for millions of people.

—Brian Chesky, Airbnb.

A really important thing when you come up with a concept is that you solve a pervasive problem for people, and you don’t try to create a new way to do something that isn’t necessarily broken.

—Nick Woodman, GOPRO

Someone has an itch for a problem and that they’re annoyed enough to actually go out and seek a solution for it.

—Daniel Ek, Spotify

BRIAN CHESKY, JOE GEBBIA, and NATHAN BLECHARCZYK, AIRBNB

Not being able to pay the rent led to a $10 billion dollar company

In 2008, Brian, Joe, and Nathan decided to rent out three air mattresses in their San Francisco loft apartment to help pay the rent. They noticed that all the hotels in town were fully booked for the design trade show; accommodation was scarce. The flatmates successfully rented out three air mattresses with breakfast for $80 each. This led them to think—what if we could find more places to rent out? This initial success provided Brian and Joe with the momentum to explore if they were onto something.

Shortly afterwards, they successfully raised $30,000 initial investment but, to their dismay, they found that sales weren’t increasing. After reviewing the website, they realized the photos were not that appealing to customers. The Founders embarked on improving the quality by visiting each listed house door to door themselves. They had successfully eliminated the source of their problem, and with a higher quality online rental website, sales doubled within a week. This growth continued and in 2011, Airbnb celebrated taking its one millionth booking. In 2012, the business doubled in a 5 month period to achieve its ten millionth booking.

Where are They Today?

Airbnb offers over 5 million places to stay, employs 13,000 people, and operates in 191 countries. Airbnb has hosted over 400 million guests since its launch. What started as a personal problem has resulted in a business that has disrupted the online accommodations industry.

Today, the Founders’ combined wealth is $12.2 bn. In 2016, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk joined The Giving Pledge, a movement of philanthropists dedicated to giving away the majority of their wealth to charitable causes.

Quotes from the Founders

If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn’t have been able to think of a good idea. You just have to find the solution for a problem in your own life.

—Brian Chesky

We believe the best solutions come from solving your own problem. If you have a real problem, there’s likely someone else who can relate. That’s how Airbnb was born.

—Joe Gebbia

SARA BLAKELY, SPANX

A white trouser problem led to a billion dollar empire

Wishing to wear white trousers to a party, Sara realized she didn’t have the right underwear to complete the look, so she improvised and cut off the feet to create a footless pantyhose. Knowing that other women may have the same challenge, Sara decided to take her ‘crazy idea’ forward and use this gap in the market. In 2000, Sara launched Spanx with her $5000 of savings. Within two years, she had completed prototyping, production and gained her first sale at Neiman Marcus, a U.S. retailer.

During the early years, Sara adopted a secondary strategy: The Power of Positioning. Being inspired by brands Kodak and Coca Cola to have the memorable “K” sound in the company name, Sara named the company SPANX. Combining this with a bold positioning strategy; stand out red packaging among a sea of white, black and beige retail products and with accolades from the “Queen of Media”, Oprah Winfrey who shared her SPANX experience during her “Favourite Things” segment on television in 2000, catapulted SPANX into the mainstream.

Where are They Today?

20 years on, Spanx is a global company in 50 countries with hundreds of products, employing over 150 people. Before Spanx, “Shapewear” was not even a market segment. Sara’s creativity had formed a whole n...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Description
• Contents
• Testimonials
• My Story
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Category 1 Mindset
• Category 2 Marketing
• Category 3 Masses
• Category 4 Method
• Chapter 7 Power of Process
• Category 5 Movement
• References
• About the Author
• Index
• Backcover