Entrepeneurs driven by need do not exist. Bibiana Crocitta, creator of the coaching method and of “Cook your Business” consultancy, states that the division between entrepreneurs driven by need and entrepreneurs driven by will is wrong. “Many people claim that they want to be entrepreneurs, when they are actually looking for a job. For them, the option is to have small or community projects”, explains. The entrepreneur is the person who wants to develop a project according to his or her own vision and looks for ways to be innovative and to have an impact on the rest.
For the last seven years Crocitta has lived in London. Her training courses use cooking examples to help develop an idea. According to the consultant, these are the ten steps to organize a business activity:
• Organization: the idea is to build up a project based on an idea and decide how to develop it. “One should get the kitchen ready – a place where to work and where to unload all the information”.
• Recipe: The business plan is essential in order to clarify the vision, the objectives, how to achieve them, and how to attract investors.
• Get ingredients: “The best chefs do not cook with second class ingredients”, agrees Crocitta. It is essential to select the best suppliers, both responsible and with good prices”.
• Measure ingredients: too much salt could spoil a meal. “In businesses, one should measure how much marketing and promotion are necessary”, explains the consultant.
• Preparation: When all ingredients are mixed up, their fusion point should be achieved. “The business is getting into shape to go on the market – continues Crocitta -. One should know who the competitors are, and the strong and weak points of the preparation”.
• Secret ingredients: Talent, experience, intuition and observation capacity of the entrepreneur are their distinctive characteristic.
• Tasting: There are entrepreneurs who think that their idea cannot fail but they have not ever tried it. The idea is to test it with a hundred of people who are neither relatives nor friends. “There is always a way to do it”. When she started her business, Anita Roddick, creator of the Body Shop, had no money for the packaging. So she asked customers to bring along their own bottle to fill it up with the purchased product”, explains Bibiana. If the product is not liked, one should determine the reason why it does not, and introduce changes.
• Cook the chef inside of us: It is a question of polishing the individual abilities and competences within ourselves, specially those related to leadership. “We learn from our mistakes”, says Crocitta.
• Presentation: As in the case of a delicatessen, when the value of a dish is diminished by a poor presentation, the product image and the quality of customer care are essential to make the business work.
• Enjoyment: Businesses require a lot of time, which means giving up many satisfying aspects or activities of one’s life. “This is why one should really enjoy what one does”, says Crocitta.
Cook your Business
• The possibilities of success of an owned project increase for those entrepreneurs who have been on the market doing a similar activity for quite some time and which they may have wished to become a part of.
• The most important ingredient to cook a good business is the person who has the original idea, as it is his/her experience and his/her own mark that distinguishes that idea from all the others.
• To work out an attractive business plan and to evidence a sound knowledge of the activity are essential to attract investors.
• The secret to develop a business is to get organized, to plan ahead and to use time properly.