By Fatmanur Erdogan, Hurriyet Daily News (click here) You Gotta Have Instinct Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers, once said, “Most of entrepreneurship, for me, is about instinct and intuition. Many times I have been asked by someone considering a new venture if he should go for it. But an entrepreneur knows instinctively when to go for it.” Basically Dell was saying you don’t need to ask yourself whether you are cut out to be an entrepreneur. When the time is right, you will do it, and if you let the opportunity slip by, perhaps you were never meant to […]
Think Well, Perform Well
By Fatmanur Erdogan, Hürriyet Daily News, Think Well Perform Well When I was a child, I loved ballet so much I could dance 24 hours a day. It came naturally to me, like my body and spirit already knew exactly what to do. When I danced ballet the world around me disappeared, and I got lost in the moment. I didn’t think about anything else, I just went with the flow. It was like second nature. I practiced hour after hour, month after month, year after year. But my motivation didn’t come just from a desire for success. My motivation […]
Entrepreneurship Isn’t Always About Money
By Fatmanur Erdogan, Hurriyet Daily News Richard Branson, the chairman of the Virgin Group, is known not only for the companies he has started, but also for the active and exciting life he leads. Martha Stewart is not just the founder of the Living Omnimedia Group, she also bakes in the kitchen and decorates her beautiful home. Both of these hugely successful entrepreneurs have followed their passions and become rich because of it. As leaders of large, global corporations, their responsibilities are huge, but they get to live the colorful and interesting life they set out to create for themselves. […]
If only I had a unique idea
By Fatmanur Erdogan, Hürriyet Daily News When was the last time you used AltaVista? Most people these days have never even heard of it, but AltaVista was the number one Internet search engine before Google burst onto the scene. Back in the day, when you needed to find something on the Web, you went to AltaVista. It was the dominant player. You had to be crazy to go up against it. The founders of Google, however, decided to do just that. They thought they could provide a more capable search technology, so they took something AltaVista had done well, and […]
Act First, Know Yourself Later
By Fatmanur Erdogan, Hurriyet Daily News These days the world is filled with so-called experts preaching the value of self-knowledge, or prodding us down the path of “personal development”. Whichever paper you read, whichever magazine you flip through, it seems someone is talking about the importance of “knowing yourself” to succeed in life. Improving ourselves and understanding ourselves better will apparently unlock the secrets to a fuller life where our dreams can come true. I think these people are putting the cart before the horse, though. They are telling us to know ourselves, and then take action. People are told […]
Mid-career Gear Change
By Fatmanur Erdogan, Hürriyet Daily News Even the most successful people reach plateaus in their professional lives. These lulls often come about 20 years into a career. It is a time when many people notice their interest in their chosen field waning, and they wonder what else life has to offer. Whether they’ve been with the same company for years, or they jumped around from company to company, boredom sinks in and their current profession doesn’t seem to offer much in the way of learning and growth opportunities. This professional malaise can come even to top performers who know their […]
Creating Flexible Organizations
By Fatmanur Erdogan, Hürriyet Daily News Organizations all over the world want to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit. Whether they are massive global conglomerates or small companies that just recently made the transition to professional management, they believe injecting entrepreneurialism into their veins will bring back a spark in their company. Firms with a healthy dose of this entrepreneurial spirit are known for their flexibility and responsiveness. They are dynamic and reorganize quickly to respond to market changes. Their decision-making is smooth and efficient, with little or no bureaucracy. They focus on opportunity and the upside, rather than staring at the downside […]
Faith That Never Ends
By Fatmanur Erdogan, Hürriyet Daily News Over the past four weeks in the “Neophyte Entrepreneur” series, we’ve been discussing the fears that hold people back from their entrepreneurial dreams. We looked in particular at three fears often felt by corporate professionals who feel the entrepreneurial urge, but find that the career they worked so hard to build can actually make them more hesitant to take the leap. First among those was the fear of losing your identity. This fear is rooted in knowing that your job title and company affiliation bring great power and influence, and worrying that those will […]
Fear Of Letting Go
By Fatmanur Erdogan, Hürriyet Daily News Last week, we discussed the fear of failure, and how to keep it under control so it doesn’t stop your entrepreneurial dreams in their tracks. In today’s installment of the Neophyte Entrepreneur, we will talk about letting go of your past, no matter how successful, so you can move on and make those dreams come true. When you lean back in your chair at work, you reminisce about all the great successes you’ve had in the past, and feelings of peace and pride wash over you. A little smile grows on your face as […]
Overcoming The Fear of Failure
By Fatmanur Erdogan, Hürriyet Daily News Welcome to this week’s installment of the “Neophyte Entrepreneur” series, where we deal with the fears and obstacles that hold corporate professionals back from their entrepreneurial dreams. Today we discuss the fear of failure, and how to keep it under control so it doesn’t stop your dream in its tracks. When you first picture life as an entrepreneur, everything looks rosy. You imagine you’ll have more freedom to choose your own direction. You’ll get to be more creative. You’ll be able to make things happen quickly, without having to cut through bureaucratic red tape. […]