EXECUTION – I AM BETTER THAN YOU

 

I remember quite fondly the day I woke up and thought I had stumbled on this goldmine idea of turning a beloved hobby into a budding business. It was in 2006 and I was in the second year of University. Up until that point, I had been dabbing my feet into the uber cool afro-centric contemporary fashion and I was loving every minute of it. I would show up at Global Village in Cardiff University clothed in the finest Kente or a golden Woodin ensemble complete with the head gear. Or I would enter a restaurant decked in nothing but a funky African print bustier top, a pair of jeans and killer signature stilettos. It came as no surprise to me when I envisioned a world in a few years where people from the rich continent were proud to embrace their colours and the pace setters of the western world will sit up and take notes.

In my naïve state, I thought, surely, I am the only one to have come to this ingenious realisation. At the time, ASOS was one of my favourite, if not my favourite retailers and it was growing. I identified this African niche and rolled out the emails. As I write this, I am quite chuffed and peeved with myself, that at the time I actually had some email conversations with the retail giant about the possibility of having an ASOS Africa which would complement their existing operation. My folly, YES FOLLY, was that I was not prepared. I had the GOOD IDEA (previous post-06/06/2012) but it was not fundable because of a fundamental problem. I had a vision with no medium of execution.

 Fast forward 2 years and on a ride on the London underground, I open everyone’s favourite London Metro and sneering at me from the centre page was the ad campaign for ASOS Africa. I had just started working on www. Paserelle.co.uk at the time and that advert was like water to my fire. My dream of taking London by storm was falling apart.

It is every budding entrepreneur’s nightmare! The moment you realise that you are not the only one thinking how great an idea your idea is. In fact, some people think it is so great; they have already started implementing it.  This has happened to so many of us, and to me obviously, it is almost to be expected when we think up an idea. Remember that idea you thought up in the shower you felt was so unique and will revolutionise the market? The one which was going to be your ticket to the big leagues and the one you kept so tight lipped and close to the chest that even if your left hand was holding on to the idea your right hand wouldn’t know anything was up? Are you nodding your head and smiling at this point? I bet you are, because believe it or not, it has happened to all of us. This is the point which shows the true character of any entrepreneur worth his/her salt. Most people who are on the fence as to whether they should jump will or may at this point throw in the gauntlet and conclude, ‘this is not going to work, someone is already doing it’; ‘The market has already been captured’ and so on

Let me tell you one open secret, there are good ideas every where; hell I thought up about five ideas just walking up to work this morning. Everyone with some form of grey matter between their ears is capable of deducing something that will potentially be a good idea. ASOS was my example and yours could be something else. So when you wake up in the morning, with that burning idea you want to develop, don’t tell yourself you are the only one thinking about it because the chances are you are not and you need not be.

Think about the greatest entrepreneurs that you know of and I am not talking about the Richard Bransons or the Donald Trumps here although they are exceptionally good examples. Let’s bring it closer to home, think of where you are from and the entrepreneurs in there. For instance, if I thought about the entrepreneurs in Ghana, I would think of Kekeli Gadzepko and Ken Ofori-Atta and their Data Bank, I will think of Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and his Uni and Star companies, I will think of the Awuah Darkos and their Vanguard group of companies to mention only a few. These individuals and indeed many successful entrepreneurs were not the first of their kind to enter their industry but somehow they have managed to emerge as one of the leaders of the pack. We stop to ask why and simplest answer is; the success is in the EXECUTION of their good ideas. The thing no one tells you is that, having a good idea is only part of the job done; the execution will determine whether you succeed or fail.

This article is not meant to tell you what execution is because let’s face it, the word is pretty vague. It is meant to get you to redefine your views on business. Help to streamline your thinking and help to give your idea the best chance at succeeding. The statistics for successful execution is dire indeed. The creator’s of the ‘Balance Scorecard’ Robert Norton and David Kaplan conclude that fewer than 10% of well written strategic formulations are well implemented. That is a tiny percentage, so imagine if you implemented your ideas well.

So today, when you decide to take your idea to the next level, try and visualise your business model working in the environment you operate. In your head, use action (dynamic) words rather than static nouns to describe how you want to implement your good idea. By making use of verbs, your brain automatically visualises and starts to process how to get that end goal. For instance, perform this exercise; think about ‘rope’ and try and remember what your brain thinks about? Now think about ‘skipping’ and again imagine what the brain thinks about. You will realise with the rope, your brain literally pictured a rope of some kind but when you try to think of skipping, your brain thinks about actions; one of you jumping up, moving your feet to prevent it from being caught in the moving rope and so forth. Such is the power of the dynamic word.

I may have simplified the concept of execution here, but rest assured it is not easy and it takes a committed person to achieve success. But you are up to the task right?

However, remember, no matter how good of a skipper you are, your skills will only be seen if you have a well functioning rope to start of with. No one ever completed a skipping game with a broken rope. In the same vain Lewis Hamilton cannot win the F1 Grand Prix races with an engine-less car. Execution goes hand in hand with a good idea, well strategized. If your strategy is fundamentally wrong and not seeded in the reality of the industry you are operating in, the chances are you will end up in a similar pile as the many entrepreneurs we never heard of.

If nothing I have said makes sense and you are still thinking someone has already implemented your idea, then maybe this will help. Who remembers Friendster or Hi5? And remember Pepsi, well they were around long before Coca Cola dared to redefine Santa Clause.

The lesson here is that, a good idea is not enough to secure the success or failure of a business. All these late comers found a way to break through the consumer market and so can you. Www. Paserelle.co.uk may be nowhere near as big as ASOS, but that is only today. Ask me again tomorrow and the story line maybe different. So let us go forth and continue with our hustle.

This is my Truth!