I’m going to turn to the queen of entrepreneurs, Barbara Winter, to help me figure this out. She would say that just being in business doesn’t make one an entrepreneur. In order to be considered one, Winter believes that when you are guided by what she calls the six pillars of entrepreneurial success, you are an entrepreneur. I invite you to see just how you measure up to Winter’s pillars as recounted by Joelle Horca in her blog Mommy Banker. I’ll do the same for the Chamber.
Pillar # 1: Find Inspiration: “Find your “natural habitat’—the place you feel most at home.”
As director, one of my natural habitats is wherever people are gathered—being in the thick of it at a breakfast seminar or at an after hours event, talking to people on the phone or even running into them about town. In this natural habitat, I find inspiration from members about what we can do to make a difference.
Pillar # 2: Gather Information and Ideas: “A determined entrepreneur believes that she can find what she needs at any step along the way.”
Getting ready for an event like the eBUSINESS Symposium is an example of this in a nutshell. I’ve had access to folks who really know what they are talking about when it comes to ideas like search engine optimization (like Nick Stamoulis of Brick Marketing and Patricia Carney of Walden WebWorks and everyone in the SEO meetup group), social networking (like Dave Gowel of Clearly Creative), to traditional marketing (like Chuck French of AFD Theatre). The list could go on forever!
Pillar # 3: Find Your Heroes and Heroines: “You’ll find success faster as an entrepreneur if you’re willing to learn from other successful entrepreneurs.”
I know I am more successful at anything when I’m willing to learn from someone who has done the same thing successfully. He would blush for me to say this, and yet Phil Kilby by way of Lorraine Kilby, the Chamber’s office manager, has been that kind of someone for the Chamber. His expertise in running large events worldwide has helped this Chamber make a quantum leap in the caliber of event we are offering this fall. What we are learning now will have an impact on the quality of what we offer going forward too!
Pillar # 4: Reinforce Your Dream: “Keep coming back to your big dream. Whatever you have your eye on — keep it in your sights.”
My big dream for the Chamber? To be such a critical resource for small business owners in
Pillar # 5: Develop a ‘Prosperity Attitude’: “Open yourself up to being prosperous.”
In order to survive and thrive, the Chamber needs to look for additional ways to sustain itself, beyond its current reliance on membership dues. Why? A thriving Chamber can develop even better programs for its businesses which has a ripple effect on all of you. I know I sound like a broken record when I keep saying that a vibrant business community makes for a vibrant place to live in, to work in and to play in. Events such as the Symposium will attract entrepreneurs from the Greater Boston area. This can only help the Chamber grow and develop programming that can help foster that vibrancy.
Pillar # 6: Find a Supportive Community: “Supportive people can make a world of difference.”
.Just a phone call away are Chamber members who are unstinting of their time and creativity in making events like the symposium happen: Rebecca Riccio of writeCHANGE, Chuck French, Dave Gowel and Lorraine Kilby. Event sponsors Brookline Bank, East Cambridge Savings Bank, Watertown Savings Bank. Beaujolais Catering, Citizens Bank, Clearly Creative, Comcast Business Class, The Computer Cafe and Mirak.com invest in making such resources available.
I would add another pillar to Barbara Winter’s six:
Pillar #7: Boundless enthusiasm:
I know that preparation and hard work often carry the day. However, when I know that when I tackle any project with enthusiasm, it helps me tell the story, communicate excitement and it pushes me up and me up and over the rough spots.
So, what do you think? Are you an entrepreneur at heart? How do you think the Chamber stacks up, entrepreneurially speaking? I’d love to know!
