Jim Blasingame
A few years back Jim Blasingame declared that we were entering the "century of the entrepreneur." He listed four principal factors contributing to his conclusion: rapid advances in technology; an expanding view of market risk as exciting; a cultural shift in the definition of an appropriate work venue, with home now included; and broader public understanding of the power of equity participation.
Now, only ten years into the new century, we find ourselves in the midst of global turmoil. Equity markets are undergoing major re-structuring. Traditional weather patterns are now unreliable, disrupted by climate shift; and famine lurks. Political and religious unrest abounds,including organized terrorism. Piracy is most definitely back. Yikes!
Was Blasingame wrong?
No, he was absolutely correct; but I'd like to offer a handful of of amendments to his list of entrepreneurship accelerators to be considered.
Technology shifts clearly stay at the head of the class. Some specifics, however, are worthy of note. In the industrial 20th century the ability to communicate globally began at near zero, but ended at universally available at almost no cost. A business necessity that once demanded large corporations with economies of scale is now available to you and me, from any location. And, on top of that, modest quantities of just about any product can now be economically transported around the globe in hours or days.
There are also some additional, less visible, but quite powerful, changes in the entrepreneurial landscape. For example, computer-assisted design and manufacturing advances have radically reduced the time and cost of creating new products. Once again, the scale factors required of 20th century industrial giants have been made available to individuals and small enterprises. And the internet. Ah, the internet. Cheap marketing and advertising resources have never been so accessible.
BUT, the increasing cost of energy for transportation is driving many types of production, once centralized for economies of scale and moved around the world chasing cheap labor, to be re-de-centralized to be nearer to supplies of raw material and/or consumer markets. (Sorry about the double hyphenation. It just seems right, but only this once, of course.) This is particularly evident in emerging trends in food production. Decentralization implies smaller units of production, which translates into the opportunity for entrepreneurial entries into markets formerly dominated by large organizations. Global distribution of centrally, mass-produced goods (which was essentially a 20th century invention) is already falling out of favor, for straightforward energy cost reasons.
Risk is, of course, as Blasingame pointed out, exciting. But it's still risk. However, the recent economic shakeout definitely changed the relative attractiveness of entrepreneurship. It suddenly became less risky. What? Yes. Those stable, secure jobs in large industrial and financial institutions just aren't as secure as they once seemed. The relative risk of personal entrepreneurship as compared to traditional employment options has been drastically reduced. Which is better: being at risk and in the dark; or being at risk and calling the shots?
So, the 21st century entrepreneur can design and produce sophisticated products as quickly and cheaply as a large company, communicate with clients instantly, anywhere, and transport goods in small quantities on a global scale, all at a lower relative personal risk than ever before.
The Market is there. The ability to perform Magic is more widely available than ever before. If you have the Moxie, go find some solid Mentors, and give entrepreneurship a try. Jim Flowers agrees with Jim Blasingame. This is most definitely the century of the entrepreneur. And making the world a better place should be a piece of cake. There's unbelievable room for improvement.
