Were the entrepreneurs who created businesses stimulated by the lure of profits?
156983
Sometimes, more than the almighty dollar, entrepreneurs are attracted by the sheer "freedom" they get from running their own business.  It can also go along with the "satisfaction" and "pride" in "doing your own thing".  To me, money is an underlying thing, but it usually comes to those who truly enjoy what they are doing and who do it well.  So there it is, "Freedom, Satisfaction and Pride"
252391
Yes, companies exploit employees, including managers who are employees (whether they have MBAs or not). Why?\n\nExploitation is the name of the game in business. Companies exploit human capital and pay the lowest wages in order to maximize profit.\n\nOkay, everybody knows that.\n\nWhat people might not know, however, is that business students (at the BCom level or MBA level) are not really taught business. They are taught management.\n\nIn other words, they are taught to take care of other people's business. Only the most entrepreneurial of MBA students will launch their own business and become OWNERS. (I guess I'm in that little crowd). :-)\n\nIf you'd like more information, read Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad as well as his others books, such as Cashflow Quadrant. A lot of managers out there think they are elite, but they are not. They are employees, just like everybody else. (Well, okay, some of them own stock in the company, but they still do not have the freedom of a capitalist / entrepreneur).
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What lessons can we learn from successful entrepreneurs?
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All bar a few went off to do their own thing, mostly setting up software companies and alike some of which were then bought by microsoft.  One guy walked of with a reported 9 figure fortune and became a cattle herder in texas (gods honest truth).\n\nThere was something in last weekends observer newspaper (uk)\nlook at their website might be on there.
860069
Businessmen are people, too.\nOK, just took off my rose-colored glasses. Corporate profits can be adversely affected by backlash from consumers and/or government.
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The ability to excel where others plod on. Successful enterpreneurs should be able to see an opportunity and exploit it. They should know when to stop when something is not working, how to get the best from people, and always have a mentor who is proven to guide them who they trust.\n\nWe don't give up at the first problem.
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probably that the person looking to expand or become incorporated has experiance in the field of business thats related to the venture , in other words a better idea of doing the same thing or a better way of making the profit
807088
Yes...and we have already turned in several businesses.\n\nThanks for a great post!
52625
I think it would be ideas thought up by an entrepreneur...someone who is a self starter.
389
a while ago I've red a very good book about this phenomena. \nit called- "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies" by James C. Collins, Jerry I. Porras \n\nthey picked only companies that have lasted more then 50 years and tried to point out the reason for succeeding such a long time. I recommend it there is a lot to learn in it
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Captains of industry was simply a nicer way of putting it.  Rockefeller would have been an example of this type of businessman in the 19th century or 1800s. \n\nhere is some information:\n\nRobber baron was a term revived in the 19th century in the United States as a pejorative reference to businessmen who dominated their respective industries and amassed huge personal fortunes, typically as a direct result of pursuing various allegedly anti-competitive or unfair business practices. The term may now be used in relation to any businessman who is perceived to have used questionable business practices in order to become powerful or wealthy.\n\nThe term derives from the medieval German lords who illegally charged exorbitant tolls against ships traversing the Rhine river (see robber baron). There has been some dispute over the term's origin and use. It was popularized by U.S. political and economic commentator Matthew Josephson during The Great Depression in a 1934 book. He attributed its first use to an 1880 anti-monopoly pamphlet in which Kansas farmers applied it to railroad magnates. The informal term captains of industry may sometimes be used to avoid the negative connotations of "robber baron".
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I started my business for the same reason.  It's been better than I realized it could be.  You can contact me via my webpage for more info.\nhttp://www.loveofjewels.com
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I don't begrudge entrepeneurs for their wealth, especially if they took personal risks to get their businesses started.  They are necessary in a free economy and if they play fair they deserve to be rewarded.\n\nI think executive pay at established companies is obscene, however.  These people take no risks and when they screw up they are richly rewarded on the way out, while the peons are lucky to get two weeks' severance pay when they're downsized.  They always rationalize it as a function of supply and demand, but the boards have allowed themselves to be hypnotized into creating too much demand.  It's a mass mania, a lot like the tech stock boom of the 1990's that created excessive demand for stocks.  People who take advantage of this and then treat their employees like dirt are despicable.\n\nIn general, though, I have a lot less problem with how people earn money than with how they spend it.  Conspicuous consumption is a cancer on US society.  It's bad for the earth on which we all depend, it corrodes relationships, and it destroys people's spiritual lives so they're more inclined to corruption or outright crime.  In a lot of so-called Christian circles this teaching is unfashionable and even denied, but it's abundantly clear that the Biblical prophets and Jesus warned that people who were rich and selfish did so at their peril.  \n\nAs for Bill Gates, unlike most modern successful entrepeneurs, he is  a model of philanthropy, so I don't personally begrudge him his wealth.  I disapprove of a lot of Microsoft's business practices but that's another issue.
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Entrepreneurs tend to be very intelligent and highly skilled. There are two types of entrepreneurs - the self employed person and the small owner.  \n\nThere are many ways to be self-employed: perhaps you are a self-employed professional such as a doctor, a  consultant, or a builder. Your professional pride is based on your excellence - therefore you tend to keep your skills updated and work hard to provide satisfaction to your patients or clients.  \n\nThe small business owner is also an entrepreneur. They are usually proud of their accomplishments, optimistic, and continually fighting against the reality that only a small number of  businesses succeed over time.
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It raised revinue for the pulisher, the book shops, the \n\nauthor, and the movie studio and associated industries, TV \n\nshows and actors eg Tom Hanks, and the tax man who skims \n\nall profits.\n\n\nIt purpetuated the habit of reading on plains and trains on \n\nthe way to work, and facilitated the indulgence of peoples \n\nimagination into areas that are clearly heralded as FICTION.\n\nFinaly, it inspires questions such as this one to be posted\n\non weblog forums such as this one!\n\n\nGood Luck\n\nJimmy
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Entrepreneurship is hard because it involves forecasting the demands of consumers. Consumer demands can change on a whim, and nobody knows EXACTLY what the future holds. \n\nThose entrepreneurs who forecast correctly, and satisfy consumer demands in the best and most efficient manner, earn a profit. \n\nThose who are slow to anticipate, or don't satisfy consumer demands at all, suffer losses.\n\nFor a brief (yet informative) reading on the relationship between entrepreneurs and consumers, check out the following link from the Mises Institute:\n\nhttp://www.mises.org/humanaction/chap15sec4.asp
754261
I'm not sure if you are really asking a question or just preaching against MLMs.  My opinion would be every entrepreneur should get involved in a "good" MLM (there's alot of bad ones out there) and take advantage of the training.  A real entrepreneur will feel "limited" in a MLM because you have to do it "their way" and innovation is discouraged but to learn the systems and the methods of running a business and to get paid a little while learning in my book that's well worth it!