“When we saw an opportunity, we took it.”
You could have the greatest business plan in the world, but it’s no use to anyone if it’s left inside a dusty notepad.
The only prerequisite is the ability to take a chance on your ideas, and back yourself. There’s much to be said for thinking of everything after that as finer details that you can attend to as you move along.
On this week’s episode of The Architects of Business, in partnership with EY Entrepreneur Of The Year, Dunbia founder Jack Dobson said coming up with a plan wasn’t his main priority. Rather than run the risk of a window of opportunity closing while he was still in the planning stage, he told host Sonya Lennon that his modus operandi was always to take his chances:
“We never sat down with a strategy to say what we were going to do.
“We just took opportunities. When opportunities came up, we took it.”
“You have got to put the graft in”
Being the entrepreneurial mind behind a business is one thing, actively running it is another. When it comes down to it, Jack said that the only way to go about it is to make sure you’re putting in more effort than anyone else:
“The whole secret is spending time at what you’re doing. You cannot go in for two hours a week, two hours a day and walk out again and leave it to someone else. You’ve got to be there.
“You’ve got to stay there. You’ve got to spend the time.
Especially when it’s a business of your own making, no one else will have the same passion for it or understanding of it. As Jack said himself, even the most qualified and experienced employees can never replace what a dedicated entrepreneur can bring to the table:
“You have got the put the graft in. It’ll not work without the graft.
“No one can do the job like yourself. Nobody can do it like yourself. You’ve got to be there.
When Jack originally founded Dunbia, all the signs were that it wouldn’t work. Several decades and turnovers that have broken in to the billions later, the 2015 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Finalist is a shining example of what can happen when you back your ideas all the way.
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