5 Lessons from Successful Entrepreneurs

Last week, S-drive was fortunate to host a panel of inspiring entrepreneurs gathered on the topic of how to ‘get ideas off the ground.’ The night’s visionaries - Harry Rosen, Executive Chairman of Harry Rosen Inc.; Joseph Canavan, former Chairman and CEO of Assante Corp.; and Bernie Li, Co-Founder of Pure Energies – shared their tales from humble beginnings to remarkable success in an interactive panel discussion. Despite their diverse backgrounds, differences in age and industries of operation, all three shared common insights on achieving success as an entrepreneur.

1. Be in the right place at the right time. This first one may be obvious, and easier said than done, but it was a common driver of our panelists’ individual successes. And it may require more foresight than one may expect. The panelists placed themselves in the right place at the right time. They saw an industry or product with opportunity, and were able to benefit from being early adopters in new industries. Research and exploration can surely help, and with a little bit of luck and a great idea, you too can place yourself in opportunity’s path.

For Harry, it was identifying that men wanted tailor-made suits and service over 50 years ago; for Joe, it was the absence of personal wealth in a socialist Canadian landscape in the ‘70s; and for Bernie, it was capitalizing on the government’s recent interest in funding emerging green technologies.

2. Draft a fool-proof plan. For some entrepreneurs, a business plan is constantly evolving, progressing as one learns and general trial and error, but for Joe, he planned things right the first time. He showed his business plan to his most knowledgeable friends, sourcing lacked skills when needed, and accounted for every possible outcome. Once it was fool-proof, as much as any plan could be, it was easy for him to collect money.

3. Expect to invest your own money. Your friends and family, and venture capitalists alike, will want to see that their money is aligned with yours. Mr. Rosen may have been able to amass $500 in quarters from his uncle’s Laundromat, but family can’t always be depended on to support you in blind faith. Any investor will want to see your drive and passion as evidenced through your own willingness to financially support your vision.

4. Prove you have a successful business model. After you’ve raised enough of your own money to finance a trial run of your product and administer successful transactions, Bernie says you can start presenting your business to investors. You have to illustrate with examples that you have a proven product and it can scale with an influx of funding.

For Joe it wasn’t so much proving he had a successful product, though he did, but that he was a successful person. Early success at a young age caught the attention of the right people, and it wasn’t hard for Joe thereafter to access backers.

5. Build relationships. For Harry, customer relationships were, and are today, the foundation of his business. He started by keeping index cards of his customers tastes and preferences, which, as can be deduced, was way ahead of its time to today’s complex inventory tracking systems. On a recent tour of his Canada-wide retail outlets, Harry heard directly from customers that it was because of ‘so-and-so’ and not necessarily the product itself but the person selling it that kept them coming back. They say buying a new customer is ten times more expensive than retaining an existing one, and Harry Rosen retains with the best of them.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that one of the best ways to learn is to study the methods of other successful people, and by the scale of accomplishment of these entrepreneurs, you cannot deny the importance of the five conclusions drawn above. Use these proven success drivers to further your own career as high-performing employee or entrepreneur.

More on S-drive’s panelists

Harry Rosen, Founder and Executive Chairman of Harry Rosen Inc., began his journey in business over 50 years ago when he opened up his first menswear store. Today, Harry Rosen Inc. has 15 stores across Canada and has the reputation of providing high quality and stylish clothing for men.

Joe Canavan, former Chairman and CEO of Assante Corp., has over 20 years of leadership experience in wealth management. Prior to his stint at Assante Corp., Mr. Canavan held positions such as Vice President at Fidelity Investments and President and CEO of Sync Asset Management.

Bernie Li, Co-Founder of Pure Energies, is a young entrepreneur with a successful track record managing venture capital funds. He is now capitalizing, himself, on the green technology movement.