Personal Business Foundations
The foundation of a building is the solid ground or base beneath a building. It is the lowest and usually most hidden or unseen part of the building. The foundation is however the part that gives the building its material base, and to a large extent offers the building some structural stability.
Remarkably, the foundation of a building is usually the last part of the building to 
be affected when there are dangers. And by the time the foundation of a building collapses, there cannot be any other part of the building that remains standing. As a result, the type of foundation that is prepared for a building is quite indicative of the type of building that results and the possibility of its stability.
A lot of people have not consciously linked business operations, challenges, successes and failures with the personal values of the owners and other stakeholders of the business. Yet, these are some of the foundational issues that determine which way a business will go. This is because the attitude, lifestyle, competence, resources and vision of the business owner would always influence the quality of his business.
As the foundation of a building exerts great influence on the material integrity of the whole building, so do the personal foundations of a business owner. Let us therefore briefly examine what we mean by personal foundations, as relating to business ownership, management and success.
Personal Foundations
Personal foundations refer to an individual’s core values, personality, distinctive qualities, motivations, attitudes and perception. These are factors which make him emotionally and socially different from other people. They largely define a person and most often reveal the real reasons why people do (or not do) certain things.
Specifically, personal foundations relate to how a person deals with some of the most important issues that define him and show his purpose and direction in life. These are what would normally propel a person to take active interest in continuous self-examination, and purposely invest in self-development.
To be a successful entrepreneur, your personal foundations must be built upon high moral values, which would enable you to commit yourself to the process of sound personal development. This development would of course be in the areas of personality-related issues like attitudes, stamina, energy, belief systems, humility, courage, trust, and relationships.
The foundational personal development guidelines that are highlighted below would assist you to assess your preparedness to commit to develop essential entrepreneurship and core business management skills.
The 8 essentials for the development of sound personal foundations are:
- Self-awareness.You must know yourself better – your strengths, weaknesses, motivations, habits, hot buttons, and others. In this regard, you need to be more open-minded to learn, improve and strive for perfection.
- Purpose-driven.You should never do anything without a strong conviction that it is the right thing for you to do, in order to get you the desired result. You need to therefore be consistent and committed to every purpose.
- Focus.Make sure that you do one thing at a time and master that one thing first before going on to another. You would be better valued by people when they can uniquely associate with you as a specialist/expert.
- Optimism and positive association.Be positive about yourself and your set goals, and associate with positive people who are headed in the same destination. You need energised people around you to build you up.
- Personal values.You need to have strong personal values and principles, which are clearly known to other people as you honestly deal with yourself and others. And, you must be stable in those values.
- Passion and commitment.It is a great benefit to be able to do what you love and develop self discipline to pay the price in advance. Strive to enjoy what you are committed to do, and definitely do what you enjoy.
- Risks and responsibility.Take calculated risks and be ready to take responsibility for every action taken. Don’t dwell on the past, but move on.
- Positive Attitude.Be positive about challenges, threats, failures and needs. These are the agents of positive change, as they motivate the development of resilience, capacity and perfection.
In order to get ahead in business today, you need to model the success of those that have become successful in the area that you are trying to make your own mark. And, in modelling their success, you must strive to build your own uniqueness. You are a unique brand, and your brand can only be developed from your unique knowledge.
And, once you have determined your specific area(s) of uniqueness, the next step is to continually work on building your capacity, which is a way of turning your 
strength to excellence. This is because the market, your clients/customers and indeed the world is always seeking to associate with the best. They want someone that is distinguished from the rest. You can only attain excellence through capacity building.
One way to describe ‘capacity’ is to see it as ‘expandable ability’. In other words, capacity-building is a process of continued expansion of your unique abilities. It is a case of turning the ‘good’ to ‘better’; and turning what is regarded as ‘better’ to the ‘best’. Only the best version of you is good enough in your positioning as being unique. And, it is that uniqueness that gives you the desired competitive and comparative advantage in the marketplace. It is a sign that you have the unique knowledge that can ‘sell’ your ideas.
It is worth noting that in business, as in any other endeavour and area of life, anyone that has more knowledge than you in an area would most likely be more powerful than you in that area. That person would obviously have the possibility of dominating you in that area. This is what normally brings about dominance in a competitive environment.
There are three things that you need to be aware of, as you strive to build your uniqueness in order to manifest your unique and superior knowledge as an entrepreneur and successful operator in the world of business. They are the following:
- Desire.You must have a strong desire to succeed. This suggests that you must have a strong personal drive and motivation to do whatever is possible and within your power to succeed in your business. Without a strong desire, you will easily give up when you face tough times. That must never be an option. You owe that to yourself.
- Capacity. As has been mentioned earlier, capacity can be considered as expandable ability. In other words, you can only build capacity and further improve in an area that you already have some level of ability. The possible ways to build capacity in this regard of course include continuous learning, skills training, coaching and intentional practice.
- Opportunity. The third critical element required to build your uniqueness as an entrepreneur is the opportunity to express yourself and manifest your knowledge. For a young and new entrepreneur, the opportunities may understandably be few and limited especially initially. However, with time and your persistence, the opportunities to demonstrate your offerings will begin to present themselves.
You need a strong personal desire, the commitment to build capacity, and the right opportunities in order for you to be able to manifest your uniqueness.
From the above, it should be clear that true business success is not a myth. It is also not achieved merely by chance or by the multitude of dreams. Rather, success in any business is a process that starts with your knowledge and becomes manifested as you develop your skills by increasing your capacity to succeed in a venture.
Ultimately, success is established by overcoming major obstacles and hindrances that have the potential to inhibit business progress. Such obstacles could be 
internal or external factors within the business operating environment, some of which you may be able control, and others that you must learn to adapt to, in order to succeed.
Your success as an entrepreneur will therefore require the constant display of your capabilities or competence, as you remain creative, resourceful and proactive in your entrepreneurial drive. Secondly, you will need to have the resilience of a warrior in business, as you seek continued growth through demonstration of the winning attitude. Finally, as has been mentioned above, you will have to learn, and become good at adjusting and adapting to constant changes in your operating environment.
Finally, your real success in business and as an entrepreneur must be linked to the level of knowledge and skills that you show forth in business as a competent business leader and manager. This attributes, together with your strong beliefs and good attitudes will always promote you beyond the possible challenges internal and external operating environment, which you necessarily have to learn to adapt to, with your strong personal resilience and tenacity.
Summary Points
- Personal foundations refer to an individual’s core values, personality, distinctive qualities, motivations, attitudes and perception, which enable different kinds of connections with people.
- Just as the foundation of a building exerts great influence on the material integrity of the whole building, the personal foundations of an entrepreneur and business owner greatly influence the impact on business success, with issues like personal attitudes, stamina, energy, belief systems, humility, courage, trust, and relationships being of critical importance.
- There are eight (8) essential attributes that guarantee sound foundational personal development, and must be developed by every entrepreneur that wishes to succeed. These are: Self-awareness, Purpose, Focus, Optimism, Personal values, Passion, Responsibility, and Positive Attitude.
- Three other things are required in building capacity and establishing your uniqueness as an entrepreneur. They are your strong personal desire to succeed, your commitment to expand your abilities the in the process of capacity-building, and how you leverage every opportunity you have to deliver.
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Dr Emmanuel Imevbore is an executive coach, management consultant and business strategist. He is the CEO of International Coaching and Mentoring Institute, a specialist coaching and coach-training organisation. He can be reached by email:
emmanuel@ic-mi.com; and WhatsApp: +27 79 259 1768.
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