Luke Womack, Executive Director & Founder of The GO Fund, came to Biola in January to speak at the Fireside Chat Entrepreneur event, where he shared business tips for entrepreneurs.
He shared a story of an entrepreneur salad maker. The salad maker was determined to make the best salad, but he never released anything because he was trying to make it perfect. His friend also wanted to make the best salad, so he made a good one, gave it to a hungry customer and then let the customer give him valuable feedback on how to make it better. The friend may not have made the perfect salad at first, but he gained critical information about his product that he used to help make it better.
His story made us question: How many things have I not done just because I was scared of not being perfect?
As entrepreneurs, we are given the task of being creative and embarking on a new path without knowing the end result. Entrepreneurs have to be really good at failing. This is because entrepreneurs actually learn more about their customers and what they want as a result of a failed product or service.
“If you are a visionary find an implementer who can stand by you and make the vision happen,” Womack shared. “You may be a visionary who sees an idea and then can see the future of it, or maybe you are an implementer and thrive on details and getting things done. God created each of us to be unique, and the value in this is that we can come alongside each other as partners in entrepreneurial endeavours.”
Womack pointed out that we often limit ourselves, but if we all have an open, receptive heart that will allow God to work in us and through us, dreams can become reality. According to Womack, if you are an implementer and you hear someone talking about their dreams, help them to start working. If you are a dreamer, realize the importance of those implementers and get them on your team.
As the event concluded, we reflected and hope that we, students, would stop being so afraid of failure, not stunt our own growth and that we would see the value and importance of working with each other.
The Crowell School of Business and the Biola Entrepreneurship Society hosts Fireside Chat with an Entrepreneur throughout the semester. Visit the website for future events.