Entrepreneurship in Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup Format

The excitement, the drama, and a combination of teamwork with individual efforts that define those sublime goals, saves or penalty shootouts. Who hasn't seen Robin Van Persie's flying header goal against defending champions Spain in Brazil FIFA World Cup 2014?! Not only was it a magnificent goal, but was turned into all sorts of memes around the web. Football (soccer) truly is a beautiful game, or as the Brazilians would say "jogo bonito".

Unbelievable goal by Robin Van Persie - World Cup Brazil 2014

With the semi-finals just a few hours away, and the game of the tournament coming at the end of this week I thought it would be a great topic to cover entrepreneurship in the form of a World Cup tournament. Plus did I mention it is extremely fun to connect business discussions with sports, if you don't believe me just take a look at this post on how the NBA rocks out with their digital presence.

Qualifiers

This is where teams have to compete in a randomly drawn, 5-country group from their continent with the top 2 countries qualifying and advancing for the final tournament such as Brazil 2014. During this stage very few supporters (other than within the country, or immensely immersed followers) are even aware of the games and/or progress of each team.

Similar process happens with entrepreneurship: when the founder(s) is establishing his or her unique idea, researching and planning out the organization virtually no one knows about it other than those involved. The planning and execution during this stage has to be spot on, because just as the group qualifications if you are not in the top two standings - your team/organization will not make it far enough to compete on the world stage. In Canada alone, only about 50% of start-ups or entrepreneurial endeavours succeed beyond the first 3 years of business operations.

Often under radar - majority of Canadian small businesses go through qualifications to survive 3+ years in business.

This where all of the blueprints are laid out and if done right, the organization "qualifies" to move on to the next level of competition:

Group Stage

Welcome to the group stage - by now each team has already proven itself ahead of the competition. While many people may not have been watching - your country (or organization) is now established itself in some way: a great defensive team, dominating possession, etc.

By now your business is starting to make some sort of noise - it has built a reputation for having unique products, extremely high quality, unimaginable technology/software, etc.

This however attract attention of others, there are four (or in entrepreneurship world often more) competing countries/organizations trying to establish a name for themselves as well. This is where the team has to be built just right and already in some type of groove or familiarity in order to ward off the competition.

While companies which are picked by experts as favourites to succeed, usually do - there is always an upset or underachievement which allows another entrepreneur to advance. Be honest, did anyone expect Spain to be knocked out in group stage? Absolutely not! Neither did you expect Costa Rica to top Uruguay, England and Italy as leaders of their group! 

While experts can predict which start-up will succeed, there are always under achievements: just like Spain failing to advance from the group stage.

Round of 16

The first level of knock-out rounds - by now your organization has established its team: you have hired the right people, found the necessary location, tools and collaboration to rise above the competition. Well - most of the competition, now is the time to go head-to-head with most immediate competitors and carve out your own brand within a tough market.

Utilizing all necessary aid can help: finding right employees or freelancers, effective marketing, powerful branding, financial programs, and any other means necessary. Sometimes the competitions gets really tough - how amazing was the Brazil vs. Chile extra time, penalty showdown thriller? What pushed them over the top was that extra detail of finishing penalties - staying true and effectively closing out the game. Professional SEO services, social media marketing or any other unique assistance can be the difference between getting knocked out or advancing!

Amazing match from both teams - Brazil edged Chile by a narrow penalty shootout result.

Quarterfinals

If an entrepreneur makes it this far, they have already done an amazing job. It is no easy task to get through qualifications/group stage and conquer the first knock-out match-up in the round of 16. By now many teams and businesses see the "tunnel at the end of the light", meaning that they are very close to the ultimate goal of being crowned champions (or establishing themselves as a strong, desirable brand in both of potential employees and customers).

To experience success at this level of competition, the organization has to have enough depth: players get injured (employees leave for other jobs), suspended until the next match due to accumulation of yellow or red cards (firing of employees not fit for the culture), fatigue (sick days) or any other circumstance. Hiring the right personnel to build a strong culture is crucial - having the right people to cover for others if need be, and dedicate themselves to a full-team philosophy increases the odds of success.

Trust, teamwork and collaboration makes Germany a success. Just like many successful entrepreneurial environments.

Much like a soccer team, any small business or organization is a team-oriented culture which thrives on collaboration. The German national team exemplifies how the midfielders (Philipp Lam played as a midfielder - although his natural position is full-back) are willing to commit themselves fully to both defense and offense in order for their team to dominate.

Semifinals

One step away from the biggest stage on football (or entrepreneurship) this is where great leaders have to come forth and utilize their skills to efficient execution. They have to take risks to separate from the competition, because at this level - the playing field is fairly equal and little separates competitors.

Instead of relying on just traditional websites, the leader may opt to build a responsive website or a fully functional mobile app to engage audiences beyond just desktop devices...even if it may not be the "industry standard". This gives employees confidence, the culture is clicking on all cylinders - work process is optimized, and everyone knows exactly what their role is. Ready to step up and perform at all times.

Great leaders take chances, especially risky chances others would not even consider. Just like Van Gaal did by substituting Tim Krul for the penalty shootout against Costa Rica.

Much like when Van Gaal (manager of Holland) decided to insert Tim Krul, the national team back-up goalie who has not played a single minute in the tournament, for the penalty shootout in their match-up with Costa Rica. While the move was risky, it proved to pay off as Krul saved two penalty shots and essentially won the game for his team. Krul was ready and did his job as soon as his team depended on him. It's all about taking chances that others may not be willing to!

Final Game

By now your organization has overcome all of the hardships of entrepreneurship - making it all the way to the biggest chance of its existence: a chance for ultimate success. While in FIFA football this is a World Cup trophy, for entrepreneurs it may be a number of things: investors, expansion, longevity, unmatched workplace culture, financial growth, etc.

The final step is having a dedicated supporter base (loyal customers), teammates full of confidence and competence (minimal margin for major errors) and the will of a champion (dedication). Believing in yourself and your organization increases the odds of ultimate success. The uncertainty will always there - but with those efforts present, the entrepreneurial journey reaches its summit. Although not the end, each organization (and national team) finds ways to evolve, find new talents and keep improving upon its strategy with lots of ups and downs.

As for this World Cup Final in Brazil - I have picked Brazil and Argentina to meet in the final, with Brazil the host nation winning the tournament. Both have lost key players (Brazil without Neymar, Argentina without Di Maria). Let's see if the teams can come together and overcome adversity as one.

Now enjoy the rest of the world cup, keep working on and believing in your entrepreneurial dreams.

Ole, ole, OLE!!!

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Unknown Tuesday, July 08, 2014  

Entrepreneurship in the Age of Digital Branding

Entrepreneurship - the cornerstone of Canadian businesses. According to Industry Canada 15.4% of Canadians were self-employed in 2011 (numbers remained steady in 2012) - with the likelihood of that percentage increasing in the upcoming years. Canada is the ideal landscape for embracing entrepreneurship and allowing passionate people, ideas and solutions to thrive. Particularly in our location (Kitchener-Waterloo, ON) there are many start-ups, entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals that turn their ideas into viable businesses (just check out Vidyard, Thalmic Labs, ClevrU as living proof).

Entrepreneurs are able to find a need in the market, provides quality solutions for that need and deliver excellent customers service along the way. It is the epitome of our economy; the ability to individually build a business, more specifically a brand that will be associated with an innovative solution that no one else is able to provide, or provide well enough.

Unfortunately, not all entrepreneurs are highly qualified in all aspects of successful business management - a local, home-made BBQ restaurant owner will be a master chef but may not be a immersed in accounting. Furthermore, entrepreneurs are often limited in time as they already spent working more hours than employed individuals. This makes running and growing a business in the long-term seemingly difficult; often larger companies are able to out-compete as they have entire departments allocated to each functional business area, whereas the entrepreneur usually does majority of the work him or herself. One area specifically that often gets overlooked is marketing, communication and the community which makes everything possible (aka customer).

Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Luckily over the past 20 years we have experienced a major shift in communication. With the advent of the PC, and more recently the mobile device generation (tablets, smart phones, watches, glasses, etc.), publicizing and content sharing is no longer limited to publication houses, or big businesses. Everyone now has the ability to communicate (cost-effectively) with large or small audiences, meaning that entrepreneurs now have the means of attaining good marketing without having to go through expensive channels (TV, radio). The key is to find a community which can be engaged and interacted with in a meaningful way.

You may, or may not have heard the term "content is king" with digital marketing, but it refers to the idea that creating content will give an upper hand in attracting customers and developing an online brand. This is true, with one exception: interesting, engaging, helpful and relevant content is king. Simply creating blog posts for the purpose of having a blog is no longer feasible. Help someone resolve a problem, answer a question, make them laugh, entice them to read and share with others, etc. By no means an easy task, but definitely an attainable one.

Entrepreneurship no longer competes with big businesses, but with original ideas and innovation both in the unique solutions it provides but in the content (or marketing) that it produces. Entrepreneurs have to adapt and become publishers, not for the sake of their brand but to stay relevant and keep their unique solutions up to date. To cleverly compete with big businesses and keep their competitive edge. Each entrepreneur has something unique to offer, a personality of their solution and brand (much like their own personality; quirky, analytical, playful, engaging, etc.). Their marketing should be the same; don't tell people that you are unique or best at what you do - let them figure that out through open communication, find you at their own convenience and engage with your brand through interaction. Failing to do so may put you behind, as Alan Quarry (one of my former, very insightful university marketing professors and successful entrepreneur) says:

"Status Quo" is Latin I believe for "RoadKill". The riskiest thing you can do today is play it safe and stand still.
— Alan Quarry (@aquarry) May 8, 2013

Entrepreneurs are all unique in their own way, why shouldn't their marketing be? The digital branding age now makes all of that possible. Let's make use of it!

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Unknown Sunday, July 07, 2013