Entrepreneur’s Diary #6 – The USP: “Summary” or “The Journey is the Reward”
Founder initiatives and business plan competitions are supposed to promote “German Entrepreneurship”. These are the sorts of programs intended to make young people motivated and qualified for taking up a career as businessman.
In these seminars, you learn for instance that an enterprise needs an USP (Unique Selling Proposition). That is why the USP is introduced into the business plan and will weigh quite strongly when it comes to evaluating it.
With the five examples I wrote about, I want to show that this is nonsense. Only very few enterprises have a great and unique USP.
Mostly, it was generated in the course of many decades or even centuries and is basded on hard and goal-oriented work. But you can be certain that it has not been planned beforehand.
Every enterprise has its own “small” USP. It is one that developed during the enterpreneural process and is mostly simple and self-evident. Both a “small” and a “big” USP can make an enterprise strong. And you should always be aware of your special USP and nurture it well.
However, a USP cannot be developed “on the blackboard”. For some enterprises, seeking for their USP is like seeking the holy grail. You spend a lifetime looking for it and never find it. And not finding it, you feel desperate and miserable. Then you become an “under performer”!
But it is always a good idea to spend a little time thinking about your USP. Ifr you cannot find your “grandeurish” USP (which is absolutely normal), then maybe you will discover something else worth discovering.
Here is an example:
A friend of mine had a kiosk and was wondering why business was booming all the time.
However, his USP was not the location near the hospital. Rather, it was his friendly attitude and his quality-oriented and conscientious selection of products (for him, quality was always the most important factor). Besides, he always hired nice (and cheap) elderly people for salespersons.
Looking for a USP can be pivotal for gaining a lot of wisdom.
So here is my advice: keep thinking about your USP, but never despair if you do not find it. Some people play the lottery all the time, and yet they never win the jackpot.
Instead, you should be delighted about all the wisdom you have gained through thinking so much. This is the only way of becoming a happy entrepreneur, rather than becoming frustrated because of all the efforts you took in order to find the undiscoverable grail.
For the USP, the same is true as in life:
The journey is the reward!
RMD
(Translated by EG):-)
Incidentally, the same is true when you ride your bike through the mountains of Mani!
The pictures were taken on yesterday’sd bike tour to (400 meters height difference). It was a beautiful 30 kilometres. You can find more pictures of our Peleponnesian travels on my twitter page.
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