Entrepreneurs Don't Create Businesses, They Fix Them

One day when I had nothing better to do, I went on YouTube and searched for videos on my favorite executive in hopes of finding a speech by him from which I could learn more about his views and business ideologies. What I found was a conversation that would forever change my life.

The video was a panel discussion featuring my favorite executive discussing a major problem that faces industry. He was talking about how he and other captains of industry were trying to find ways to solve the issue, but more importantly to me, he said that it would take years to do so.

I immediately did the one thing that he said he and others in industry would not do. I looked at the problem from the view point of the other side of the table. After a little research and a few phone calls, I realized that the issue facing industry will indeed take some time to solve, BUT the problem created an opportunity that no one seemed to notice…I did.

The true entrepreneur understands that even the top CEO’s don’t know everything, and even in industries like entertainment and technology, that generate billions of dollars each year, there is always something that is not being done that should be. Even more significantly, we live in a world that is continuing to become smaller as social  media continues to bring us all to a small number of platforms on which to interact.

This globalization not only affects people, but industries as well. Individuals interact everyday on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, allowing for collaborations that would have been almost impossible two decades ago.

The same can be said in business. Industries that operated independently from each other are now seeing opportunities to work together, particularly in the digital arena.

I saw an opportunity to bring two very large industries together to solve a common problem. It was not the problem that they wished to solve initially, but in showing them the opportunity to create a new business, the road to solving the initial problem has become a little easier to navigate.

Not only am I proud of my major accomplishment and the praise that it has received from my colleagues, peers and those I admired on my ascent through the ranks, but I am also proud of the fact that through embracing the entrepreneurial spirit, by thinking outside AND inside the box, I was able to create a business for myself that is not only financially lucrative, but potentially monumental in the growth of not one but two industries.

A true entrepreneur understands that success in business does not come from making money by doing what others have done before, but in finding ways to take what others have done and create an entirely new way of doing things. Or in my case: creating an entirely new thing.

Damani Barham | Elite.