Steve Jobs is a co-founder of the Apple Company. He was once a college student who dropped out due to financial problem. But, this has never stopped Steve from achieving his goal. He soon became a very successful man that created a history in the field of technology and technopreneurship.
As I was surfing in the internet, I found a website ( stated at the bottom of my answer ) where it has an article about Steve Jobs’ 12 rule of success. After watching the movie and reading this article, I have realized that he was strictly following these rules. Therefore, I could say that Steve Jobs found his way to success by following his so called “ 12 Rules of Success ”. His 12 Rules of Success are the following:
1. Do what you love to do.
In any aspect in life, one must love what you do in order to excel. In the case of Steve Jobs, after he found out what he and his friend ( Steve Wozniac ) wanted to do with their lives, they put their passion and love in making the first ever personal computers that soon made them rich and famous.
2. Be different.
According to Steve jobs, " Better be a pirate than to join the navy ". In my opinion, what he meant was, it is better to be different than to get used with the things that are already present. We should think outside the box. There are still a lot of things, material or non-material, which we still have to discover.
Being different does not mean that have to isolate ourselves from the human norms. We only have to think differently for us to generate new things that others can not give.
With what Steve Jobs did, by thinking different, he was able to create innovations to the world.
3. Do your best.
Doing our best also means that we have to be aggressive with the things that we do. We must stop being lazy and passive. We must do our best in every job.
Steve Jobs did his best at creating innovations for the Apple Company.
4. Make SWOT ( Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ) analysis.
One must know how to manage his or her success and failures. In order to manage these things, he or she must make an analysis as to what was his or her strengths, his or her weaknesses, and the available opportunities that are offered ( whether to accept or to reject ), and the threats that could pull him or her to the pit of failure.
5. Be entrepreneurial.
Steve Jobs took the risk of accepting the offer of Mike. To be a good entrepreneur, one must know when to take risks ( it doesn’t matter whether it is a big or small risk ) and he or she must continually think of the next new big thing for his or her company.
6. Start small, think big.
Being ambitious is not a bad thing as long as you know how to handle it. One must take one step forward to achieve what you have been dreaming of. As what Steve Jobs said “ Don't worry about too many things at once. Take a handful of simple things to begin with, and then progress to more complex ones ”.
7. Strive to become a market leader.
Steve Jobs was very much obsessed with pulling IBM down from their pedestals. IBM was the leading company when it comes to technopreneurship. He always thought of creating new things and strives to make it as an industry standard.
8. Focus on the outcome.
One must pay attention from the results of his or her actions. Steve Jobs focused on creating continuous innovation for with the innovation that he created, he wiped out IBM from their state as the leading company.
9. Ask for feedback.
Ask for feedback from people that has experienced the services or / and the products that you offer. Each one will tell you one useful thing. Your customers will tell you useful and purposeful things that could help you to improve the things that you offer. Listening to the customers will help the company to improve the weak points of the services or products that you offer.
10. Innovate.
Steve Jobs once told his employees, “You don’t just live in life, you change it…you shape it. You make your mark upon it.” His continual search for innovations made him rich and famous.
11. Learn from failures.
Not all of Steve Jobs so called innovation was as perfect as he wanted it to be. Some were failure. But with this failure, Steve learned and was able to create another innovation to cover the failure that has been done.
12. Learn continually.
Living is a continual process of learning. For the Apple to continually rule in the battlefield of technopreneurs, Steve continually learn new things like strategies and innovations.
But, these rules were implemented because of his Will Power. Without his strong will power, he might not have any of the success that he had and he have right now.
Steve is not a perfect man and he is not living a perfect life. He had made mistakes that brought him to his greatest downfall.
I have observed the following as the factors that contributed to Steve Jobs' failure:
a.) From perfection to obsession, and obsession to madness
All that he had in his mind was innovation. Not a simple innovation, but the perfect one. His perfectionism was too much that it became his obsession. And soon, his obsession became madness.
“ I used to think that Steve was born obsessed with wiping out IBM.. ” his friend Steve Wozniac said. All that I could see as a reason why he wanted to be successful being a technopreneur was because he wanted to beat IBM. He wanted to create warfare between the Apple Company and IBM. Steve never realized how the people that surround him got affected by these obsessions that he had. He became so obsessed that I think it became a madness.
b.) He let his guard down
In the first place, allowing an enemy to enter your territory just to show how inclined your projects are compared to your enemy's projects is a childish act. This childish act, I believe, was the root of all his failures.
In this story, Bill Gates was the enemy and Steve gave too much trust that he even gave information and properties that the Apple Company owns. As soon as Bill got what he needed, he turned his back from Steve and made his own way to success. While on the other side, Steve's fame and fortune was slowly fading and soon got fired from the company.
c.) Abusive to his employees
He was always saying that it was his way of molding his employees. But as what I have seen, he was abusing his employees. He abused them verbally, physically, mentally, and emotionally. His employees almost lost respect for him. Every time Steve visits his programmers, he will always leave them fear, anger, and frustrations to mold them. And I think he was molding his employees the wrong way.
But despite his failures, he have learned from his mistakes and made his way back to the Apple Company.
Reference: http://www.1000advices.com/guru/leader_corporate_12_success_rules_sj.html
2.) How do you see yourself as a technopreneur?
As I was reading the questions for this assignment, honestly, I really had a hard time giving an interpretation and answer to the question “how do you see yourself as a technopreneur?” . I have asked my fellow classmates as to how they understood this question so that I will have an idea in the manner of answering. And to my surprise, they were having a hard time explaining the whole thing. All they did was translating it in Filipino or Visayan dialect. I have decided to consult Google hoping to find something that could help me understand and explain my answers to the question. Unfortunately, I found nothing but a bunch of unrelated things. So I tried to search for the definition of technopreneurship. And luckily, I found a site that has a definition and some helpful information about technopreneurship.
According to the website ( the given reference at the bottom of my answer ), Technopreneurship is defined as the process and formation of a new business that involves technology. Technopreneurs use technological innovations and translate such technology into successful products or services. I have also read that, before starting any business, one needs to asses understanding about the business as well as your readiness and the ability to manage the proposed venture. I quote
“It is important to possess the following:
a.) Some previous work experience or skills appropriate to your business.
b.) Knowledge of your products or / and services and the market for it.
c.) Understanding of the relationship between product knowledge of technological goods and the disciplines of the marketing, production, finance, and administration ” .
End of quote.
Some previous work experience or skills appropriate to your business
As they say, “ experience is the best teacher ”. Therefore, you will learn a lot of things through experience. Good experience will give you inspiration while the bad ones will give you motivation to improve and correct your mistakes.
Also, you have to consider the skills needed in whatever business you have. Because skills will also help you improve and develop your craft. They say, skills are learned and acquired. Yes it is true, skills can be learned and acquired through the experiences that you had. So for me, experience and skills go together. These are the vital attitudes that you need to have if you want to have a business of your own. It could be technopreneurship or entrepreneurship.
According to Donald Trump, a real estate and entertainment mogul, “ Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you’re generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investment are the ones you don’t make ”. True indeed, our experience will teach us to listen to our gut feeling or human instincts because sometimes, what we have learned from books or informative materials does not provide us the answers.
Knowledge of your products or / and services and the market for it
Before starting and releasing your products to the consumers, you must have a full knowledge of the products that you will be offering or selling. So that, whatever questions your consumer or customer might have, you will be able to address it correctly and appropriately. So there comes the service. In any business, customer service is one of the most important factors. The growth of your business will depend upon how your customers patronize your product. Sometimes customers might be unhappy with the product that you have, but still they continue to use it, it is because they have a good or excellent customer service experience. Customers are confident to use the product because they knew that whatever problems they will encounter with the product will be resolved with ease in the customers’ part.
As a technopreneur, knowledge for supply and demand is also important because it involves money. Business means money making.
Understanding of the relationship between product knowledge of the technological goods and the disciplines of the marketing, production, finance, and administration
We can also consider this one as business forecasting. You ask these questions:
- What will be my product?
- How much will I sell it?
- Is my product a necessity? Or luxury?
- Where should I put up my business?
- Are the people around the area can afford my product?
- Is the product useful?
- How will I present it to the consumers?
- Can I afford putting up this business?
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These questions have something to do with business forecasting. You should do forecasting because it is one way of understanding the relationship between product knowledge and the disciplines of the marketing, production, finance, and administration.
In addition to that, a good technopreneur must also possess creative and innovative mind, the one who thinks out of the box. It is like seeing the unseen and dreaming the impossible dream. Because in technopreneurship, you do not know what will tomorrow brings. We are now living in a modern world where technology is fast changing. And we need to keep phase with these changes so that we can continue providing quality products to our consumers.
According to Bill Gates, “Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning”. Therefore, technopreneurs may work hand in hand with other technopreneurs. As they say, two heads are better than one. Partnership will contribute to the growth and success of the business.
A good technopreneur is not afraid to take the risk, not afraid to try new things. Because when you try, you will get new and better ideas that will develop your products. And that will lead to profit.
Since I have fully understood how the business industry works, I am quite confident that I will become a very competent technopreneur. One who can manage business very well. Equipped with this information, I can surely say that I can supply and provide the consumers needs without sacrificing the quality of the product.
Reference: http://www.expertsonline.com/technopreneur.aspx/
3. Will you take the same career path that Steve Jobs took? Why or why not?
Equipped with knowledge, skills, trusted partners, and proper finances, anybody can be Steve Jobs. Therefore, it is not impossible for us to take Steve Jobs career path. But we need to have certain attitudes to achieve whatever goals that we have in life. Attitudes such as:
- PERSISTENCE, DETERMINATION AND WILL POWER
Small businesses can survive when led by owners with an unshakeable will to succeed. But to grow the business, the directors must develop leadership skills to lead themselves and the others to continually focus on the objectives of the business.
According to Calvin Coolidge, “ Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talents will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are the omnipotent. The slogan “ press on ” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” This is very true indeed in the case of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. They were not able to finish college but with these attitudes, they were able to reach success.
Starting your every day with determination, I am assuring you that you are going to bed with satisfaction.
- PATIENCE
The very famous Banawe’s Rice Terraces completed with people throwing tantrums, giving up or refusing to look for innovative ways to create a masterpiece. In a way, constructing one of the greatest structures and masterpieces ever created is the same as building a business. That is why, Steve Jobs was always referring his innovations as an art.
Practicing patience is instrumental in business. Remember, business is a process. Therefore, it takes time. Most of the businesses very often do not automatically yield profit.
If you do not have patience to see your business through, you will definitely fail as a technopreneur. Impatient people are much more impulsive, jumping to conclusions, making hasty decisions that ultimately cost their business.
A patient mindset has a tendency to use more common sense, a very essential component of business success. A patient technopreneur is also more likely to be prepared, have goals in place, understand his strengths and weaknesses, establish his or her resources and needs to know how to manage them.
“With love and patience, nothing is impossible.” –Daisaku Ikeda
- PERSEVERANCE
Nobody goes into business with failure as a goal. It is important for a technopreneur, especially for the new ones, to have a good plan, follow it then persevere.
- FRIENDLY
A technopreneur should be friendly with his or her employees and customers. The pleasing manners of a person also encourage others to have business dealings with him or her.
If you want the maximum profits out of your venture, it is essential that you have a healthy professional relationship with your clients, customers, partners and employees.
- HONESTY
As what I have seen in the movie, I have seen none of this from Steve Jobs.
They say that a businessman should know how to deceive people. But one should be honest in dealing with others. If a technopreneur tries to earn money by dishonest method, he or she can not establish in business in long run. He will not be able to befool his clients and customers forever. While on the other hand, an honest technopreneur will be able to create long-turn reputation.
- GOOD COMMUNICATOR
It is said that one of the most important qualities that a technopreneur must have is communicating skills. In which Steve Jobs is good at.
If you cannot put your message across to the intended audience, you cannot become a good technopreneur. A technopreneur needs to have good communication skills in order to churn out the maximum profits from your venture.
Communication includes talking and writing. But in order for us to have a good communication, one must include gestures, body language, and confidence while communicating. Good communication also consist good listening skills in which a technopreneur should have. He or she must listen to his employees, clients, and partners. By listening, the technopreneur will be able to hear complaints from clients and customers, additional helpful ideas from employees and clients, and good feedbacks that will help you create and improve the products and services that you are offering.
- GOD FEARING
For me, having a fear for God is very important for a technopreneur. He or she should be religious and Godly and should not be a mere temple bell-ringer.
They say that money is the root of all evil. Since technopreneurship involves business, and business involves money, technopreneurs are vulnerable and susceptible to temptations. By having faith and fear to the Lord our God, he or she will be to retain his or her morality despite all of the temptations that surrounds a person.
We should acknowledge God’s graces and blessings that the Lord had bestowed upon us.
- OPPORTUNISTIC
Opportunistic people tend to be hungrier. They are more vigilant, more aggressive, and more perseverant. A less than brilliant people can achieve success in a big way if he is creating and capturing opportunities when they come to his or her way.
- WILLINGNESS TO LEARN AND ADAPT
Business is about change. That is why some businessmen pay premium for research just to get a hold of information pertaining to trends and forecasts especially with technologies. As what we can see these days, technology is fast changing. As a technopreneur, you must have the willingness to learn every thing there is to know about your industry, the nature of your business and how it can thrive in the environment it is in. Any technopreneur who refuses to acknowledge the market, the business environment and the consequence of trends may find that doing business is like trying to climb the waterfalls. It has worked for some but for most technopreneurs, it meant the end of line.
To achieve business success, every technopreneur must be willing to learn his or her trades, find out about progress in related subjects and see whether or not these changes will affect his or her business. It keeps him or her on his or her toes, lets him or her think and act pro-actively and allow him to be prepped and ready for anything that might occur, whether it is good or bad.
Having these attitudes and other essential things before having a business, I can say that I will take the same career path that Steve Jobs took. Technopreneurship is a good career. It is one way of refraining yourself from being unemployed especially these days that the world is experiencing an increasing poverty rate.
Taking the same career path does not mean that I will be copying his ways to be successful. I will be creating my own way as a technopreneur and strive to become a better one. Better than Bill Gates and better than Steve Jobs.
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