Getting Along: Tips for Entrepreneurs
by Ron Foxcroft
After three decades as a professional basketball referee, with experience at Gold Medal Olympic competition, the Pan American Games and 35 years in the NCAA, Ron Foxcroft knew how important a reliable whistle was to a game official so he invented a better one! Since its introduction in 1987, the Fox 40 Pea-less Whistle has become the whistle of choice for international sports federations and conferences and is currently sold in over 100 countries world-wide. Named by Profit Magazine as one of the top 10 Canadian entrepreneurs of the decade, Foxcroft can give you first-hand insight into the invention process. Below are tips Ron believes are important for every entrepreneur.
- Be a life-long learner.
- Get involved in your community.
- Take calculated risks. Walt Disney said, "Better to have tried and failed than never tried at all."
- Entrepreneurs: most of us gloat over yesterday's success or moan about yesterday's failure. Entrepreneurs won't spend 5 seconds on either!
- Stay in shape!
- Get along. CAN'T is not an allowable word.
- Follow up! Don't be casual about follow up!
- Learn the sense of urgency. Timing. Better sooner than later.
- Develop stamina and toughness.
- Adapt to change and be flexible.
- Develop the ability to recognize opportunity; non-entrepreneurs interpret this as chaos.
- Recognize when you must give way to management. Change your hat and introduce professional structured management.
- Managers don't always make good entrepreneurs and vice versa. Skill levels and skill sets are different.
- There is no such thing as failure. FAILURE is SUCCESSFULLY finding out what you don't want to repeat.
- Don't create paralysis by analysis.
- HAVE FUN!
Mr. Foxcroft contributes to INSIDE INPEX/INVENTORS COMMUNITY as an industry expert, but is not employed by or otherwise compensated by INPEX, InventHelp or its affiliates.
