Introduction
There are a lot of places where one could learn the art of manipulating a business or being an effective entrepreneur; one of those many places is Shell Livewire. This has been supported by SME-blog.com (2011) on its website by showing how effective Shell Livewire is when it comes to influencing the outgrowths of small and starting businesses.
The traditional way of learning things about entrepreneurship and enterprise only includes studying in the four corners of a classroom for a couple of years and then after graduation, working in a company that offers training or probably the chance to exercise what the individual learned from his 4 years (most likely) of stay in a college or university (HBS, 2011). This paper will tackle the different areas regarding Shell Livewire and if possible, will help determine the effects of Shell livewire in the mechanism of learning and knowing more about business and its many processes.
Why it is important to learn about business and explore?
According to a leading magazine, Forbes (YFC Women, 2011), “being an entrepreneur is easy and rewarding”. Well, it really is, especially if the business you are currently managing has promising potentials of clicking or if you are lucky, already generates a steady amount of money every month.
However, no one could still deny the fact that before these good things happen as a result of hard work and bravery, every businessman who wants to pursue both a career and a living in the business sector will have to face risk—a great deal of it.
This is the unchangeable reality about business; one will always have to deal with endless types of risks most of the time. With these risks, everything on the line could be wasted; even the personal aspects of a man’s life like his well-being, self-confidence and other emotional state, and even family and social relationships. All of these have the potential to be damaged. This is again why even successful business personalities still ask themselves whenever they have to do a risky step, “can I afford to lose this if ever..?”
However, there is really no single effective way to prevent encounters with these entities (Bizcoach, 2011) because again, risks are normal and you have to overcome them to succeed. The only option one could take would be to move forward and discover how to figure a way out of these risks successfully.
One way to face these risks would be to explore more the world of business because for owners of small and just starting businesses, it could be said that they are just, as of the moment, able to see the tip of the iceberg and not how really large it is beneath the icy water. This is business and it actually has a lot of unexplored areas still and the key to that would be a thorough and swift exploration.
Development of Shell Livewire
Because of this gap, a group of developers tried to make a site that could be a leader in delivering effective and professional advice that encourages and supports the younger generations to invest more time and effort in doing business (GOE, 2011). Shell Livewire is one of the biggest online communities that aim to help entrepreneurs reach their goals and even solve their personal but business related problems. It is based in the UK and as long as you are an entrepreneur, you can easily get in touch with others that have the same goal as you so that all could be give and receive help from the more experienced individuals in the business field. They have a site where newcomers and would-be members could visit.
The site actually operates smoothly under the supervision of specialized staff. Technically, the site also has a forum-like feature where users could post threads that could either be questions, suggestions, notes, comments or anything that concerns them at the moment. However, the moderators of the site have decided to limit the diversity of contents that could be found in each section so that highly relevant information could easily be found upon searching. Apart from this, there are a lot more features that Shell Livewire has to offer. Overall, it presents itself with an organized, strong and stable image which could immediately be seen by the way their site was developed and how satisfied their members are.
Target Population
As far as age is concerned, the optimum age of joining in this organization would be somewhere between 16 to 35 year old. It’s a good thing that even though their target participants are young entrepreneurs, they are still willing to help individuals who are aged beyond 30. The most important qualification for an individual to be a member of this community would be an ownership of a business. Of course, how could one contribute his experiences in business if he didn’t even have the chance to manage even a small business himself?
Relationship of Shell Livewire with Entrepreneurship and Enterprise
Shell Livewire is an online community for entrepreneurs. That simple information could be the strongest evidence that could tell that this organization has direct relationship with the field of entrepreneurship and enterprise. In fact, it is more deeply rooted than how we could actually see it.
Since they are bound to be a place where young entrepreneurs could seek advice and support for their business ventures, it is only logical to think that their management or a certain part of their workforce are elites in the areas of entrepreneurship and enterprise.
There are indeed a lot of individuals who want to learn more about how to make a business prosper because of varying reasons. One may want to own and run a successful business because of the possibility of huge return of investments and another may want to do the same because it was his childhood dream to be a businessman. Regardless of the reason, there is one place where they could get themselves updated with the latest trends in the industry and that would be on Shell Livewire (SLW, 2011).
The business market could be considered a very treacherous road where young entrepreneurs could be trapped and remain helpless for years because of the fast changing environment it offers which is in turn a result of the fast-paced technological advancements and surges in the supply and demand curve of commodities. Now, regardless of what commodity or merchandise a certain business operates with, it could still benefit from the support Shell Livewire offers. It could also be a place where young entrepreneurs could look for the answers to their highly-specific questions. This is made possible through Shell Livewire’s comprehensive discussion forum.
You could expect everything you could see in there to be business-related because there are moderators who ensure the integrity and relevance of the threads and posts. There are also opportunities where the right entrepreneur applicants could consider applying. Who knows? That one opportunity may be the tide-turner you’ve been waiting for.
Ultimately, Shell Livewire offers a lot of benefits to its members like professional guides on business planning or market research and other things about business (SLW, 2011). There is only one reason why Shell Livewire existed and that is because of the entrepreneurs who need help. This is the greatest evidence that could prove how relevant the development of such communities to the Entrepreneurship and Enterprise industry is.
Learning Points from Shell Livewire
There are a lot of things that young entrepreneurs could learn from a site dedicated to support and empower them. Most of the learning part could be processed on the discussion forum because that is the place where the brightest and the most business-affiliated minds gather and share their ideas.
Upon visiting that forum, one can discover that the world of business could also be a world full of learning. New terms and new mechanisms to improve business functions could be found there. However, it would be good to note that whatever that is written is an individual result of another person’s efforts. It does not mean that if it worked for one person, it will also work for the rest (Business Link, 2011). In business, everything could happen on a case to case basis and everyone should respect that principle because remember that there are always risks present.
Online community groups like this one could indeed be an effective means for young and not-so experienced entrepreneurs to gain knowledge and expertise on the field they are working on. Threading into these places and being a member as well could benefit them enough that they can already refrain from doing the same mistakes that others did when their business is still in the so-called foundation years.
References
Anonymous, 2011. Shell LiveWIRE Awards. The Small Business Blog. [online] Accessed
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HBS, 2011. Put Leadership into Practice as you learn in the classroom and in the world. HBS.
[online] Accessed November 2011. Available at http://www.hbs.edu/learning/.
YFC Women, 2011. Risk it All: How to Master and Manage Small Business Risks. Forbes.com.
[online] Accessed November 2011. Available at http://www.forbes.com/sites/yec/2011/10/18/risk-it-all-how-to-master-fear-and-manage-small-business-risks/.
Bizcoach, 2011. Risk Assessment. Small business ideas and resources for starting a small
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GOE, 2011. What is Shell Livewire. GOE. [online] Accessed November 2011. Available at
http://www.generationofenterprise.com/pages/what_is_shell_livwire.html.
SLW, 2011. Assessing your requirements. SLW. [online] Accessed November 2011. Available
at http://www.generationofenterprise.com/pages/what_is_shell_livwire.html.
Business Link, 2011. Avoid Insolvency. BusinessLink.org.uk. [online] Accessed November
2011. Available at http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1074408672&type=RESOURCES.
SLW, 2011. My Business Kit. SLW. [online]. Accessed November 2011. Available at
http://www.shell-livewire.org/my-business-kit/preview/.
