In this new post I will present the reasons I became, or at least tried to become, an international and digital entrepreneur. The journey to do so has not been easy, and most certainly is far from being complete, but as for everything in life, the journey is often more important than the goal. Anyhow, I hope my motivations and reasons might bear some interests for some people, so I will try to present them as clearly and concisely as possible.
As to this the latest of these attributes, entrepreneur, I believe, it is a very important trait of my personnality from a most early age. Many will say that they have always had the will, the drive, the independance and the energy it takes to become an entrepreneur, but very few actually take the decision to start on their own and keep on going forward when the first difficulties arise. People who wish to become entrepreneur be warned: it is hard, lonely and demanding road you would engage on.
I do not know any entrepreneur who's been successful by himslef, as soon as he started his venture. They all have faced doubts, fears, lack of self-confidence, lack of money, lack of support and even conflict within their own organization. Fewer have not given up for the comfort of having a steady income you can rely upon, reasonable working hours that let you have some peace out of your job, or even a boss taking decisions for you not to have to be responsible for failures. Even fewer have come to earn any money, fewer again to reach some sort of success.
As for me, I am far from being done with an established and undoubtedly recognized success, but after more than 2 years, I am still confident in my will to face it all to remainan entrepreneur at the head of my company EYE3 GROUP and its ventures.
Concerning the international dimension that I try to embody for my company and its ventures, it comes from a double realization.
First, a strong international has been part of my education and personal profile from a very age. As young as 15 years old, I could participate in a 3-month exchange in Ontario, Canada, quite far from my family, my native language and city of Lyon, France. Later, I had the chance to go study one year in London, one year in Madrid and one year in Paris, through my scholarship at ESCP Europe. After graduating, I was hired to work in Vietnam for 2 years, before starting my company in Hong Kong while managing it from Vietnam, and finally move to Thailand last year.
The second reason comes from a constation that many I made quite early as many other people do: an international company intrisically have an edge over non-international companies. Formulated differently, a company, even a single-person one, which can properly manage an international network of stakeholders, clients, providers or workers (directly hired or subcontractors), its administration and finances, has an advantage over any national companies through its ability to better optimize the use of its resources, its needs and its expenses, as costs, rules and skills differ a lot from one country to another. This also comes from a deeper constatation: as the economy became really global (after the end of the Cold War) and people, goods and capital can now move quite freely almost anywhere in the world, the notion of "nation" has been rendered somehow obsolete, to the great despair of national politicians who always try to solidify their vanishing powers, but I believe, to the great benefit of any and every individual, be it for business or not.
The last axis that I try to make the most of for my company is the digital revolution, that is shaking the very foundation of business and society.
As presented above, I believe that companies that can manage their resources internationally have an edge over non-international ones. The extremely large array of digital tools available for businesses render this international management almost as easy as the management of local resources. And what's even more beautiful about it is that it doesn't come at a great cost! Many extremely useful services are free, and the hardware and connections required to make it work are every day cheaper.
The second advantage of the digital century, which is obvious but somehow becoming everyday more difficult to benefit from is the reach of Internet: any business big and small can reach almost anyone through Internet and the digital products and services it helps to convey. Nevertheless, this opportunity vanishes for more and more companies, as it takes everyday more skills and money to reach people that are everyday more Internet-aware and difficult to convince. Thankfully for me and my company, one of our ventures is Fluorcom, which also becomes everyday more skillful at communicating in this digital era, as do I... ;-)
