January 25, 2013 Abe Matamoros Entrepreneur University of Tulsa Dear Professional interested in Entrepreneurship: This report highlights

the different methods of communication that are important for entrepreneurs. In preparation for this report I performed an in-depth analysis of an entrepreneurship journal, interviewed a CEO, and studied an entrepreneurial report. I will begin this report by sharing what I learned from my research. Then, I will finish by giving you the 8 key elements an entrepreneur needs in order to communicate successfully with both people in and outside of a business. My research started by analyzing Dr. Robert Baums article, A Longitude Study of the Relation of Vision and Vision communication to venture growth in Entrepreneurial Firm. Dr. Baum is an expert in the field of entrepreneurship, and is currently the professor of MBA New Ventures at the University of Maryland. Dr. Baums article proves how important it is for an entrepreneur to communicate his vision effectively. Dr. Baum and his research team ran a study measuring the relationship among the attributes of a vision, the content of a vision, how a vision is communicated, and venture growth. After data was collected from 183 entrepreneurs/CEOs and employee pairs, the research team concluded that an entrepreneurs ability to communicate his vision, is directly correlated to venture growth. Dr. Baum also suggested that there are three core components that are common between all theories of leadership: communicating a vision, possessing a charismatic personality style, and taking various actions to implement a vision. If a business owner can have everyone involved with the company embrace the vision, the firm will be far more successful. The question is, how can a business owner reveal his charismatic personality, and what actions does he need to implement? To find this out, I went to Abelardo Matamoros. Abelardo Matamoros has been an entrepreneur for the past 25 years and is currently the CEO of a company worth over 50 million dollars. I spoke to Mr. Matamoros to get his opinion on what he thought was the best way a business owner could motivate people to believe in his vision. He first said that, the most important characteristics that need to be expressed when communicating are: courtesy, humility, respect for the other persons work, and appreciation for the other persons efforts. In addition, a business owner also needs to be demanding. If an entrepreneur can express all of these characteristics correctly, he will be able to reach out to his employees and have them embrace his vision. Before our meeting was over Mr. Matamoros advised me to take a look at some entrepreneurial memos and business plans so that I could better understanding of the differences between oral and written communication methods within the business world. While emails consist of 99% of the writing entrepreneurs have to do, there are also occasions when entrepreneurs have to write business plans and reports. Regardless of what you are writing, writing needs to be as clear and concise as possible, because time is money. A business plan has two main purposes. It is the documentation you share with potential investors to let them know the company plans, and it is what the company uses as a guide when starting the company. A business plan contains the following information: executive summary, company description, products or services, industry analysis, market analysis, competition, marketing and sales plan, operations, management, capitalization and structure, development and milestones, risks and contingencies, and financial projections. Business plans usually end up being about 25 to 30 pages long. Even though investors will probably only look at the executive summary it is still essential to dedicate time to other parts of the business plan. Investors may want to learn more about a specific aspect of your business. Without a good business plan it may be impossible to find investors that will believe in your

vision. Consequently, it is very important that your vision is communicated clearly in writing. As you can imagine, even though an entrepreneur will probably not be writing financial statements or writing accounting reports, he should still be familiar with the entire business. A report is another form of documentation an entrepreneur may find himself writing. In the Article, CoolPeopleCare: A Social Venture, Entrepreneurs Sam Davidson and Stephen Mosley are having trouble finding investors. As a result, a report is created in order to briefly explain the situation they are in and what they are trying to do about it. Business reports usually start with an abstract, followed by an executive summary. After these two sections, reports should go into more detail and finish with an overview. Unlike an ordinary email, a report should be formal and more specific. However, unlike a business plan a report should not exceed 2 or 3 pages. When it comes writing journal articles about entrepreneurship guidelines are not very strict. For example, at Entrepreneur Magazine they just ask that writers take into consideration the audience of the magazine. That audience is: Small business owners who have been in business for several years People who are either dreaming of starting their own business or have a business that is less than two years old Home based business owners People interested in purchasing a franchise or business opportunity After concluding my research I have found that there are 7 key elements an entrepreneur needs to have in order to be a successful communicator in his field: Be courteous o When people are treated with respect they are more likely to follow you. Humility o People respect leaders that are humble and are more likely to want to work with them. Respect for other peoples work o If you do not respect your employees position, they will think their position is useless and not be committed to the companys vision. Appreciation for other peoples efforts o If you never show appreciation for the work of another then they see no point in working hard. If, on the other hand, people see that their efforts are being recognized, the will keep working hard. Ability to communicating a vision o If you are able to communicate your vision in a way that is embraced by your employees, investors, and customers you will build a culture that will create customer, employee, and investor loyalty Express a charismatic personality o Being charismatic will allow you to easily motivate people to follow you. o A charismatic leader also is good at networking (very important in the business world). Take various actions intended to implement the vision o Many people know how to communicate well but do not do it. o A good entrepreneur is able to analyze a situation and communicate his response in an efficient and effective manner. Sincerely, Abe Matamoros Entrepreneur

Work Cited

Cornwall, Jeffrey J., Jose Gonzales, and Sarah Brown. "CoolPeopleCare: A Social Venture."USASBE Conference Proceedings (2009): 23. Small Business Reference Center. Web. <http://0web.ebscohost.com.library.utulsa.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=776940b0-889a-499a8f9b-8dd47ed06f83%40sessionmgr14&vid=5&hid=10>. Baum, J.R., Locke, E.A., and Kirkpatrick, S.A., A Longitude Study of the Relation of Vision and Vision communication to Venture Growth in Entrepreneurial Firms Journal of Applied Psycholog, 83 (1): 42-54,1998.