There is a kind of anomaly in the Indonesian Human Resources. On one hand, there is unemployment where people are not accommodated by the existing employment sectors and on the other hand, the business sector still faces difficulty in finding human resource (employees) with the required qualifications therefore some human resources (people) remain not accommodated by the employment domain in different jobs. As an alternative, these unemployed people may be prepared to be entrepreneurs. To prepare a person to become an entrepreneur can be conducted via the curriculum of each educational institution or within the society itself. The roles of the public and families are vital in preparing the succeeding generations to become entrepreneurs.  In the society, some parents are realizing to change their mindset, by which they opine that their children, as the successors, will be more virtuous if they can provide or create jobs for others and not to become job seekers.

Let us recall the world class and successful businessman, Donald Trump. Who is Donald Trump? He is the American billionaire having real estate business, founder of Trump Entertainment, casinos and the popular TV show, The Apprentice. As a result of his businesses, he was even inaugurated as the 45th American president after beating his rival, Hillary Clinton. The first person in the United States of America was once poorer than a tramp on a street side in Manhattan. He experienced this when he bore a debt of US$ 90 billion, which was then due and became payable, which he failed to pay. Donald Trump then saw a beggar and thought to himself, “He is 90 billion dollars better off than me”. But then he soon realized that with his cleverness he could negotiate things skillfully and that he was smart in building inter-personal relationship. And in the end Donald Trump was able to repay all his debts. He could stand upright again, continued his business and became more successful than he had been in his previous business, scattered from New York in the eastern coast to California on the tip of the west coast. Donald Trump inspires us. He is the real personification of an entrepreneur who is smart in negotiation and maintains his good inter-personal relationships with many different parties.

            According New York Times magazine, in the middle of 2015 Donald Trump prepared the development of property in Bali and Bogor. The Indonesian business partner is Harry Tanoesudibjo to develop luxurious resorts in those two areas. Outside the United States, Trump’s businesses are deployed in 25 countries, including, inter alia, Argentina, China, India, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Turkey and United Kingdom. His giant business umbrella is called the Trump Organization which manages all his business activities.

            According to Ali Akbar and Eko Priyo Utomo, in their book, The Entrepreneur Way, for the next generation to become successful entrepreneurs there are a number of tricks or factors to be followed and fulfilled. These tricks and factors include, among other things: 

The First Tip, start your own business. To start your own business, a businessman must smartly combine knowledge/science with art. With science he can become a professional businessman and able to manage his business effectively and efficiently. With his art, he will be stimulated to be an innovative, creative and flexible entrepreneur. The efforts to grow and develop his business to become bigger may be done by collecting as much information as possible and building his communicative skills to have relationships with different parties with regard to his business.

The Second Tip, prepare the business plan. The Business Plan is very beneficial to internal affairs and helpful to other parties expected to be able to provide assistance to the business being conducted. These external parties include investors, financiers, lenders, banks, financial institutions and others. A well prepared business plan may substantially help in the success of a business being operated.

The Third Tip, to acquire the working capital. The capital is a vital part of a business. The question is how to manage the circulation of the capital. Avoid stagnancy of the working capital. When the circulation of the working capital stops, the entire business will also stop.  Capital circulation is analogous to blood in our bodies. A good business capital circulation is, therefore, the one in which the sources of funds are able to cover all the expenses incurred by the business activities required.

The Fourth Tip, to manage accounts and working capital. Knowledge of accounting and financial management is crucial to operate a business. Why are accounting and financial management so important? The reason is that financial activities/affairs are vital in business. A businessman or businesswoman must understand the financial report and be able to evaluate his financial performance as well as to prepare the future condition of the financial performance.

The Fifth Tip, to formulate the marketing strategy. The marketing strategy is a strategy created to seek and build the most profitable condition to be able to sell products. The components of a marketing strategy include: segmenting, targeting and positioning. Segmenting means to determine and plan who will be the most eligible buyers in the society (market) for the products to be sold. Targeting means to identify the market segment, which ismost likely to be greatest group to buy the products to be sold. Positioning is the view of the market understanding towards the products to be sold.

The Sixth Tip, to maximize the resources. The knowledge on human resources becomes a very important component because only the human resources is able to help to achieve the business goals effectively and efficiently.

In the future, the book The Entrepreneur Way, written by Ali Akbar and Eko Priyo Utomo will certainly add broader knowledge to those who intend to run businesses in general and to management study program students. In addition to the tips mentioned above, to be a successful businessman requires various other skills, such as skills in negotiation, risk taking skills and skills in using information technology.

*) By: Djono Nurhadi (Lecturers of Management Educational Product (prodi), UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta).