7 Things That Iceland Taught Me About Being a Better Entrepreneur

By: Michael Dunlop     Topics: Blog,Young Entrepreneurs

What can a volcanic island being torn apart from 78 earthquakes a week, surrounded by cold violent water, with little or no natural resources except geothermal heat offer the tourist or the entrepreneur? Surprisingly, more than you can imagine. Iceland has something to teach us all.

How can you get a financial return from the cold, choppy waters of the North Atlantic? Get a boat and charge tourists $200 to get wet, get sick and maybe see a whale.

How can you get a financial return on food when most fruits and vegetables are imported?Make puffin a speciality and fish a staple.And, of course, charge $100 for a meal.

How do you get a financial return on a lava field that cannot support vegetation or housing? Easy, hire a bulldozer and make a track for quad and dirt bikes and charge $200 per hour to use it.

How do you get a financial return on the glaciers that cover nearly half the country?Another easy solution: allow tourists to snowmobile over them and charge each person $500.

How do you get people to pay this? Smile and give them the best service that they could ever hope for.

7 things that Iceland taught me about being a better entrepreneur:

– The ability to speak more than one language. Widening your audience increases your marketability.

– Putting the customer’s needs above time issues. An hour making a customer happy can encourage great word of mouth. Don’t make a customer unhappy bad publicity travels a lot faster than good publicity.

– Greeting everyone with a smile and then greeting every request (no matter how many) with a smile. Answer your emails promptly and offer more information and help than is expected. That extra attention is the way a smile can be generated across the internet.

– Every effort is taken to make sure that problems are resolved ensuring the customers satisfaction and therefore keeping the sale. So what if it takes longer and you have to give extra. If the customer is paying than you are the one making money.

– The ability to find a financial solution to every situation. There will always be times when you struggle, but remember successful people treat obstacles as learning experiences and opportunities to look in different directions./

– Widen your focus. If you sell domains why not sell hosting and web design. If the products you sell are similar enough you can tap into your existing market base.

– The Icelandic people are proud of who they are and where they come from. They love their country and want you – the tourist or businessman – to love it too. They pride themselves on the academic standards that everyone achieves and the creative way people are encouraged to express themselves and the creative ways to make money. In Iceland the worse thing you can be is like another person. When developing your website learn from these people and be proud of what you sell, be creative in your approach and above all else be unique.