IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson was one of the featured speakers earlier today (Wednesday, November 14) at the Entrepreneurs Wales 2012 event at Cardiff's City Hall, a one-day conference designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs looking to start, develop and grow their business. Dickinson addressed the conference on inspiring entrepreneurship in Wales.

According to WalesOnline.co.uk, Dickinson urged delegates to make their businesses something their customers could not live without.

"The key thing is to figure out how to make yourself invaluable — to be the ultimate virus — to get into the system, a corporate, or somebody's head and become indispensable," he said. "They can't do it without you because you have invented some widget or some software or because you are who you are."

Dickinson, who is also a commercial pilot, entrepreneur and international fencer, talked about the parallels between his music and business careers, saying, "You have to make music because that gives you the moral authority to play live, but everybody is going to steal it or get it for a fraction of what it was worth. It makes it a little more tedious — the music is free, but the T-shirt now costs you 100 bucks."

"Everything about being an entrepreneur is about the customer," he added. "If I turn the word 'fan' into 'customer,' that's not a bad customer satisfaction rating, is it?

"Are all your customers fans of what you do? Apple have got fans — people who believe their little devices are a pathway to a better tomorrow. To turn your customers into fans you really have to target them and know exactly who they are and what you are going to deliver for them that is different to everybody else."

Read more from WalesOnline.co.uk.