Is an entrepreneur born or made?
Here is what Wikepedia says:
“An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of a new enterprise, venture or idea and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome.”
Countless surveys all state that an entrepreneur is born, Richard Branson proves this point, but what about the people that decided that they want something different from their life, what about the mothers that have just seen their youngest child start school, they know they want to return to work but they want something different, something that will earn them some money but won’t take up all their time, what if they decide to bake some cakes and try and sell them at a local fair, going by what Wikipedia says. These are entrepreneurs but would they ever consider themselves as such; I doubt it. What if you have a full time job and you decide to take on some freelance work, over the months and years you gain a reputation for quality work and demand grows, until you reach a stage where you need to make a choice, your day job or freelancing, you choose the later. Does that make you an entrepreneur, according to Wikipedia it does. The point that I am trying to get across is that a lot of people who would never consider themselves to be an entrepreneur actually are.
For me an entrepreneur isn’t that easy to pigeon hole, it’s not what you do that puts food on your table, it’s the mindset that drives you to getting to that point. It’s what pushes you to keep going and to have faith in your own ability, it’s about being open enough to except that the road ahead of you is unknown and that ultimately it could all fail.
The obvious reason that anyone will start a business is to make money, some may say they want to change the world but at the end of the day it is all about money, but before you can start thinking about the money you first need to come to terms with the fact the most businesses fail and most fail within their first year. It’s like a horse race you take a gamble on the outsider if he comes in, it’s pay day. The only difference is you’re betting on yourself. Would you take the gamble?
If you have read this far, it must be something that you are serious about, so let me leave you with some parting advice, take 2 pieces of paper and write down a list of the things that you are good at and on the other write down a list of the things were you fall down on (accountancy is top of my list). Now throw the good list away and look at the other, either learn how to make these weak points your strongest or pay someone to do it for you. Being a successful entrepreneur is about being well rounded and having the ability to adapt to what ever is put in front of you, if you only focus on what you are good at you won’t see the bigger picture and then your business will fail.
Ever heard the saying “we learn more from our failures then we do from our successes” the same is true in business. So your first try might not be a home run but you have learned enough this time to give yourself a fighting chance if you ever decide to take this path again.
About the Author
Neil has run a number of business and is currently MD of eMobileScan, A site recently launched to supply the European AIDC industry with the leading range of handheld barcode scanners, “we offer our customers a solution that will allow them to increase productivity while still lowering costs.”