Personal Requirements of an Entrepreneur - Essay Example

Name: Institution: Coursework: Date due: Facilitator: Introduction Entrepreneurship entails the processes of identifying business opportunities and gathering or collecting the necessary resources to initiate and implement a business activity. An entrepreneur as a person who has the responsibility of organizing, managing and assuming the risk of managing a business, has to exhibit certain qualities and personal characteristics that are very useful in the whole process of executing entrepreneurial activities. These factors are not only demonstrated in a business activity, but are meant for successful execution of business plan. The reward of entrepreneurship and for entrepreneurs is profit gained in the business. Entrepreneurship is a combination either of factors that must operate independently or in conjunction with one another for a general contribution into the business for the achievement of a common goal or objective. In the process, the advantages and disadvantages should be well understood so as to build sufficient framework in entrepreneurship. A successful entrepreneur must therefore possess the following personal requirements or characteristics: Personal requirements of an entrepreneur An entrepreneur must have the strong desires to achieve in the business atmosphere. Strong desires, of achievement and success are very important for an entrepreneur to devote efforts that are driven towards maximizing profits from the business. It will enable one to exhaust all sources of business idea for purposes of getting the best ideas that are by no mean feat essential for the business. Business ideas are god frameworks that enhance an entrepreneur’s self-assessment and the available opportunities, which can improve the outcome of the business. One of the main important aspects of getting business ideas is to enable an entrepreneur to acquire pre-requisite knowledge in recognizing and identifying challenges that characterize the business world. Solutions to these challenges are ideal. Business ideas therefore enhance the acquisition of skills in problem solution. An entrepreneur would always like to excel, to succeed in competition with others as well as accomplish targets and goals. An entrepreneur must be action oriented. This is the ability to take well calculated actions where and when necessary. The broad process of entrepreneurship is based entirely on the actions that are taken by the business owner. Actions are the building blocks of the execution of any business opportunity. When faced with an entrepreneurial problem, an entrepreneur must be one who thinks of the best solutions and act on them. In striving with determination, entrepreneurs have to be good problem solvers. They have to possess such abilities in order to be efficient in handling uncertainties that are likely to crop into the business. They have to make decisions, which conform to general standards of entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur must have high drive and abilities to accomplish solutions for business success. Every step in accomplishing business opportunity involves risk taking. Every successful entrepreneur must possess such acumen as to efficiently deal with risks. An entrepreneur should be able to take moderately calculated risks. That means that an entrepreneur should be one who enjoys the excitement of challenges without showing characters of gambling. Risks are uncertainties that are likely to dawn on every business regardless of its financial prowess. The manner in which an entrepreneur handles a particular risk, determines the stability and the future of that given business. A successful entrepreneur has to be initiative. The achievement of an entrepreneur depends on the level of generation of new ideas. Being initiative refers to the ability of an entrepreneur to generate new ideas and implement them ahead of the others to be able to create competitive edge. Initiative of an entrepreneur comes with creativity, which involves brand new ideas with distinct values and innovation, which entails procreation of ideas to establish new ideas, which are different from the existing one. This demands awareness and knowledge of the current technology. An entrepreneur therefore must appreciate the current technology and use it to advance the business. Independence refers to the way in which entrepreneurs carryout their business based on their own freewill and decisions without being under control of someone. Entrepreneurs like doing things their own way. Therefore, an entrepreneur must demonstrate independence mostly in decision making and undertaking of actions that affect the business. One’s own business is meant to fulfill ones need for independence. The feeling of an own boss is in itself a self-satisfaction and the desire to maintain good performance of the business. An entrepreneur approaches the responsibility of the business with the hope of success and not with fear. Optimism should be an entrepreneur’s modus operandi, with the feeling of a positive outcome. Positivity of an entrepreneur engages substantial enthusiasm directed towards the achievement of the business. Self-confidence is another personal requirement that en entrepreneur should possess, to achieve realistic but challenging goals that are coupled with a sense of effectiveness which ultimately contributes to the success of a given venture. Self-confidence enables the entrepreneur to trust in the decisions bound to be, or made. It also provides energy to pursue an action with vigor, without the fear of losing. An entrepreneur should be able to identify financial sources in which loans can be gotten. Expansion or starting a business opportunity will require certain minimum amount of money (capital). Other sources of capital apart from the entrepreneurs own savings would be pivotal. Their identification will enable an entrepreneur to source for extra capital to expand the business. Establishing the prevailing market conditions is necessary for an entrepreneur, for purposes of identifying the most viable business opportunity before making decisions on the opportunity costs. In this regard therefore, skills identifying market conditions are imperative for an entrepreneur to make sound decisions on the best alternative forgone. This will enhance evaluation of risk factors and consumer purchasing power. Five Australian Entrepreneurs i) Kerry Packer. He inherited their family newspaper and media enterprise back in 1974. At the same time, he ventured in the business of buying many shares in many different newspapers like the Daily Telegraph in Sydney. He was a major player in several shrewd businesses of Billions of dollar. He is one of the wealthiest Australian entrepreneurs, with major shareholding in Australian Consolidated press and Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd. Packer Empire, is a, major shareholder in Foxtel Television cable network, telecommunications, coal mines and diamond mines. Packer was a successful business man due to broad shareholding spread in Australia and he was worth billions of dollars ($4.2 b). ii) Rupert Mudorch He owns the News Corporation of New York. He is a successful businessperson and multi-billionaire media mogul. Same like Packer also inherited their family newspaper that was not successful in 1952 and proceeded to buy many British and Australian newspapers and other interests in telecommunications and media such as the Festival Mushroom Records and Fox Channel. Murdoch’s success is seen in the fact that he is not only one of the established Australian Entrepreneurs but also one of the World’s richest. His wealth estimation is up to 6.9 billion dollars. The same can also be seen in the expansion of their struggling family business. iii) Dick Smith His success began at 17 years old when he received an amateur radio license. He established the most renown ‘Dick smith Electronics’, quite famous in the antics of publicity, multi-country catalogs that were free and developed unorthodox product promotion design that became recognized worldwide. He also engaged in buying of businesses i.e. publishing, and was behind the development of Australian Geographic magazine. The worldwide recognition of his business makes him one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Australia. He engaged in philanthropy, mountaineering and aviation demonstrating the great love he had for Australia. iv) Gina Rinhart. She is the chairperson of Hancock Prospecting, which she inherited from the father. By the time she took after the company, it was financially struggling. Hancock is a company, which deals with iron ore in west Australia. She is also a major holder in Network 10 and the Fairfax media limited. Gina is a successful entrepreneur due to the fact that she picked up a struggling company that was marred with long duration of legal battle to take it to a successful company while at the same time she is a big shareholder. v) Diana Williams Diana is the founder of the Fern wood Women’s Health Clubs. Her revenue runs to about $88.2 million. She embarked on building the building on a national outlook with health clubs totaling 77 with membership of more than 80000 people from within the whole of Australia. The success of Diana as an entrepreneur is measured on the basis of establishing a business with a national outlook and membership. Her passion is to empower women, which has made her to integrate a program called Venus in the Fern wood Foundation. The main aim is to boost women’s images physically. Reflection and Action Entrepreneurial learning has a vital role in promoting my socio-economic wellbeing as an aspiring successful entrepreneur. It is a focal point in my career and its future. Through this, I may get my own job, income and future sustainability. Through the acquisition of skills relevant to the identification of risks, one gets to prepare for future management of personal businesses. Business ideas are just as important as business opportunities. Their verification may appear synergic, but have a level of relationships in as far as the success and failure in a business are concerned. These skills will enable me to exercise their application to ensure that I become successful entrepreneur just like others have done. In the process of evaluating any business opportunity, as learned in this unit, both pre-feasibility and feasibility studies are imperative before commencing the process of opportunity establishment. This unit enables one to be able to apply learned skills in the said two steps of opportunity evaluation. It is also very important in understanding the importance of learning entrepreneurship. As a student, this is useful for me in appreciating the whole phenomenon of entrepreneurship and to prepare to engage in the same. Strengths of becoming a prospective entrepreneur After learning about qualities that make one a prospective entrepreneur, I have been able to understand my strength and weaknesses. First, I have realized that I love independence. This would enable to act on my own decisions without direct orders from someone. In the process I will execute actions based on my decisions that I deem fit for respective actions. In my academic life, I have been able to learn and understand various ways of sourcing for finances. To expand on my business as an entrepreneur, I will then know what to do, where to go and the procedures to follow in consolidating my finances. I have always tested my interpersonal skills whenever I come across such arguments and self-expression. Good interpersonal skill is a useful tool in the world of business. I know therefore that it will be easier for me to establish good customer relationship that is quite pivotal in the success of any business. Negotiation and transaction of a business is also made possible through good interpersonal skills. Weaknesses Poor time management has been my problem. My response towards tasks has always almost if not at all fallen behind schedules. Time consciousness is an important aspect that any successful entrepreneur must demonstrate. Response to business meetings and contracts must consider the defined time frame of that particular activity. I have also been able to identify my fear in venturing into business. This involves risks and risk taking, which have been my main sources of anxiety in investment. Addressing weakness It is important to address weaknesses after identifying them. In this case, I will have to learn on how to beat deadlines and respond strictly to designated time frames without necessary delay. Being conscious of my weakness to keeping time, would be useful, as it will enhance my prompt time confirmation in relation to tasks to achieve. One should not express anxiety of taking risks. This is because, business opportunity executed is always a calculated risk. One should understand risks as being part of business and prepare adequately to counter them if they occur. Business shows and exhibitions are necessary to help me gain confidence in my pursuit to become a successful entrepreneur, therefore, it would be reasonable to attend them. In conclusion, entrepreneurship is important for everyone. A course in it benefits students to gain general knowledge in as far as entrepreneurship and the world of business are concerned. References Meyer B., 1998. Cash Flow: A Practical Guide for the Entrepreneur, Perc Press. Charles P. Lickson, A legal Guide for Small Business: How to Do It Right the First Time, Crisp Publications, 1994 Gary S. and Norman M., 1992. Innopreneurship: Turning Bright Ideas into Breakthrough Business for Your Company, Probus Publishing. Levinson C, 1984. Guerrilla Marketing Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business, Houghton Mifflin. Levinson C., 1997. The Way of the Guerrilla: Achieving Success and Balance as an Entrepreneur in the 21st Century, Houghton Mifflin. Tuller L.,1994. The Small Business Valuation Book: Easy-to-Use Techniques for Determining Fair Price, Resolving Disputes, and Minimizing Taxes, Bob Adams, Inc. Pinson L., and Jinnett J., 1996. Steps to Small Business Start-Up: Everything You Need to Know to Turn Your Idea into a Successful Business, 3rd edition, Upstart, (includes software). Ziegler M., Ziegler P., and Rosenzweig B., 1992. The Republic of Tea: The Story of the Creation of a Business, as Told through the Personal Letters of Its Founders, Currency Doubleday. Read More