A Self-Help Guide with Regard to Becoming an Entrepreneur in the 21st Century - Essay Example

A Self-help Guide with regard to Becoming an Entrepreneur in the 21st Century (Name) (Institution Affiliation) (Date) Table of Contents 1.0. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..4 Table of Contents 2 3.4.Entrepreneurship involves innovation 6 3.6.An entrepreneur is self-motivated 7 4.0.The Fundamental Elements of a Business Plan 7 4.1.The Business 8 4.1.1.Business Description 8 4.1.2.Products or Services 8 4.1.3.Market analysis 9 4.1.4.Marketing Plan 9 4.1.5.Location 9 4.1.6.Competition 10 4.1.7.Management and Operations 10 4.1.8.Personnel 10 4.1.9.The Effect and Application of Investment or Loan 10 4.2.Section Two: Financial Data 11 5.0.Significant Elements of Managing Rapid Business Growth 11 5.1.Staying focused on the Patron’s experience. 11 5.2.Balance the two forces in the Business. 11 5.3.Using the competitors to benchmark the business 12 5.4.Entrepreneurs should welcome as well embrace change 12 6.0.Significant Sources of Information for Entrepreneurship 12 7.0.Conclusion 13 8.0.References 14 1.0. Introduction The 21st-century entrepreneur has to have an entrepreneurial mindset, which is associated with a vital mix of success-oriented attitudes. These attitudes include collaboration, intelligent risk-taking, and opportunity recognition. Thus, an individual without an entrepreneurial mindset can hardly succeed in entrepreneurship activities. Furthermore, entrepreneurship is vital to the already established organizations and businesses. In effect, this guide-help report aims to highlight significant issues that a potential entrepreneur in the 21st century must learn in order to be successful in his or her business. 2.0. Entrepreneurship in brief as well as its role in business From a broader perspective, entrepreneurship can be conceptualized as well as associated with the discovery of opportunities that in turn create an economic activity (Reynolds, 2005). An entrepreneur creates a new organization through the implementation of a researched and viable business idea. Accordingly, an entrepreneur must be associated with some fundamental features. These significant behaviors include risk and initiative taking, turning resources into practical accounts and accepting failure or success. An entrepreneur often brings materials, resources, labor and other important assets together and subsequently make their value become better than they were before. Moreover, an entrepreneur often introduces changes, a new order as well as innovations in the economy or business environment. With the aforementioned features, it is evident that an entrepreneur in the 21st century is not a typical worker or business owner, but an innovator and who brings employment and new business activities in the economy. Entrepreneurship plays an important role in employment. Notably, seventy percent of employment in a majority of countries is generated by entrepreneurial initiatives or ventures. Privately owned firms, as well as small businesses contribute considerably to the quantity as well as the quality of employment in an economy. More often than not, the growth of a business is measured by the number of employment opportunities it has created. As such, the company growth is always used as an indicator of the quality as well as well quantity of employment offered. Thus, most citizens depend on entrepreneurship as a source of income. Entrepreneurship involves the establishment of new ventures or firm thus they contribute largely to the economy. In the 21st century, entrepreneurs are considered to be the heart of microeconomics. Accordingly, entrepreneurs often set up business ventures in response to economic activities. In turn, the established business incentives create as well as operate markets, which provide mechanisms of exchange for patrons (Schramm, 2006). Moreover, business ventures also create as well as manage organizations that provide market interactions and internal coordination. This view is strongly buttressed by Finkle, Kuratko and Goldsby (2006) who posit that the activities of the entrepreneurs are a critical force, which helps to drive the global economy to towards equilibrium. Therefore, an entrepreneur is endogenous to the economy as far as the general theory of the firm is concerned. Hypothetically, before anything, the entrepreneur is a consumer, in that the consumer often becomes an entrepreneur whenever he or she chooses to establish a business venture. Tentatively, consumers bring knowledge, technology and judgment to the task of entrepreneurship. According to Guillen, (2000), consumers often decide to be engaged in entrepreneurship based on their judgment, personal characteristics and their evaluation of the available market opportunities. Therefore, entrepreneurs act purposefully and rationally based on maximizing their net benefits. 3.0. The basic Characteristics associated with an Entrepreneur 3.1. Entrepreneurship involves Risking Taking. According to Baptista, Escaria and Madruga, (2007) an entrepreneur by his or her very nature is a risk taker and not a risk shirker. Accordingly, an entrepreneur should always be ready to accept losses that may come as a result of new ideas, as well as new projects undertaken by him or her. The willingness and readiness to take risks enables an entrepreneur to engage in worthy business initiatives, which involves doing new things, thus marching ahead in his or her efforts. New ideas are often tentative and their results may not be positive and instantaneous. As such, entrepreneurship involves risk and the measurement of the risk can always be equated to the amount of resources and time one invests in a new business idea or project (Armstrong & Peter, 2001). 3.2. A Successful Entrepreneur must be Creative. Typically, creating a business venture involves creativity and as such an individual must be creative in order to be successful in his or her new business initiative. More often than not, there are chances that a business, in which one wants to engage in, has already been established by someone else. Thus, the new entrepreneur needs to be a little creative in order to turn old ideas into attractive business initiatives, which can be effective and relevant in the competitive environment. Through creativity, the entrepreneur gets to revolutionize the old business ideas thus differentiating his or her business from other competitors. Thus, creativity is vital in entrepreneurship. 3.3. Entrepreneurship involves Teamwork For an entrepreneur to be successful, one should be an effective team player. Accordingly, a true team player often recognizes the efforts of other key stakeholders as far as the business activities are concerned. He or she often gives his or her colleagues the opportunity to contribute to decision-making. Moreover, an entrepreneur will always accept accountability as well as the ownership of his or her area of responsibilities as expected by the other colleagues. An entrepreneur is ready to help a colleague whenever he or she is called upon. The entrepreneur must not be asked to take on a task, but should respond positively whenever his or her wisdom demands. Hadzima (2005) supports this view, as he is of the view that an entrepreneur must come out of his or her comfort zone and “help a sister or brother out.” Moreover, entrepreneurial behavior involves recognizing others’ roles as well as contributions and applauds their efforts whenever they accomplish a task successfully. 3.4. Entrepreneurship involves innovation Entrepreneurship is characterized by innovation as it involves coming up with new business ideas. Therefore, an entrepreneur is an innovator who is committed to developing new products, technology and markets. For a businessperson to be successful in his or her business venture, he or she must be in a position to change the way he or she engages in the existing business operations. In effect, an entrepreneur uses his or her creative faculties to exploit new opportunities in the market as well as take part in new initiatives: he or she seeks change. Thus, an entrepreneur must be an innovator both in small and big ways. 3.5. Good Communication skills is necessary in entrepreneurship For an entrepreneur to be able to relay his or her business idea for a second opinion, he or she must be able to market and sell his or her goods and services. In addition, an entrepreneur needs to interact effectively with his or her customers as well as the business team. Importantly, an entrepreneur will be required to write a business plan as delineated in the subsequent section. As such, an entrepreneur must have writing, analytical and presentation skills. Further, he or she should be in a position to communicate well both in writing and verbally. Last but not least, an entrepreneur must have strong comprehension skills in order to understand business forms of communication including contracts (Abbas, 2010). As such, communication is vital for an entrepreneur. 3.6. An entrepreneur is self-motivated An entrepreneur does not need a supervisor or manager to push him or her around as he or she is objective and has targets to meet. They have passion in what they do and as such efficient and productive, even though no one holds them accountable. They strive for the best and would always want to see themselves succeed. Moreover, entrepreneurs do not give up very easily as they view failure as a normal occurrence in the road leading to success; they see it as an opportunity for success in the coming future. Thus, an entrepreneur has to be self-motivated. 4.0. The Fundamental Elements of a Business Plan An entrepreneur needs to have a plan of his or her business idea in order to implement and have a successful and smooth running business venture. Planning is part of the key skills that an entrepreneur should possess in order to meet goals in various fields such as marketing, sales, production, personnel as well as finance. In effect, a business plan has three definite sections with subsections under them: the business, financial data and supporting documents. 4.1. The Business Under the Business Section, the entrepreneur gets to highlight nine key elements. These features include Description of the Business, Product or Services, Market Analysis, Marketing Plan, Location, Competition, Management and operations, Personnel, as well as Application and Effect of Loan or Investment, 4.1.1. Business Description This section allows the entrepreneur to describe his or her business indicating the legal entity as well as the ownership structure. Moreover, it gives an overview of the initial funding and the start-up’s costs. In addition, the entrepreneur is able to explain the status of the business briefly, that is, if it is an expansion or a take-over. Moreover, this part identifies the potential customers. The entrepreneur is also free to explain why he or she thinks the business will be a success, and the uniqueness of the business, which differentiates it from other businesses. 4.1.2. Products or Services Here, the entrepreneur describes the product offering and it often includes the details of the product features as well as the unique technological processes that are involved in the production of the products. Further, the benefits of the products to the customers are often described under this section. 4.1.3. Market analysis The third subsection is often associated with the assessment of the market in which the products will be sold. Market analysis is often vital as it forms the basis for the marketing plan and often helps to justify the sales forecast. It often involves the analysis of the customer profile and competitor analysis. Start-ups must rely on the market research from different sources such as government statistics, surveys, competitor analysis and even trade associations. 4.1.4. Marketing Plan This section explains what the business offers in details, the benefit of the products/services as well as the business position and image at the moment. Further, the entrepreneur identifies the target markets as well as how he or she will reach his or her target markets and what motivates them to buy the products or services. Typically, this section often describes three essential parts in detail: product development, the pricing and promotional strategies. 4.1.5. Location The fifth subsection highlights the location of the business. Notably, locations which are characterized by greater customer traffic often cost more to rent or buy. However, they require less spending with regard to advertising in order to attract customers. In effect, the section will describe if the business location is leased or owned and on what terms. This section also delineates the property as well as the surrounding area and gives the address of the business as well. It also explains why the location is good for the business. 4.1.6. Competition Under the competition section, the entrepreneur describes the nature of his or her business’s competitor, the largest as well as the smallest competitor. Moreover, this section delineates how the business’s operation will be better than the competitors. The analysis covers the competitor’s sales and profits. 4.1.7. Management and Operations Here, the management qualification as well as structure is highlighted. Resumes of the executives as well as supporting documents must be included in this section. This section also gives the functional of the areas as well as those responsible for each area. 4.1.8. Personnel A company’s ability to recruit, train as well as retain quality employees often determines the company’s success. Thus, this section gives an overview of what the personnel needs to know including the skills and training they will require. This section also delineates compensation and other benefits. 4.1.9. The Effect and Application of Investment or Loan This part indicates the total amount of investment needed to establish the business. Moreover, it also shows the breakdown of how the loan or investment will be used as well as how the loan will make the new venture more profitable. Last but not least, it will indicate how the loan will be repaid. 4.2. Section Two: Financial Data Under this section, the entrepreneur illustrates the business’s projected Financial Statements, the Break Even Evaluation as well as sources and uses of funds. 5.0. Significant Elements of Managing Rapid Business Growth Many entrepreneurs often find it difficult to manage their businesses when they start growing and as such, they eventually wind up due to improper growth management. Thus, in this section the self-help guide highlights some of the significant elements that an entrepreneur can use in managing rapid growth as well as overcoming challenges in the entrepreneurship environment. 5.1. Staying focused on the Patron’s experience. When a business grows, there is always a tendency of the entrepreneur engaging in laxity and excitement thus forgetting to take care of the customer’s interests and desires. Therefore, to manage this, an entrepreneur should invest in training, more staff and technology in order to ensure that promises are being delivered. Further, the entrepreneur should ensure that there is a customer feedback loop in order to follow up on what the customers are saying about the services and products as well. 5.2. Balance the two forces in the Business. Typically, there is often tension between the time spent maintaining the business and the time spent making a new competitive advantage edge. Thus, as an entrepreneur, one should allow his or her staff to spend much of their time and effort on developing new systems with regard to maintenance. 5.3. Using the competitors to benchmark the business For an entrepreneur to control his or her rapidly growing business, he or she should review the business or firm from the competitors’ perspective. Consequently, the entrepreneur will be required to adapt and use the competitors’ best ideas as it is part of learning. 5.4. Entrepreneurs should welcome as well embrace change As Abbas and Tatfi (2010) note, complacency is often dangerous to entrepreneurship, more so to a growing business. This is because the management might assume that the success would continue to be experienced since it is normal for the business. Thus, a business should be engaged in a regular up-to-date plan, in order to identify the type of action the entrepreneur needs to take in order to change the business and the way it operates in order to suit its changing environment. 6.0. Significant Sources of Information for Entrepreneurship The most common website, where entrepreneurs can get valuable information is Entreprenur.com. Here, potential entrepreneurs can access a myriad of business ideas as well as trends associated with entrepreneurship. For example, one gets latest news, growth strategies start-ups as well as expert pieces of advices. The other renowned website is the “Forbes for Entrepreneurs Magazine,” found at www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs. On this web site, an individual learns new techniques of starting a business as well the ‘Dos’ & ‘don’ts.’ One can also benefit from the various success stories of entrepreneurs who started from a humble background, and are now wealthy and successful. An entrepreneur can get valuable pieces of advices from Small Business Development Centers, which are spread across the globe (Entrepreneurshipsecret.com, 2010). Further, the International Franchise Association is also a significant resource for entrepreneurs as it gives them the knowledge required before buying a franchise. Business Adventures, a book authored by John Brooks, can contribute largely to one’s knowledge with regard to Entrepreneurships. Last but least, success stories of entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, which is found on his website (Billgatesnotes.com) can also be helpful to an entrepreneur. 7.0. Conclusion The entrepreneurship self-help guide has managed to highlight significant issues that a potential entrepreneur in the 21st century must learn in order to be successful in his or her business. Evidently, the paper has discussed the nature of entrepreneurship as well as its role in business. Moreover, this self-help guide has highlighted the essential features, which an entrepreneur must acquire in order to be successful. It has also delineated the important elements of a business plan as well how to manage rapid growth in a business. Lastly, the paper has identified different entrepreneurial sources of information. 8.0. References Abbas, S., & Tatfi, M. 2010. Entrepreneurial leadership: certainly a tool not a means to organizational success. Leadership, 1(2), 119. Armstrong, Peter. 2001. Science, Enterprise and Profit: Ideology in the Knowledge-Driven Economy. Economy and Society, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 524–52. Baptista, R., Escaria, V. and Madruga, P. 2007. "Entrepreneurship, Regional Development and Job Creation: The Case of Portugal", Small Business Economics, forthcoming Entrepreneurshipsecret.com, 2010. The Secrets of Entrepreeurship. [online] Available at: http://www.entrepreneurshipsecret.com/various-sources-of-information-for entrepreneurship-development/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2015]. Finkle, T.A., Kuratko, D.F. & Goldsby, M.G. 2006. An examination of entrepreneurship centers in the United States: A national survey. Journal of Small Business Management, 44, 184-206. Guillen, M.F. 2000. Business groups in emerging economies: a resource-based view. Academy of Management Journal, 43 (3): 362-380. Hadzima Jr, J. G. 2005. Seven characteristics of highly effective entrepreneurial employees. Boston Business Journal. Reynolds, P.D. 2005. Understanding business creation: Serendipity and scope in two decades of business creation studies. Small Business Economics, 24, 359-364. Schramm, C. 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