How Did I Become an Entrepreneur - Coursework Example

Entrepreneurship Essay Name Course Lecture Date Introduction Many people desire to become entrepreneurs but being a successful business owner is not easy. However, some people think they can easily succeed as entrepreneurs. Many assume that starting a business and developing into a successful enterprise is easy. Many people think of successful entrepreneurial businesses like Facebook, Google and IKEA and think they can also make it. One always wonders about what is special in the minds of individuals who make it successfully as entrepreneurs. However, some traits, skills and capabilities are necessary to make individuals successful entrepreneurs. It has been argued that some individuals fail at successfully starting and running businesses because they lack some desirable qualities of entrepreneurs. My journey as an entrepreneur has taught me that not every person can become a successful business founder. Entrepreneurial success is the product of hard work, ability to work long hours and to persevere the most difficult of times. An entrepreneurial idea is not enough to guarantee the success of an investment. Great investment ideas have to be supported by marketing research that will confirm that consumers need the product that is central to the entrepreneurial idea. Qualities of an entrepreneur While successful entrepreneurs can be distinguished by certain common qualities no group of people can be said to be typical entrepreneurs (Foley 2008). I am a quiet entrepreneur who is very effective at getting things done while some other entrepreneurs are outgoing and flamboyant. Success as an entrepreneur is dependent on the ability to develop innovative solutions to contemporary human problems (Wenhui and Bei 2010). However, some common characteristics can be found in some of the most successful entrepreneurs. I possess most of these traits which I owe to my success as an entrepreneur. Learning from others: entrepreneurs maintain great professional networks that avail opportunities for learning (Puga and García 2010). I used my internship opportunity to learn about the area of industry where I would later make my first investment. For individuals who want to be entrepreneurs they can seek apprenticeship opportunities in businesses were they can gain skills to start off on their own. Confidence in their own ability: Entrepreneurs believe that they have the ability to bring their entrepreneurial ideas to fruitation (Brandstätter 2011). Self-efficacy is a trait that is concerned with an individual’s belief they could control events in their lives (Liang and Dunn 2010a). As an entrepreneur my self-efficacy has helped me succeed in most of the entrepreneurial ventures I have been involved in. When my new pub employed twenty employees I was confident in my ability to manage this team. Whenever the club was chosen to host a great event I was optimistic and confident my club would offer a nice experience to the guests (de Pillis and Reardon 2007). After hosting several high level events my pub soon became the choice venue for all local red carpet events. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) has been associated with high levels of confidence to take on entrepreneurial tasks. According to Hakola (2011), entrepreneurial self efficacy is one of the main prerequisite of successful entrepreneurs. Innovative/inventive: entrepreneurs are good at coming up with new ideas for products and services. They may also innovate new ways to market the products of their enterprises. Innovativeness is one of the words that are used to describe entrepreneurs (Buchholz and Rosenthal 2005). The word is common among many definitions of entrepreneur that exist. Many successful business people are good innovators and sometimes innovation brings about their success. Creativity is different from innovation as it is part of a person’s everyday actions. Creative individuals find easier and more enjoyable ways of completing everyday tasks. My creativity has enabled the success of most of the entrepreneurial projects that I have undertaken. I have used creative advertising methods to draw more customers to buy our products (Puga 2010). Last year I run an SMS competition that rewarded consumers who had the best knowledge of our products. Those who could correctly name our products, their features and target market were rewarded. Ability to bear risks: Inability to bear risk has been identified in entrepreneurial literature as one of the main barriers to entrepreneurship (Liang and Dunn 2010b). Without risk no business would ever take off. Being aware of this I have successfully taught myself to take reasonable risks in my business. Several years ago I invested in a website to sell the tribal t-print shirts I design (Race 2010). I incurred several cost like website hosting costs and advertising knowing very well the website idea might not work. Several weeks later demand for my tribal t-shirts had started to pick up and I sell over 100 t-shirts every week. Risk taking is an important trait that sets entrepreneurs aside from other ordinary individuals. Perseverance: Great entrepreneurs can easily cope with difficult situations in their lives with relatively little stress. Inability to handle stress that an entrepreneur faces occasionally could lead to mental problems and related health problems (Miller and Sardais 2013). Literature shows that entrepreneurs face many stressing situations and the ability to tolerate stress is a huge advantage for entrepreneurs. Personally I face many adverse events and situations but I have been able to cope. Many times things do not go as planned in my businesses. Sometimes supplies fail to deliver critical supplies on time meaning we are unable to fulfil customer orders (Baum, Frese and Baron 2014). I have to take customers’ calls calmly and explain to them we are unable to fulfil their orders immediately. Other stressing situations I face include returned orders by customers who may complain that the goods supplied do not meet their standards (Lerner 2009). On some occasions you may get multiple customers demanding a refund as they claim the T-shirts or tribal prints on them have faded. I have to calmly explain that the tests my production teams carry on the t-shirts prove that neither the clothes nor the prints can fade. I calmly ask the customers to return the t-shirts for a refund, an offer most non-genuine customers quickly refuse. By calmly handling stress I am able to make good business decisions. Realism: Optimism and self efficacy as seen earlier are important traits possessed by entrepreneurs. However, being over optimistic and assuming the odds of success are greater than they actually are is a leading cause of failure in entrepreneurial projects (Baron and Shane 2005). Realistic individuals are pragmatic about situations they face and take facts as they are. Realistic individuals know that some ventures are beyond their ability (Rauch and Frese 2007). They avoid wasting time on activities that are bound to fail. As a realistic entrepreneur I have made sure that I set realistic targets for my business (Hakola 2011). When I started selling tribal print t-shirts online I knew the first few months would be difficult. I did not give up when I failed to make sales on the first day. I have also discovered that sales figures drop during some periods of the year. Instead of retaining an optimistic outlook, I scale back part production when sales are low. By being realistic my business avoids keeping costly excess stock. According to Liang (2010), realistic entrepreneurs avoid huge losses when financial opportunities are not viable. Successful entrepreneurs combine these skills and qualities to ensure that entrepreneurial ideas don’t just remain ideas. Other qualities that are desirable in entrepreneurs include: Planning and execution, entrepreneurs are good at coming up with plans and executing them to achieve their innovative ideas (Bridge, Neill and Martin 2009). Self motivation and determination, this is one of the most important characteristic of an entrepreneurs it enables them to push their ideas through (Sambasivan, Abdul and Yusop 2009). Analytical abilities, they are able to find and evaluate information about different aspects of an investment including finance, administration, and production through to marketing (Veeraraghavan 2009). Good decision makers, they consider all aspects of a decision including factoring in the risk of a particular course of action (Race 2010). Result oriented, they go out of their way to ensure their enterprises are performing as desired. Among the decisions the entrepreneurs has to make is the kind of business structure he has to adopt. Each of the different business structures has it distinct advantages. However as a first time entrepreneur the sole proprietorship is one of the most suitable choices of business structures (Bridge, Neill and Martin 2009).A sole proprietor retains control over his business which is an important favour that underlines success of entrepreneurial ventures. As an entrepreneur, the sole proprietorship structure allows me to make fast business decisions that enable my business to take advantage of commercial opportunities that are available for a short time (Storey and Greene 2010). The limited company is another advantageous business structure that can be adopted by entrepreneurs. It provides shareholders with protection from business debt. Following the steps of forming a successful business is one of the factors that contribute to my success as an entrepreneur. In each of the successful businesses I have engaged I followed a simple four step process. The first step is coming up with a good business idea (Bridge, O'Neill and Martin 2009). The investor either notices a gap in a particular market or takes advantage of his/her individual skills. Thirdly, a successful entrepreneur carries out market research to investigate the viability of his business idea. Market research is an important activity that identifies the target segment for products and allows for promotion s and advertising to be aligned with the audience (Kuratko 2013). The final step involves identifying how the business will be financed. Sources of finance for businesses include loans, personal funds, and special business grants. Finally, an entrepreneur needs to come up with business plan. The business plan defines the business objectives, marketing strategy, sales targets, costs, plant and equipment needed to run the business successfully (Kuratko 2013). Conclusion My success as an entrepreneur can be owed to my strength in many of the qualities identified as ideal for potential entrepreneurs. Confidence in my own ability has enabled me engage in entrepreneurial projects others would dismiss as too difficult. During my internships I used my ability to learn from others to develop important business running skills. I am also an innovative person who is constantly searching for new ways of doing things. I also try to identity gaps in industries and developing products to fill these gaps. I have also a great ability to bear risk and believe that ‘gain can be made without risk'. I have invested in some ventures with little guarantee that I will get a return. However, risk taking does not mean that investment should be equated to gambling. Instead investments involve analytical thinking to evaluate the viability of opportunities. It also calls for data collection through market research to ensure the market needs the product and service conceived. Unfortunately, these traits are not enough to ensure an entrepreneurial venture’s success. An entrepreneur has to be highly stress tolerant to handle difficult situations and adverse event he is sure to face in running his business. References Baum, JR, Frese, M, & Baron, RA 2014, The psychology of entrepreneurship. Psychology Press. Brandstätter, H 2011, Personality aspects of entrepreneurship: A look at five meta-analyses. Personality and individual differences, 51(3), 222-230. Bridge, S, O'Neill, K & Martin, F 2009, Understanding enterprise: Entrepreneurship and small business. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Buchholz, RA, & Rosenthal, SB 2005, The spirit of entrepreneurship and the qualities of moral decision making: Toward a unifying framework. 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