Genetically endowed factors predisposes individual to entrepreneurship, but they alone do not guarantee success. Even the least genetically endowed people can become successful entrepreneurs if they spend enough time improving their skills, gaining experience, and commiting themselves to proven ideas and self-improvement.
The purpose of this Article is to help one to examine or scale oneself to know his innate entrepreneurial traits he was born with, while learning and nurturing the ones he acquire through learning.
Entrepreneur's Profile
Entrepreneur's profile means those personality traits and characteristics necessary to be successful in one's own venture. Across the globe many dream of becoming an entrepreneur, running their own businesses simply because being an entrepreneur can be exciting and profitable. But being an entrepreneur is also demanding and at times very difficult causing several already established entrepreneur to fold up.
People believe that raising several millions for a business meant that they were a successful entrepreneur. But the fact is this: so many of these businesses are not going to succeed, and so many of these companies were launched by people who are just not entrepreneurs. According to Bloomberg, nine out of ten startups will fail and eight out of ten entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within the first 18 months, justifying one to dig deep to the rudiments to a successful entrepreneurship.
Characteristics of An Entrepreneur
Not everyone is suited to be an entrepreneur, which may be a good thing to some that are entrepreneurs. After all, if everyone starts his own business, there wouldn't be anyone left to work in those businesses.
Entrepreneurs are take-charge people who want to work for themselves. Even though they know that many small businesses fail, they are willing to take the risk and face the uncertainty, some of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs are as follows:
Desire For Independence
Of a the characteristics of entrepreneurs, the most consistent one is the desire for Independence. Entrepreneurs simply would rather work for themselves than work for someone else. They want to make their own decisions. In fact, some say that people who have been fired are good candidates to become entrepreneurs because they may have proven that they're independent enough to run their own businesses.
Self Confidence
Entrepreneurs have confidence in their abilities to meet the challenges of running a business. They have a great deal of Self motivation, that is, they set their own goals rather than having them set by a manager or boss.
They work hard to reach their goals, which shows they have self discipline. They correct errors and improve on their own performance without any prompting from someone else. These are confident people who believe in what they are doing and believe that the job is worth doing.
Willingness to take Risks
Another characteristic of entrepreneurs is their willingness to take Risks. Most successful entrepreneurs say that they don't take Risks, they take calculated risk. That means that they have thought about their project carefully and tried to figure out in advance that the probability of success is high. Either formally of informally, entrepreneurs conduct market research to be sure that there is need for their product. That preliminary work can lead them to the conclusion that their businesses have a good chance of succeeding.
Even though entrepreneurs work hard to succeed, they also are willing to fail. They would rather take the risk and learn from their failures than never take the risk at all. And very often, if they fail, they turn around and try again. Many entrepreneurs fail four or five times before they finally become successful.
Ability to recognize opportunities
Entrepreneurs are individuals who recognize the opportunity on which to build a business. In many instances, they are opportunities that are bypassed by others. This opportunities may include meeting a demand that is not currently met, putting out a product that is much better than what is currently on the market, or solving customers problems that is of value to them. An Entrepreneur not only has the ability to recognize the opportunity, but also has the ability to develop a business that provide goods or services consistent with the opportunity at a profit.
Reasons why Some Entrepreneurs Fail
A whooping 80% startups fail. But why? What can we learn from the high rate of failure of small businesses as it can be helpful to our own business aspirations.
Here are some reasons why these Entrepreneurs fail;
Failure to stay in touch with customers through deep and continuous dialogue.
No differentiation in the market
Failure to communicate value propositions in clear, concise and compelling fashion
Leadership breakdown at the top
Inability to nail a profitable business model with proven revenue steams.
