About Entrepreneurship

There are no specific terms, standard and universal definition about entrepreneurship. The term entrepreneurship describes strategic thinking and risk-taking behavior that results in the creation of new opportunities.

 

A classic entrepreneur is a risk-taking individual who takes action to pursue opportunities others fail to recognize, or may even view as problems or threats. Some people become serial entrepreneurs in that they start and run new ventures over and over again, moving from one interest and opportunity to the next. We find such entrepreneurs both in business and nonprofit settings.

 

A common image of an entrepreneur is as the founder of a new enterprise that achieves large-scale success. Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are everywhere and there is no age prerequisite to join them. There are lots of entrepreneurs to be found in any community. For instance, by just look around us, those who take the risk of buying a local McDonald’s or Subway Sandwich or Papa John’s franchise, open a small retail shop selling used video games or bicycles, start a self-employed service business such as financial planning or management consulting, or establish a nonprofit organization to provide housing for the homeless or deliver hot meals to house-bound senior citizens, are entrepreneurs in their own ways. Entrepreneurs are found within larger organizations as well.

 

When economists speak about entrepreneurs, they differentiate between those who are driven by the quest for new opportunities and those who are driven by absolute need. Those in the latter group pursue necessity-based entrepreneurship, meaning that they start new ventures because they have few or no other employment and career options. Necessity-driven entrepreneurship is one way for people, often minorities and women who have hit the “glass ceiling” in their careers or are otherwise cut off from other employment choices, to strike out on their own and gain economic independence. 、

 

Opportunities Oriented

Opportunity is a foundational assumption of many entrepreneur theories that claims human beings are generally self-interested and will take advantage of others when possible. For example, some entrepreneurs will take advantage of another party to advance their interests by making false promises, misrepresenting intentions, reneging on agreements, or changing the terms of a deal to benefit themselves. Other entrepreneurs will be less deliberate by attempting to benefit from free riding.

 

Scholars assuming that entrepreneurs are opportunistic do not necessarily believe that entrepreneur is perniciously self-seeking. Opportunity is thus a theory of exchange that assumes the worst about entrepreneurs and makes predictions as though the worst were reality. One theory based on the assumption of opportunism, transaction cost economics, claims market exchanges fail when a transaction becomes vulnerable to opportunistic behavior. When the threat of an exchange partner behaving opportunistically becomes particularly high which is said to occur when the transaction is characterized by substantial uncertainty, small numbers, and irreversible investments to support just that transaction, economic exchange will shift to hierarchies such as firms, rather than occurring in spot markets.

 

This view of entrepreneurs which are ultimately what opportunity represents has been vigorously challenged. The essential cooperative nature of entrepreneurs claim that theories assuming opportunity invite them to inadvertently promote very kind of opportunity that organizational hierarchy is assumed to lessen. 

 

Creative and Innovative

Discussion of creativity is often hampered by preconceived notions and stereotyping that treats it as a quality or phenomenon associated with special talented individuals. Creativity is a ubiquitous feature of all human beings. However, there are conditions which enable how we all develop our creative potential. For the entrepreneur the ability to maximize their creativity and to successfully manage the creativity of others represents core competences.

 

Creativity involves both novelty and value creation. The task of recognizing creativity as both novel and valuable is particularly important for the entrepreneurs, since they must make decisions on the allocation of resources and without firm proof, based on this assessment. Creativity is closely associated with dualism and paradox. At a personal level, creativity requires being able to manage creative tensions and hold on to apparently opposing ideas, in what is referred to as divergent thinking.

 

Innovation is defined in terms of the successful exploitation of a new idea and the post hoc recognition of creativity, involving a valuable discovery of some kind. There are many different types of innovation, ranging from incremental innovation, involving minor revisions and improvements to existing ways of doing things, to transformational innovation, where the rules of the game are changed all together。

 

Innovation is increasingly important to organizations and nation states because of global competition but large differences in the cost base of manufacturing between countries.  New technologies are making more innovations possible and fast pace of changing consumer tastes and desires.

 

Persistence

Persistence is what keeps entrepreneurs motivated when things aren’t going the way they think they would-and they rarely do.

 

According to Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner, entrepreneurs who start venture-backed companies that are successful are more likely to be successful in their next venture-backed firm. ‘There is support for the view that some component of performance persistence stems from ‘success breeding success.’ These effects are large and dramatic: All else equal, venture-capital-backed entrepreneurs who succeed in a venture by our definition, starts a company that goes public, have a 34 percent chance of succeeding in their next venture. By contrast, first-time entrepreneurs have only a 22 percent chance of succeeding, and entrepreneurs who previously failed have a 23 percent chance of succeeding. 

 

Calculated Risk Taker

There is an element of risk in every new business. To succeed in a business, it is definitely necessary to understand the risks. The word risk had negative connotations and it is associated with potential loss and danger for understandable reason. You are taking a risk when you start doing something with an uncertain answer. 

 

Each goal involves risk-some more than others. Before you take risk, try to convince yourself that you will come out the winner in any risky situation. Otherwise, the risk may lower your chances of success.

 

Calculated risk usually based on facts as against your feelings. You must do research in your market niche or a product or service you sell first so you have an idea what’s involved in the risk and how best to rectify any failure even before it occurs.

 

You can gather as much as information from people, online, and books about your niche market. In case something goes wrong, you must also have a back-up plan-known as plan B.

 

If you are determined to find success, you must willing to make mistakes along the way. Learn from your mistakes and study some hardcore case studies online so that you are aware of others people’ success and failure. You can learn from others’ mistakes as well. It may surprise you to learn that many successful companies took risks and experienced failures while trying to develop new products. For example, Pepsi Cola went bankrupt three times before it became profitable.

 

Adversity surrounds every entrepreneur with a growing business. You don’t face it alone-it happens to everybody. What separates you from the failures is how you handle adversity. Successful entrepreneurs handle adversity head-on, while others avoid taking risks and back off.

 

Behind the risk you take must also be a reason or some sort of logic and how much tolerance you can afford. Warren Buffett once said ‘If you have the attitude of letting panic ride your existence, don’t invest in stock market or something to that effect.’

 

It can be the smartest risk which is calculated or dumbest risk without research and the difference between success and failure. In calculated risk, you will try to take luck out of the equation even though you will need it. Humans are ‘manufactured’ with luck – good or bad, embedded in them. 

 

Effective Communicator

Certainly a leader needs a clear vision of the organization and where it is going, but a vision is of little value unless it is shared in a way so as to generate enthusiasm and commitment. Leadership and communication are inseparable.

 

Excellent communication skills are critical in enabling you to interact well with people of varying personalities and values, many of whom will not necessarily share your passion or motivation. You will need to communicate yourself out of the many roadblocks you will meet along the way, from financing and legal issues, to recruitment, and to simply helping people ‘get’ your idea. It all requires your ability to communicate effectively.

 

As such you must also be a consummate sales person. You must be able to use words and explain concepts effectively and persuasively, both verbally and in writing. You also need the ability to present proposals clearly to influence bankers or investors to supply money. Your communication skills will also be called upon in your dealings with employees, to help them understand the exact nature of their job and the results you expect, and also to encourage customers to buy from you.

 

Though communicating seems easy enough, it is not. You must be able to effectively communicate with your employees your vision, goals and company priorities. To be an effective communicator, you must first think through what you want to say so you avoid sending a confusing message.

 

Good communication is concise, simple and factual. A good communicator makes a message understood in as few words as possible. Tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them what you told them.

 

Communication is a two-way street. A good manager is a good listener. If you don’t listen to your people, you lose their confidence. Invite your people to discuss problems with you so they can help you find solutions. 

 

Responsive to Criticism

Frequently, when we receive criticism it is easy to ‘pass the buck’ and justify why we had difficulty with our part based on how others contributed to that difficult. Instead of starting out by shifting blame or making excuses, as an entrepreneur, he or she might set up to be in a light, humorous spirit, a spirit of forgiveness and inclusion rather than of blame and excusing.

 

For most of us, responding to criticism without defending ourselves has meant being ‘defenseless’, caving in, losing face, feeling bad about ourselves. On the other hand, responding defensively has meant being harsh, closed, shutting others out. This is a no-win choice. We look bad and undermine our own self esteem either way. A successfully entrepreneur will try to learn to respond to criticism with true non-defensive openness and clarity, asking questions, stating our position and setting limits when needed.

 

We need to be able to seek and use criticism of the style and substance of our performance. As a successful entrepreneur, we need to be able to ask for provide performance and interpersonal criticisms to others that they find useful and able to receive feedback from others without being defensive or argumentative. We need to listen to and understand without interrupting or mentally preparing our own rebuttal at the expense of hearing the message.

 

The most important thing that we can do when we had received criticism is keeping ourselves cool. We don’t want to engage in a confrontation with our critic. While we can all think up snappy comebacks, putting that person down will only leave them and the rest of our supporters with a bad feeling. Instead, view this as an opportunity to address concerns and to learn something valuable. Just learn from it and take it as an educational experience.

 

Sometimes we will get a negative criticism because we were wrong. Don’t get defensive. This just makes matters worse. Take a step back and try to be objective. Think long and hard before we respond to criticism. Great response begins with great listening. Respond with kindness and a willingness to understand. And last but not least, just admit it when we are wrong. ‘Blame cultures’ encourage people to put their own safety before the welfare of the group and generally to avoid risk. But in fact, others will actually respect us more if we acknowledge our mistakes. 

 

Learning from Failure

A business owner eats risk for breakfast! Don’t be afraid of failure. You have set many goals for your business. Each goal involves risk---some more than others. The only way to accomplish goals is to be fearless in the face of failure! Every successful entrepreneur has had some failure because of risks taken.

 

If we are determined to find success, we must be willing to make mistakes along the way. It may surprise us to learn that many successful companies took risks and experienced failures while trying to develop new products. Pepsi Cola, for example, went bankrupt three times before it became profitable.

 

The fear of failure is one of the most common and powerful forces in the work place. Though often disguised as a drive to achieve or excel, this fear is insidious in its ability to rob our peace of mind and upset our life. It is both an inhibitor of and motivator for human action.

 

The bottom line is that it’s OK to fail so long as you learn and improve each time. Napoleon Hill said that his research of the great entrepreneurs of his time showed ‘every failure has within it the seeds for equal or great success. It is your decision whether you plant these seeds.’

 

Using failure as a way of learning, to better understand the causes of the failure in order to avoid similar problems in the future, is an important feature of the entrepreneurial approach to things. There is an old saying that the cowboy never thrown from a horse hasn’t ridden many.

 

A small adjustment the next time around may bring the results we want. What we learn from a mistake can be valuable. Not slagging off failure but learning from it. Successful entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes and use the experience to their benefit. We can learn from every mistake that will strengthen us in the future. If we do fail, the people that matter will respect us for trying our best.

 

Success should be dwelt on, failure shouldn’t. Just don’t let the failure discourage us from trying again. Use these failures as opportunities, learning more from the experiences and to act with integrities.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

 

There are no failures. Everything in life is a learning experience designed for our greatest balanced growth and the development. What appear to be failures are really gifts, which allow us to recognize and release all our fears and blocks so that we may create joy and success in similar situations in the future. These gifts are lessons we have failed to learn, so that where, previously, we made a faulty choice, we are now given the opportunity to choose again. 

 

Team Player

           Entrepreneurs need a team to help them start up a new company. They should know that more fast-growing ventures are founded by teams than by individuals. There are successes founded by one person, but teams build substantial companies.

            There seem to be a multitude of ways in which business partners come together. Some teams form by accidents of geography and common interest, others by past friendships. Other teams form simply because the members want to start the business, while others have an idea they feel responds to a market need.

 

             Like most organizations, the successful or failure of the business depend on how well the management team works together. To build a substantial business, the partners must be totally committed to and totally immersed in the venture. Its success must be their most important goal. Teamwork is probably means that partners are able to work well with others in pursuing common goals, especially when without formal power.

 

            Every member must be supportive of the entire team. The word of ‘trust’ must be appearing in the inner heart of each member. Trust raises another of the many paradoxes of entrepreneurship. Integrity is very important in long-term business success. They cannot succeed without trust, but they cannot succeed with blind or naive trust either. What do entrepreneurs do to establish trust? Work hard at earning and building it, even harder to preserve it once they’ve found it.

 

            Every member has to be able to understand the relationships between tasks, able to lead in those situations where it is appropriate; willing to actively manage, supervise and control activities of others through directions, suggestion, etc. Besides that, they have to be able to ask and provide help and determine situations where assistance is warranted.

 

           Everybody must work together as a team, sharing the same set of objectives. Spend some time with the team asking for their opinions and make them feel part of the decision-making process. A team of 10 enthusiastic members accomplishes more than 100 in-enthused individuals.