What does it take to become an Entrepreneur?


Entrepreneurship is unlike almost any other career path in that it has no specific qualifications necessary to become established; there are no formal requirements of previous experience or length of service needed before you take the leap. But Entrepreneurship is exactly that; a leap of faith. Whether you have just left school, been unemployed for some time or even if you are in an unfulfilling or unrewarding job, ‘going it alone’ can be perceived as a daunting proposition.

As the concept of Entrepreneurship is based around the idea to innovate; create change and improve upon old business, social concepts or politically influenced ideals, there is always room for innovation and creation. Therefore, the greatest tool an Entrepreneur can possess is the ability to identify a gap in the market or can see methods to improve upon what already exists. Entrepreneurs are usually stereotyped as risk takers, and to a certain extent they are. However, they are not gamblers; the risks they take are mostly calculated ones. But the ability to also take opportunities as soon as they are presented is crucial! www.growthink.com have narrowed down what they think are the four key steps to Entrepreneurship based around this idea of ‘opportunity’.

First of all, Spotting Opportunities; As previously mentioned, an Entrepreneur must have an eye for detail in order to spot a gap that needs to be filled. Whether it be an entirely new creation or developing an inefficiency in the market, the opportunity should be judged on its likelihood to succeed.

Secondly, Assessing Opportunities; along-with the ability to spot opportunities, it is also important to pick the right ones. Therefore, the ability to evaluate each opportunity in detail is of paramount importance. “While it takes a creative skill set to identify opportunities, it takes an analytical skill set to assess them.”

Thirdly, Selecting Opportunities;entrepreneurs must be able to select carefully and stand by their selection out of all the possible opportunities they have both spotted and assessed. Once the specific direction is chosen, the entrepreneur must then leave behind all other options and focus their efforts entirely on their selected avenue.

Lastly, Executing upon Opportunities;this is the so-called ‘business end’ of the process. Once the business opportunity has been spotted, assessed and selected, and therefore gone through all of its preparation, the entrepreneur must then find a way to make the business work. It is the entrepreneurs main task to create value from the opportunity; they must do this by a “...combination of creativity, passion, persistence, focus, responsibility, intelligence, planning and energy.” In order to remain on track towards the set goal, the implementation of a business plan is imperative as it allows the entrepreneur to establish both short-term and long-term goals which they have the responsibility to reach.[1]


Take a look at 10 common mistakes of Entrepreneurs; just make sure you avoid them! http://www.mvp.cfee.org/en/aboutenttopten.html


So, you may be asking “where do I start?” Well, as the four steps above suggest, you need to identify the area of the market you wish to venture into. Perhaps you may have seen a gap in the market you believe needs to be filled, or have seen a inadequacy that you see could be rectified. Start here and begin to establish an idea of what sort of business, (policy or social movement) you would like to pursue.

Although the four steps highlighted above are, of course, of extreme importance to starting your out on your own, of course retaining the sufficient amount of funds is imperative. The amount of capital required would be entirely dependant on the size and the structure of your company; obviously larger and more extravagant ventures may require some form of external funding (angel investment etc.).



2012! The Year of the Entrepreneur?

Apparantly, it has never been a better time to become an Entrepreneur…

In the current social, economic and political environment, where jobs are scarce and capital is in short supply, there has rarely been a more opportune moment to venture into the world of entrepreneurship. Many influential people have touted and supported this notion; David Cameron called this decade ‘the age of the entrepreneur’ and Founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council in the US believes that 2012 in particular, will be the year that Entrepreneurship blossoms. Web design company Moonfruit (partnered with PayPal) developed a system where-by aspiring entrepreneurs would have the opportunity to utitlise their “pre-built e-commerce solution that lets traders sell instantly and everywhere, through global channels of the web, mobile and social media.” Within 2 months of the system’s launch, approximately 62,000 online shops were created and more than £1.2 million of business was transacted.[2]


Click the link below to take a look at why 2012 has been touted as the ‘year of the entrepreneur’... http://coworkingvancouver.visibli.com/share/PfXDrQ


And check out this article written by Robert Heller about the ‘golden age’ of entrepreneurship... http://www.thinkingmanagers.com/management/entrepreneurship


"Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming."

- Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Enterprises)[3]

Other Useful Blogs,Twitter and RSS feeds...

- http://www.getelastic.com/
- http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/feed
- http://www.inc.com/tom-szaky
- http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
- http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/
- https://twitter.com/#!/EntMagazine
- https://twitter.com/#!/EntMagazineAmy


[1] http://www.growthink.com/businessplan/help-center/four-steps-entrepreneurship
[2] http://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/2012-hailed-as-year-of-the-entrepreneur.1821
[3] http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/famousentrepreneurs/a/quotations.htm