“High impact entrepreneurs, according to the 2011 High-Impact Entrepreneurship Global Report, are the 4% entrepreneurs responsible for 40% of the total jobs generated by all entrepreneurs.”
- Mauritz Bekker- from the article; How to develop High-impact
Entrepreneurs
Who are entrepreneurs? And what do they do?
It is important to look into the meaning of the word Entrepreneur. Entrepreneur stems from the French words “entre” and “prendre” together which means “do.”
Brad Rosser an Entrepreneur bore credence to this say by the time he left Virgin to start his own business.
”…By the time I left Virgin to start up business on my own, I’d had a pretty good training on how to be an entrepreneur. What was most important thing I did learned? That it’s not rocket science. There’s a lot of chance involved in becoming an entrepreneur, a lot of opportunity. But what marks the entrepreneurs out is that they take these opportunities, rather than thinking of all the reasons why they won’t work. It’s the different between theory and practice.”
Back in 1803 Jean –Baptiste Say (French Economics and Businessman), defined an entrepreneur as “an economic agent who unites all means of production – land of one and labour of another and the capital yet of another and thus produces a product.”
There are many definitions of entrepreneur, but the one that makes the meaning clear for a lay man is for me the one described by T. Harv Eker, the author of “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.” He described the entrepreneur as a person who solves problem at a profit. Hence, if you want to become an entrepreneur, you need to become a “problem solver.”
Do you want to become a problem solver and be rewarded for meeting the needs of the people you solve their problems? The more people you can solve their problem for profit the more your reward.
It’s as simple as that!
Imagine how your life will change if you help many people meet their overarching need through your ability to create effective solutions to their problems by way of products, services or new businesses. Essentially, to become an entrepreneur is to become innovative in the way you do things.
You can read an article “50 Reasons to own your own Business and Celebrate being an Entreprenuer” written by Natalie Sisson – Founder Suitcase entreprenuer by follwing this link:
http://bit.ly/16kZKO6
What does it then take to become entrepreneur?
I want to make mention of two things that each business or enterprise do in other to exist. One is that they solve a problem and the other thing they do is that they satisfy customer(s). These two points sound a bit simplistic but that in a nutshell underpins the framework under which businesses exist. The entrepreneur needs to understand these key roles in the bid to create a business.
The sole aim of a business is to serve a customer. You serve the customer by helping them to meet their need, and you do it with your best use of your skills and talent.
Skills are the things you need to be able to have the job done. In taking stock – analyses of your skill set, it is important to mention here three types of skill you need to navigate the world of work. These skills are called transferable or functional skills. In the world of work you need to continually re-invent yourself so as to become more proficient in their use. They make you mobile in the world of work. These skills are as follows:
· What you can do with people ( interpersonal and communication skills)
· What you can do with information or data (cognitive skills)
· What you can do with objects/things (technical skills)
The skills you need in the world of work are listed below. Perhaps it will be right for you to make a skills audit.
Table 3.1: Skill set evaluation
Evaluating your peoples skills
Listening to others
Encouraging other
Resolving conflict
Motivating people
Teaching/Training others
Organising people
Any other
Evaluating your manual /practical skills
Making repairs
Building
Taking measurement
Maintaining equipment
Operating machinery
Using a computer
Any other
Evaluating your communication skills
Using telephone
Dealing assertively with people
Story telling
Talking to people in authority with confidence
Writing letters
Completing forms
Any other
Evaluating your mathematical /mental skills
Memorising figures
Estimating
Planning
Making rapid calculations
Judging distances
Budgeting
Keeping accounts
Any other
Assessing your problem solving skills
Working out routes
Crosswords
Coming up with new ideas
Analysing alternatives
Diagnosing faults and causes of problems
Interpreting data
Any other
Evaluating your creative skills
Creative writing
Designing / decorating a room
Finding alternative use of things
Craft making
Musical
Drama
Improvising
Cooking
Using colours creatively
Any others
Source:
You need to personally evaluate you own skills set and create a framework of the following:
Who can I serve by using these skills?
Here I am interested in the field of work or niche that you can use it.
What can I do with these skills in terms of products or services you can develop? Here I am keen on the problem (s) you can solve to your audience by using this skills. If you need inspiration for this task you to refer to Maslow’s hierarchy of need.
How can you make this dream come true?
Here I am keen on strategies and tactics and implementation techniques to get the results you earnestly desire.
Exploring the entrepreneurial core skills
In the previous section we’ve tried to figure out who entrepreneurs are and also what they do. It will be good to explore some of the skills or attributes of entrepreneurs so as to motivate us on how to develop these attributes. For one thing the entrepreneurs “do.” Hence it is safe to say that they have a can do attitude. Let us see according to Douglas Cartwright what these attribute look like.
- Have a belief about what is important in life (values).
- Forming those beliefs and values into a relatively coherent vision and purpose.
- Dealing with fear and loss.
- Learning to take risks.
- Developing an optimistic thinking style.
- Taking action
For me these six point or principles summarises the mind-set, skill set and personality traits of entrepreneurs in different fields as they do what they do best – creating opportunities that impact life. For one thing entrepreneurs come in different shades they are contributors, creators, distributors, philanthropists and investors who adopt vehicular mechanisms (resources), by way of technology and human association (great teams) to enable their ideas to become a reality. In a nutshell the entrepreneurs have found ways to take hidden values – idea, information, systems and organise them in a way that would enable people to use them. As they add value they began to create tremendous economic empires. Entrepreneurs throughout history from Sam Walton of the WalMart supermarket to Bill Gate of the Microsoft Fame practice economic alchemy. They are builders and visionaries who create with great imagination and execute excellently.
Core attributes of entrepreneurs
What are the attributes, characteristics, mind set and skill set of entrepreneurs? For us to begin to look at this it’s important to first find out what entrepreneurs do. They solve problems for profit. In so doing they create value. The values that they create are two folds:
· They create new products, services and different opportunities.
· The products they create avenues for employment.
Essentially entrepreneurs see opportunities where others see problems and they are able to see emerging patterns in their areas of expertise.
In this section we have to mention some of the core attributes of entrepreneurs. The list is not exhaustive and you can add yours
Artists
Adventurers
Sportsman
Risk takers
Courageous
Innovators
Specialist Knowledge
Strategic thinking
Success Attitude
Creators
Modellers
Leaders
Managers
Organisers
Executors/Implementers
Practical
Peak performers
Intuitive Abilities
Learners
Gatherers
Problem Solvers
Marketers/Sellers
Networkers
Team players Passionate
Business Acumen
Communicators
It is important to mention here that entrepreneurship is necessary to turn raw materials into valuable problem solving products.
Do you see solutions or possibilities in any given situation?
Look around you; is there a problem around your immediate environment that you would like to solve for profit?
You can learn more on my book: A primer on Entrepreneurship Education ... 'how to turn your passion into profit'. Buy it through this link: Entrepreneurship Education
Copyright 2013 BSC Ugoji – Founder Progress Path – Mastery Education
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