Who is an entrepreneur? What does an entrepreneur do? What makes entrepreneurs unique and different from other people? These are the questions we will be discussing as we shine the spotlight on this amazing set of people.
Furthermore, we will discuss entrepreneur types and also give insights on how to become an entrepreneur.
So, stay with us until the end.
Who Is an Entrepreneur?
Entrepreneurs are individuals with a creative mindset which helps them set up successful businesses.
Entrepreneurs are also problem-solvers.
This is one important aspect that makes them successful.
An entrepreneur is also an innovative thinker.
They are also calculated risk-takers.
Above all, they are known for setting up businesses.
This process is called entrepreneurship.
Starting a business from scratch may not come easy for others.
However, entrepreneurs can scale through this grueling process and establish successful businesses.
Furthermore, entrepreneurs are essential in the economy.
Without them, there will possibly be no goods and services for consumption.
They put their skills into use to create jobs, improve the standard of living, boost confidence in individuals, impact the economy, etc.
Now, specific attributes or characteristics distinguish entrepreneurs from others.
Let’s find out what these characteristics are.
Entrepreneurial Characteristics
To be a successful entrepreneur, there are specific characteristics one should possess.
These characteristics are essential and will benefit your business in the long run.
1. Flexibility/Adaptability – Who is an Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur should have a flexible mindset and adapt to changes to meet targets.
Similarly, an entrepreneur should not depend on one approach to solve problems.
Instead, there should be different approaches to solving problems that may arise in the business and reaching set goals.
2. Passionate – Who is an Entrepreneur
As an entrepreneur, you should be passionate about your business.
Your passion for the business will keep you motivated to push your business forward.
3. Resilience
As an entrepreneur, you should be resilient.
Setting up and managing a business can be challenging, especially from the initial stages.
Business requires a lot of time and commitment.
To stand the test of time when challenges arise in the industry, you’ll need resilience.
4. Reliability – Who is an Entrepreneur
As an entrepreneur, you should be able to show your client that you are reliable.
This attribute will endear people to the business, and it will grow the business more.
If you’re unreliable, you’ll quickly lose clients as no one wants to do business with someone they cannot trust to deliver.
5. Bravery/Courage
Entrepreneurs also have fears like every other person.
However, they make sure it does not stop them from taking the necessary actions/steps in their business.
Thus helping them take advantage of opportunities and achieve business success.
6. Motivated and Focused – Who is an Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur should be self-motivated and focused.
With this, you can run any business despite the many setbacks or distractions that you encounter.
7. Competency
Apart from being motivated and focused, you should be competent in your business dealings.
Without competency, you’ll lack the necessary skills the business needs to succeed.
8. Good Communication Skill
Of course, effective communication is essential in business.
When you are good at communicating well and effectively with your clients, it makes them understand you better.
Also, you’ll need to communicate effectively with your team if you have one working for you.
Hence, the reason why effective communication is one of the essential skills every entrepreneur should have.
Types of Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs are of different types; let’s take a look at a few of them:
1. The Innovators
These types of entrepreneurs come up with different ideas, new ideas that can be used for unique products that have not existed.
To mention a few examples: Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Thomas Edison.
They were great innovators who came up with something new.
Innovators are more concerned about their impact through the product or service than worried about their profit.
These people may not be very good at running a business.
However, they are good at generating new ideas.
They allow the business to be handled by those who can do better at running a business.
What we are saying, in essence, is that they find creating ideas more fulfilling than running a business.
Builders
These types of entrepreneurs are builders; they can create businesses in a short period.
The builders do this through the help of investors and other able hands to help the business run smoothly.
Builders are intelligent sets of entrepreneurs.
Opportunist Entrepreneur
These kinds of entrepreneurs are positive-minded; they have the skill to see financial openings.
Opportunist entrepreneurs are more concerned about making profit and wealth creations.
They are easily attracted to opportunities that will generate income, and opportunist entrepreneurs are sometimes spontaneous.
These are the ones we like to call investors or venture capitalists.
When they see an opportunity for massive growth in your business, they invest in it so they can have a stake in it.
These are mostly profit-driven entrepreneurs.
4. Serial Entrepreneurs
This set of people are well known for coming up with a business idea, setting it up, and once it grows, they move on to the next big idea.
They do not stay in one business for the long term.
These people are so good at setting up series of businesses.
Hence the reason we call them serial entrepreneurs.
How does Entrepreneurship Work?
As we stated earlier, entrepreneurship is the process of business creation or setup.
Due to this fact, entrepreneurship combines capital, labor, and land, which are natural resources to produce goods and services.
However, entrepreneurs create business ideas, get resources, labor, finance, or leadership, and manage them for reaching the target or goals.
Unfortunately, they often face hindrances such as obtaining funds, getting the right skills, and overcoming government policies.
But this doesn’t stop them from producing their goods and services.
Hence, the reason, entrepreneurship is a process that needs consistency and determination.
Entrepreneurship Types
There are different types of entrepreneurship.
However, we are going to be discussing only four.
1. Small Business
This type of entrepreneurship is the one that starts up a business, but they usually don’t make it big.
They can have a small store that sells handmade products.
These individuals are not interested in bringing in any investor.
Instead, they use their money for the business or go for loans to keep the business going.
One bad thing about this type of entrepreneurship is that they live off this small business.
The growth of the small business is likely to be limited.
2. Scalable Startup
Entrepreneurship of this type has exceptional ideas.
Their aim in business is to build products and services that are not in existence.
They try as much as possible to keep the business growing.
Unlike the small business entrepreneurship types, these require lots of capital and investors to make their idea hit the target market.
In other words, they’ll need the help of investors, partners, and venture capitalists to keep up with operations and grow their business.
3. Big Company
This type of entrepreneurship focuses on an already existing company.
The already existing company is sometimes adequately structured to have other branches in different sectors.
And as the case may be, they can also venture into new technology.
The CEOs would have had a vision of a new market before they think of building new businesses.
Sometimes, the vision might be from an individual, or the management can develop these unique ideas.
When there is a unique idea, then the process of bringing it to reality can be possible.
Social Startup
These are the types of entrepreneurship that do businesses to benefit mankind and society.
The product and services of this social start-up are used to assist society.
Their aim for going into businesses is to improve and impact people’s lives.
Non-profit organizations fall into this category.
They focus on solving community problems rather than making profits.
Another essential aspect of entrepreneurship is funding.
Therefore, we’ll consider entrepreneurship funding.
Entrepreneurship Funding
There are challenges that entrepreneurs face when starting a business.
One of those challenges sometimes has to do with funding.
Though some entrepreneurs might have plans on how to handle this aspect.
We will look at a few ways entrepreneurs get their capital.
Capitals for Entrepreneurs
1. Savings
Some entrepreneurs would have started saving because they have had plans of owning their own business.
With this in mind, they save up to set up a business.
These savings sometimes can work for small businesses, as the case may be.
2. Partners/ Investors
This is another way entrepreneurs raise capital for their business.
Entrepreneurs look for partners and investors that are interested in the kind of business they run.
They would have stated what they want from these people before kick-starting the business.
And at the end of the business tenure, profit will be shared according to how they agreed before starting the business.
3. Loans
Other entrepreneurs go for loans.
They get loans from commercial banks.
However, don’t forget that loans come with interest.
Hence, before applying for any loan as an entrepreneur, ensure the interest rate and time for repayment are favorable for you.
Otherwise, the business might fail on the way due to excessive interest rates or wrong repayment time.
4. Crowdfunding
Another way entrepreneurs get funding for businesses is crowdfunding.
How is this done?
Well, this is when entrepreneurs generate pages to raise capital.
On this page, equity, bonds, and shares, etc., are advertised for sales.
One needs to have a good marketing strategy to make sales and generate the necessary finances for the business.
Now you know who an entrepreneur is, the various types of entrepreneurship, how it works, and various sources of entrepreneurship funding.
We are yet to answer how does one becomes an entrepreneur.
How Can You Become an Entrepreneur?
Now that you know a lot more about entrepreneurs and how they operate, you might be wondering how to become one.
Well, becoming an entrepreneur doesn’t just come in quickly; it requires a lot of work from you.
There are attitudes that entrepreneurs should possess to be effective in that field.
Most importantly, you need to be consistent, passionate, and fully ready if you want to be an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurs, unlike other folks, don’t have a specific route to meet the target.
They go through a more competitive course to attain their goals.
However, not all entrepreneurs take the same way to reach their target.
This is because one entrepreneurs’ way of getting things done differs from another when it comes to achieving goals.
Nevertheless, here are some ways you can venture into entrepreneurship and become one.
1. Have a Reliable Source of Capital
First and foremost, most entrepreneurs ensure that they are financially fit to set up a business.
They make sure to save up enough resources to keep the business afloat before venturing into business.
This prevents the incidence of business failure due to a lack of funds.
As a potential entrepreneur, you should have a reliable source of income/business resources before jumping in to start a business.
Although, no amount of funds can be enough depending on the type of business.
However, when your business is well funded, you will have the time to take care of other necessary things to grow the business.
2. Equip Yourself With Various Skills Set
After ensuring that you have stable finance to run the business, learn some skills.
Ensure you don’t limit yourself to just one skill, learn different skills.
Most importantly, the skills you are acquiring should work for the business you want to set up.
These skills will give you the advantage of facing any challenge associated with the technical know-how of the business.
For instance, you should have a good strategy for marketing and sales; if you lack in this area, you have to learn.
You can read some books, articles, etc., to develop the necessary skill set.
On the other hand, you can also enroll in classes that will give you more business knowledge.
Although some entrepreneurs are school dropouts, that didn’t deter them from succeeding as entrepreneurs.
This is because, besides formal education, they equipped themselves with the right skills they needed to succeed in business.
Hence, as a potential entrepreneur, endeavor to equip yourself with the necessary skills you need to succeed in business.
You don’t have to learn everything at once.
Start the learning process and make sure you continuously improve yourself as the business grows.
3. Be A Problem Solver
This is an essential part of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs exist to solve specific problems for which they make profits in return.
Hence, as an aspiring entrepreneur, you need to be book at solving problems.
The books, skills acquired, and other content you have consumed as a prospective entrepreneur will help you identify an existing problem.
When you have recognized a problem, you need to provide a lasting solution to the situation.
When this is done, it means you have added value to others and build a successful business.
4. Reliable Networking
As a newbie entrepreneur, you’ll benefit immensely from networking.
This is true, especially if you’re networking with the right people; That is, like-minded people with a positive mindset.
Having a network of people would allow you access to the support and guidance you need to navigate entrepreneurship.
5. Build Your Leadership Skills
As an entrepreneur, you should be a good leader.
You have to lead your team and business to success.
As a leader, you have to motivate and inspire your team to achieve the set goals.
You can learn business leadership from some of the most outstanding leaders of all time, such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc.
Conclusion on Who Is An Entrepreneur
Overall, an entrepreneur is an ordinary individual willing to push themselves to do what others are unwilling to do.
This makes them outstanding as they can creatively solve problems and add value to peoples’ lives.
The reward of this hard work and diligence is profit and business success.
Now ask yourself, are you an entrepreneur?
Or are you willing to give all it takes to become a successful entrepreneur?
