Are You Cut Out To Be An Entrepreneur?

While it is desirable and perhaps important to venture into business either full time or as a side hustle, entrepreneurship is a slightly different ball game. Many confuse a Business with Entrepreneurship. While an Entrepreneur is a Business owner/driver, not all Business owners/drivers are Entrepreneurs. A Business owner/driver typically is driven by profit, and profit as soon as possible. An Entrepreneur’s drive is to solve problems, and is patient to grow the customer base of those who have the problem he or she has a solution for to grow. Then the profit comes in over time. Now, it’s not everybody that wants to be an entrepreneur. Some want a 9-5 job. They just love the routine and don't want to be their own boss, while others hate the type of responsibility that comes with entrepreneurship, and that’s fine.

“An entrepreneur is best defined as a person who takes financial risk to try new business ideas.   There is an enormous difference between desiring or liking something and having the character traits to succeed in it.  A “Yes” to the following five character traits is key to successful entrepreneurship if you ask me.   You must be able to wear many hats at different times - marketing and accounting to training, customer service, people management and more. You must be prudent and good at managing money - Inability to manage money well would ruin the business over time. Key requirement here is the ability to delay gratification.   You must be capable of mastering calculated risks - Startups go through lots of ups and downs, often on a daily basis. You must be great at execution - A good business plan is nothing without effective execution. This obvious truth is visible all around us. Innate entrepreneurial ability is a plus - Having a passion for business (A genuine desire to provide solutions for problems, not just to make money) is an added advantage.  I hope these give you something for introspection as you explore your entrepreneurship dreams. Where you lack any of the five, I can coach you to enhance your chances of success.