Entrepreneurship

What is it?

Entrepreneurship is the development of a business from the ground up — coming up with an idea and turning it into a profitable business. But while the definition of entrepreneurship may be simple, its execution is much more difficult. "Entrepreneurship is the journey of opportunity exploration and risk management to create value for profit and/or social good," said Ajay Bam, a lecturer at the Lester Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of California.

Although there are no specific traits all entrepreneurs share, there are certain characteristics that most successful entrepreneurs possess, according to the University of Illinois Centre for Economic and Financial Education:

1, Ability to plan: Entrepreneurs must be able to develop business plans to meet goals in a variety of areas, including finance, marketing, production, sales and personnel.

2, Communication skills: Entrepreneurs should be able to explain, discuss and promote their goods or services.

3,  Marketing skills: Good marketing skills, which result in people wanting to buy goods or services, are critical to entrepreneurial success.

4,  Interpersonal skills: The ability to establish and maintain positive relationships with customers and clients, employees, financial lenders, investors, lawyers and accountants, among others, is crucial to the success of the entrepreneur's business venture. Basic management skills are needed too, even if entrepreneurs hire others to deal with the day-to-day tasks of the business, entrepreneurs need to know whether their company has the correct resources.

5,  Leadership skills: The ability to develop a vision for the company and to inspire employees to pursue it is imperative for success.

Many of history's top business leaders earned their success thorough entrepreneurship, including Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Coco Chanel, Ray Kroc, John Rockefeller, Mary Kay Ash, P.T. Barnum and Estee Lauder. Mark Cuban, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart and Russell Simmons are among today's most successful entrepreneurs.

Key tips for those wanting to enter the world of entrepreneurship: 

1, Learn from others' failures. Rather than admiring the small percentage of businesses that grow to become successful, study those that end up failing. Gottlieb said this research will greatly increase your chances of success, since most companies have made common mistakes that have led to their demise. He said that having the humility to learn from the mistakes of others before making them yourself is the secret to success.

2,  Make sure this is what you want. Because entrepreneurship entails so much hard work, it is critical to ensure you're following the right path, Amini said. "If this is something you really want, then think long-term, and be persistent," she said. "The vast majority of great entrepreneurs failed multiple times before they finally found the business idea that took off and brought them success." Solve problems.

3, Entrepreneurs should always be in search of problems to solve and not the other way around, Bam said. In other words, "they should not start with a solution looking for a problem," he said.

4, Be passionate. To be successful, you should find your passion and then build a business around that, Gottlieb said. "The passion is what will get you through the stumbling blocks and prevent you from quitting in the middle of the race," he said. Get advice from those who have done it.
Amini advised would-be business owners to find mentors who are successful, as well as to read books, network with people they admire and look into great educational programs to help them throughout the process.

References: Chad Brooks, MJ Gottlieb, Elizabeth Amini