Entrepreneur – Is it just an ego trip? Can I be one?

What is an entrepreneur?

I would define an entrepreneur as someone who sets up a business or enterprise and who takes, part or whole, personal financial liability for its success or failure. I believe that the personal financial risk is the key element to true entrepreneurship. If the business makes an amazing profit, you are a financial star and if the business fails, you may owe a large debt.

I have interviewed many entrepreneurs who have been very successful and many unsuccessful. From this experience, I have captured the key elements that are most important for ensuring financial success.

I have developed and refined this experience and apply it when I am coaching entrepreneurs in managing their businesses.

Change is always present. Markets change, people change, their outlook and their personal circumstances change. Government policies change and societal values change. Whether you view change as ‘riding the storm’ or reacting to a challenge will depend on your personality. Whether you go for risky expansion or safe consolidation will depend on your personality. Whether you find people or situations more difficult to manage will depend on your personality. Here, I am highlighting a factor that is most often omitted when we review the important issues of entrepreneurship – you.

I shall show you how to recognise your strong personality traits and how they can feature in your business or enterprise. You will see how your individual traits are critical to your success. Like a team player knowing whether they are best as a defender, goalkeeper, midfielder or forward – knowing whether they are stronger on the right or left wing – is key to their performance. ‘Play to my strengths’ is a well-known cliché, but how can you know what are your strongest talents in the workplace?

Entrepreneur? Is it an ego trip and can I be one? The answer is yes everybody can be a very successful entrepreneur but how they do it must be compliant with their personality. I find being in your own business is a much more common choice in today’s fluid work environment and for many can add a new and exciting dimension to a career path which may have become boring and monotonous.

How you interface with the challenge of setting up a success business will be determined by your personality rather than whether you think you have discovered

a niche gap. You may be surprised to know that it is better to enter a mature well established market.

New niche market entries normally require significant venture capital funding for the

initial marketing launch and is high risk.

You should now identify your personality type from the 4 Lowe Personality Profiler and apply the following modus operandi when starting a business.

Influencer

Inclined to be over ambitious and neglects the critical admin. Must therefore employ

a good account and heed their advice.

Great promoter who thrives on challenges.

Supporter

Business should have a people help and caring focus to really thrive.

Good with admit but needs to depersonalise decisions and objectively focus on the

business plan and model.

Analyst

Good with admin and the business analyst. Might need to be more adventurous in terms of risk taken as compliant with the influencer profile.

Creative

Good with admin and with a strong propensity for focusing on business model.

The Creative has a pragmatic decision making profile.

Observations

I have personally created successful start-ups and interviewed many successful and failed entrepreneurs.

I have learned the following critical points from my experience.

1] My biggest challenges were when to downsize and anticipate looming recessions.

2] Depersonalise the business and not see it as an ego thing.

3] Define a cut off. Too many entrepreneurs delay the inevitable and spend many years

paying off banking and supplier debts for which they are personally liable.

4] Many very successful business executives have experienced false starts.

5] Managing rapid expansion and understanding what the bank refers to as ' overtrading '

6] Be ready and take advantage of change. New businesses have a more adaptive

mentality than large traditional multinationals which can only solely adjust to a

new modus operandi. And the good news is that our current short-termist marketplace

suits new start-ups.