What Makes An Entrepreneur?

People who are self employed are often called entrepreneurs and some would equate that all the self employed or small business owners are entrepreneurs. This I suppose is a matter of definition, in my eyes an entrepreneur generates large amounts of wealth whereas in many cases the self employed or even the small business owner is replacing income stream that would normally be coming from employment with one from their business.

An entrepreneur will also create value more quicker than a small business owners and this wealth will generally be created through a higher risk opportunity. Innovation would have also paid a significant role on the success of the entrepreneur whereas in the non entrepreneurial small business arena it would normally be that an existing idea or product we being utilised, maybe with a slight twist such as price.

There is of course big overlaps. Small business owners will become entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs will become a small company director. The first steps to becoming a small business owner and an entrepreneur are often the same (probably the cause of the confusion). Have the idea, start the company, buy the franchise and work hard!

4.1 So how do you become entrepreneurial? The word entrepreneur comes from the French 'entrependre' which literally means 'to begin something'. And this is how we generally see entrepreneurs, as people who begin something, people who come up with new and innovative ideas and have the capability to launch that idea into an unsuspecting market place. When we look at entrepreneurs we see individuals who are prepared to take risks, who are smart, creative and innovative and are driven. To be successful as an entrepreneur you need to understand your own strengths, know your weaknesses and learn from your successes and mistakes.

So we all want to start our own business then? Well not all, probably about half of us (according to recent reports) and we want to open these businesses because we have had an idea, an idea that will make money and add value to thousands of Customers! It is probably of no surprise that actually less than 10% of those that want to actually do so. Disappointing really, as entrepreneurs have a real, positive and significant impact on our lives. They add value to existing markets and shake them up a bit, often causing prices to drop. They create new markets and bring products and services to us that enhance our lives and they generally improve our lot. A fact that is recognised in the Global Entrepreneurship week.

As you have probably seen there is starting to be a real change in how entrepreneurs and small business owners are viewed, especially from government. As David Cameron recently said 'the future of our economy depends on a new generation of entrepreneurs coming up with ideas'. The focus is starting to change to the educational processes and how to develop budding entrepreneurs. It is being recognised that education in business process increase the likely success of business and entrepreneurial ventures.

Universities are now playing a major role in the development of the youthful, entrepreneurial spirit. If you visit almost any university and many colleges within the UK you are more than likely to find a centre focused on helping students take the first step into business and entrepreneurship. Correspondingly during the last decade the number of students describing themselves as running their own business (i.e. working for themselvesor freelance) has increased significantly almost rising by 50% in the period 2002 to 2009. We have also seen more funding opportunities for entrepreneurial research in addition to more advice, support and education.

Unfortunately some of the statistics we looked at did not make good reading. HESA also reported that of young adults (8 to 24) 5 times more were likely to be unemployed than starting their own company. To counter this, the government has to act and encouragement is needed to help these young adults find their entrepreneurial spirit. At the end of 2010 Iain Duncan Smith (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) said that he would look at bring back a similar scheme to The Enterprise Allowance Scheme (EAS). This helped jobless, individuals start up their own companies.

So are entrepreneurs born or developed. Well both. Certainly they use to just appear, but this is probably due to the lack of focus on development (i.e. they were self taught) but nowadays anybody who has the two core competencies of being smart and being a grafter can succeed in the entrepreneurial world!

Many entrepreneurs are actually beginning to recognise opportunities abroad where there are many attractive sources of capital. For this reason, business start ups are becoming multinational at an earlier stage. So, if you are considering looking beyond the national boarders it is generally beneficial to be multilingual on some level. Similarly, networking and building relationships is essential. Entrepreneur Guru Peter Jones, the star of Dragon's Den, offers 5 steps to entrepreneurial success; 1 Have a Vision; 2 Be Confident; 3 Be results-orientated; 4 Take action; 5Use your influence and 6 Don't underestimate your abilities!

About the Author

This article was written by financial expert Timothy Frodsham, who writes for Just Commercial Mortgages who specialise in providing information on buy-to-let, commercial mortgages, commercial property finance and offer a service to find the very best commercial mortgage rates available in the market.

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