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Entrepreneurship Skills
This is an introductory tutorial that will help the readers to get a basic understanding on the
concepts of entrepreneurship skills.
Audience
The entrepreneurship theory has been changing throughout many decades of business growth
and has received numerous definitions and characteristics from different scholars, who believe
that some qualities are common among most entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurships foundations are
based on economics and other such disciplines such as History, Politics, Education, Culture,
Experience and Networking.
Prerequisites
This tutorial will boost your motivation if you have a desire to start your own business and be
your own boss. Before proceeding with this tutorial, you are expected to have a calm mindset
and be open to exploring the suggestions mentioned here.
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Entrepreneurship Skills
Table of Contents
About the Tutorial .................................................................................................................................... 1
Audience................................................................................................................................................... 1
Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................................ 1
What is Entrepreneurship?..................................................................................................................... 4
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1. Entrepreneurship Introduction Entrepreneurship Skills
Many industry observers have debated on the origin of entrepreneurship. The fact to note here
is that most scholars who debate the origin of entrepreneurship are either Economists or
Historians. The common forum accepts that the concept of Entrepreneur is derived from the
French concept entreprendre, which matches closely with the English concept of business
conduct; in this sense to undertake. From the business point of view, to undertake simply
means to start a business.
The entrepreneurship theory has been changing throughout several decades of business growth
and has received numerous definitions and characteristics from different scholars, who believe
that some qualities are common among most entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurships foundations are
based on economics and other such disciplines such as History, Politics, Education, Culture,
Experience, and Networking.
Schumpeter (Joseph Alois Schumpeter, who was an Austrian-born American Economist and
Political Scientist) told that the coming together of various disparate theories forms a generalized
set of entrepreneurship skills and guidelines. He then listed the characteristics of entrepreneurs
as given below:
Risk-Bearers
Coordinators and organizers
Gap-Fillers
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Entrepreneurship Skills
Leaders
Innovators
Creative Imitators
He concedes that although these features are not the only ones, but they do go a long way in
explaining why some people become entrepreneurs while others do not.
What is Entrepreneurship?
There are many meanings of the term entrepreneurship. After attentively discussing all the
available ones, we can conclude that entrepreneurship is a system of operating business in which
opportunities existing within the scope of a market are exploited.
Building organizations.
Providing self-employment
Who is an Entrepreneur?
Entrepreneurs are business people who can detect and sense the availability of business
opportunities in any given scenario. They will then utilize these opportunities to create new
products by employing new production methods in different markets. They will also function in
different ways by using various resources who will give them profit.
It is important to note that although most entrepreneurial businesses start small, the owners of
such businesses need not be small scale owners. They could in fact be big business owners, who
first try and test the waters before investing big time in the business. Small business owners
dread risk, but successful entrepreneurs are very innovative and know how to operate profitably
in a business environment, even if the risk is very high.
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In fact, innovation is the life blood of any kind of entrepreneurs; this is one of the tools that
helps them gain an advantage over established players in the market. Entrepreneurs are, thus,
defined as individuals or groups of individuals who carry out entrepreneurship activities that
are based on their innovative approaches to solving real-word problems.
Who is an Intrepreneur?
There are many possible situations where a potential entrepreneur doesnt get a chance to
establish or fund his or her own business and is forced to work in an organization. In this case
they are referred to as Intrepreneurs i.e. entrepreneurs within an organization. These
individuals are also entrepreneurs because they dont share the typical employer employee
relationship with their bosses; instead, they operate just as collaborators and are treated as
visionaries in the organization.
Sometimes, such individuals themselves arent aware of their talent and hidden skills. The
organization needs to identify these talented people and then encourage these individuals to
exercise their entrepreneurial abilities to the benefit of the organization otherwise such people
eventually will get frustrated over the routine life and will leave the organization or start their
own businesses to pursue their ideas.
An intrapreneur, on the other hand, will tend to work within an existing organization to pursue
the exploitation of business opportunities, in the absence of available business capital,
infrastructure or clear direction.
Who is a Technopreneur?
Just like entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, we also have a technopreneur, who is an individual
interested in bringing innovations thorough technology, and then using the same technology to
build a successful business empire.
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2. Types of Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship Skills
Based on their working relationship with the business environment they are functioning in,
various types of entrepreneurs can be found. The chief categories are these four types of
entrepreneurs, i.e.
Innovative entrepreneurs,
Imitating Entrepreneurs,
Fabian Entrepreneurs, and
Drone Entrepreneurs.
Innovative Entrepreneurs
This type of an entrepreneur is more interested in introducing some new ideas into the market,
organization or in the nation. They are drawn towards innovations and invest a lot of time and
wealth in doing research and development.
Imitating Entrepreneurs
These are often disparagingly referred to as copy cats. They observe an existing successful
system and replicate it in a manner where all the deficiencies of the original business model are
addressed and all its efficiencies are retained.
These entrepreneurs help to improve an existing product or production process and can offer
suggestions to enhance the use of better technology.
Fabian Entrepreneurs
These are entrepreneurs that are very careful in their approaches and cautious in adopting any
changes. They are not prone to sudden decisions and try to shy away from any innovations or
change that doesnt fit their narrative.
Drone Entrepreneurs
These are entrepreneurs who do not like a change. They are considered as old school. They
want to do business in their own traditional or orthodox methods of production and systems.
Such people attach pride and tradition to even outdated methods of doing business.
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3. Roles of an Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship Skills
Economic Change
Social Change
Technological Change
These are referred to as behavioral roles. All entrepreneurs have these common characteristics
and decide to become an entrepreneur due to the factors or circumstances in their lives which
made them think the way they do.
To do their work effectively and operate a successful business, these entrepreneurs should
perform certain roles. These roles are the same as the basic managerial roles. All such roles are
listed out in detail as follows:
Leader Role
The entrepreneur should also act as a leader because an entrepreneur may need to bring people
with dissenting views and approaches to work together as a team. So, he needs to be good with
his people management and leadership skills. He has to lead the people by hiring, firing, training
and motivating his resources as and when necessary.
Liaison Role
The entrepreneur should also be the liaison officer for his organization. He should be the source
of link with the outside world and business houses, always trying to find an opportunity of
working together with other big organizations.
Monitor Role
The entrepreneur acts as a regulatory body too; he monitors both the internal and the external
environment of the business constantly.
Spokesman Role
The manager should also act as the spokesman of the business and transmit information
internally and externally the organization. He needs to be the source of knowledge about his
company to potential investors and collaborators.
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Entrepreneurial Role
This is the basic role of the entrepreneur; he/she declares new ideas for the organizations,
brainstorms it with the employees and friends and then bears the risk of any unsuccessful
implementation.
Disturbance Handler
The entrepreneur needs to act as the mediator and bring people with dissenting thoughts to the
table and get them motivated to work together. He needs to handle all conflicts and get the
team to focus constantly on the goal.
Resource Allocator
The entrepreneur needs to find out how the available resources can be allocated between
different departments of the organization to suit their demands and necessities. This helps them
achieve the organizational goals and the objectives.
Negotiator Role
The entrepreneur must negotiate on behalf of the organization both internally with the staff as
well as with the external investors or collaborators. At such opportunities, the entrepreneurs
need to be more focused on their role of being a win-win deal breaker.
Social Roles,
Economic Roles, and
Technological Roles.
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4. Entrepreneurial Motivations Entrepreneurship Skills
Motivation is the driving force within people that get them to act in the ways they do.
Entrepreneurial motivations are necessary steps of getting individuals to become entrepreneurs.
Scholars have conducted various researches on entrepreneurial motivations and have come up
with several factors that motivate people to become entrepreneurs.
The standard issue with the concept of Entrepreneurial Motivation is that many scholars do not
agree on the all the special characteristics that the entrepreneurs are supposed to possess to
function as entrepreneurs. In fact, there have been noted cases where successful entrepreneurs
havent been found possessing many or all the special characteristics identified by experts to
become successful entrepreneurs.
Hence, scholars now identify a set of several human motivations that influence the
entrepreneurial process and have concluded that that entrepreneurial spirits are not solely the
result of human action. External factors, such as the economy, the availability of business capital,
competitors and government regulations are also important factors in entrepreneurship.
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In a nutshell, these individuals know how to deal with situations in which they can achieve results
through their efforts. They also know that by effective utility of available resources helps them
to achieve difficult goals through a timely and transparent feedback mechanism.
Risk-taking Propensity
Risk-taking propensity is one of the most eminent features in the world of entrepreneurship. It
is defined as the willingness to take moderate risks.
This motivational influence on entrepreneurship is the result of the need to have achievements
as people with a high need of achievement are always willing to take moderate risks.
This is because activities with moderate risk are both challenging and achievable at the same
time. This keeps people interested in the potential profitability of the venture, while also
motivating them to take a calculated risk.
An entrepreneur needs to be fully prepared to handle tough questions on his ideas because
people need to feel relaxed and assured that an idea is good before they invest in it. An
entrepreneur needs to have a good amount of tolerance for ambiguity
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5. Goal-setting Strategies Entrepreneurship Skills
Goal setting is directly related with entrepreneurship. To get success, proper goal setting in
personal and professional level is important. An entrepreneur does this by following proper
strategy and implementation and not just by listing down what he wants to do. It demands an
emotional and intellectual balance to be achieved successfully.
Vision: A clear vision helps people have a goal and connect them with their convictions
and emotions.
Recognize your values: Values show what you have learnt and those lessons will shape
your future.
Consider your goals: Understand your goals and how you wish to achieve it.
Write it down: Note down your vision statement and visit it occasionally to check if
some changes are to be made.
These simple habits can change the way you want to write your destiny and achieve what your
goals are. It is important to understand your emotions and have a clear idea about them before
explaining others what you actually want to others to see.
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SMART Goals
Goals and objectives motivate people and help them to work in the right direction. This helps
them to focus on short term goals by giving them enough time to achieve them. In other words,
the strategy for your goals should be SMART, which when elaborated in this context means
Specific The first thing is to be sure about your goals. Like imagining your goal for 10
minutes every day.
Measurable Set a time by which you should probably reach your goal. Like becoming
more productive and increasing some percent of productivity is not specific.
Attainable Make goals that you can achieve within the given timeframe. For example,
if you are thinking of doubling your salary within a month, it is not possible.
Relevant The goals you aim should be like your situation. For example, a goal to
increase production is not relevant for a person in sales.
SMART is the best strategy one can plan to achieve goals and focus on the right direction. It is
better to have short goals and work on them rather than having long term goals which cannot
be attained in the upcoming future.
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6. Creating a Productivity Journal Entrepreneurship Skills
It is always a good idea to keep a track of how much money you have spent and the time spent
towards your goal, as this will help you analyze how productive you are. This will also help you
examine and adjust your priorities and have a clear mindset towards your goals.
Having a productivity journal is just like having a time log, you can also use a spreadsheet to
create one. Your journal should include three things, which are
Activities,
Time spent on each activity, and
The progress or the outcome of the activity.
Urgent and Important As the name suggests the tasks in this section demand urgent
attention, it includes handling critical issues as soon as they arise in the first place.
Important, but Not Urgent This section includes successoriented tasks which are
important for achieving your goal, but they do not demand immediate attention.
Urgent, but Not Important This section includes tasks which needs to be done
urgently, but are not that important. These tasks dont help you to take your goals
forward. You can try delaying them or postponing them for some time or even finish them
in your leisure time.
Not Urgent and Not Important The tasks which are neither urgent nor important
and are not even related to your goals are composed in this section. These can be
considered as just some distractions you get in your way. None of your family and friends
are labeled in this category. The things which are not important like playing games for
hours are labeled in this section.
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After pebbles, the jar is filled with sand and water. The main objective of this exercise is to teach
the participants that they have to put large rocks first, else it wont fit later. The large rocks
represent different goals which we need to prioritize in our lives to achieve.
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7. How to be a True Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship Skills
A careful decision must be made to move on to a position involving leadership. This means that,
entrepreneurs should begin to inherit attributes of great leaders from now onwards. This can
boost entrepreneurs to be capable of thriving in their varied roles in the organization.
Be Determined
Embrace responsibilities of entrepreneurs to understand the role of one. Be persistent in the role
of an entrepreneur as it is one of the toughest things to do.
Learn to Study
Be a student of the qualities in a good leader. Conduct various researches with respect to subject,
listen to records, lectures and debates about entrepreneurship and take classes based on it.
There are many learning options available in the market. Study the greatest ideas out of each
of them and start to implement them in everyday activities and thinking.
Practice
Know the basics of entrepreneurship and then try to master them, while integrating some newer
attributes or consciousness level all time. With course of time, not only will entrepreneurs
become the masters at the art of harnessing their skills, but also will become capable enough to
mentor others towards becoming better leaders as well.
This brings us to the statement that entrepreneurs are made, not born. The path of an
entrepreneur will not necessarily always seem to be easy nor it may look fun, but they need to
keep in mind that their goals are always within reach. Some people like to say that journey itself
contains all the rewards. With this positive attitude, entrepreneurs are already nurturing their
winning habits.
Risk Takers
If an entrepreneur intends to grow, it is important to sportively accept failures as different
possibilities. A great entrepreneur has to do this and tell others they need not worry about
failures. In fact, the best of entrepreneurs follow their idea at the cost of repeated failures, as
every misstep gets them closer to success.
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Entrepreneurs must be willing to take certain risks, so that they learn from their mistakes and
become capable enough to answer questions correctly to make investors feel comfortable with
their idea. That is why if someone approaches an entrepreneur with an idea, they dont
immediately reject it as ineffective.
They permit him/her to think around the idea and determine if it really makes sense. If
something goes wrong, they do not discourage that person, instead they are grateful for learning
something new. Entrepreneurs gain experience and learn from such meetings, which encourages
them to take more risks by analyzing every aspect of that risk.
Ethical Behavior
Entrepreneurs set the bar very high when it comes to maintaining their integrity and
accountability towards the organization, irrespective of any circumstances that may, at times,
look detrimental to the companys cause. Still, in the longer run, the organization will come out
much stronger and better because of this.
Entrepreneurs will be held liable for some of their toughest decisions. They need to keep in mind
that it is never possible to satisfy everyone to their hearts content all the time. But the least
entrepreneurs can do is to be fair to all their team members. When the nature of business is a
bit too competitive, entrepreneurs will have to take tough decisions, which may initially be
unsavory, but will benefit the company later.
Positive Attitude
The significance of a positive attitude is great in the professional lives of entrepreneurs. Great
entrepreneurs tend to harness a strong, positive attitude that leaves a mark on others and tends
to spread throughout the team. They inject their team members minds with confidence, which
makes them capable enough to bounce back in in case of any adverse circumstances.
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Even if entrepreneurs have a greater number of odds against them, greater also are the chances
for a true entrepreneur to rise from a tough situation. As a matter of fact, a large number of
entrepreneurs have earned fame for themselves by standing strongly against the toughest of
times.
People at times perceive them as being unshakable and calm during crisis situations. This does
not mean that they are just acting likewise and are being untrue to themselves. A great leader,
most of the times, needs help when something does not go right. However, the most important
quality is not to panic and lose focus.
Here, Gerbil is the work that has the greatest impact on achieving your goals and the work that
you are most likely to procrastinate starting. There is a different story which says, "If you have
to eat two gerbils, eat the ugliest one first!". Let us put it this way, say you have two important
tasks to complete, then start with the biggest, toughest and the most important task first.
Always discipline yourself to start immediately and then to stop when you complete that task.
Do not let your mind wander in any other task. Always try to stop yourself from starting with
the easier task. Remember, a small decision you take today affects your present and your future
as well.
Now, if you plan to eat a living Gerbil, it will not sit quiet waiting for you to come and eat it. You
must work hard to catch it first; so, the key to complete your task is by learning how to handle
different situations and planning what is the most important thing you have to complete, and
then start working on it.
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8. Effective Communication Entrepreneurship Skills
Having good communication skills will also help an entrepreneur at the time of project
explanation, elevator pitches, presentation, training as well as many other areas where a person
has face-a-face talk with people. An effective communicable person can build his career easily.
Checking reception of signals to ensure the that they are active in communication.
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Step 3 Self-confidence is the key to getting success; it means you must know your
positive points and limitations so that while presenting, you should use your qualities and
try to hide your weaknesses, so they dont affect your presentation.
Before going for any idea, an entrepreneur must now how to properly create a time schedule
under which you can present everything with your effective communication skills. If he learns
how to deliver knowledge, guidance and performance all at the same time, then he becomes
someone to watch out for.
Previously, people used to create a script as per which they would present their ideas to people.
Nowadays, businesses have started opening over a cup of tea. Ideas can come from anywhere.
A real entrepreneur knows the target audience even before the idea has been germinated
properly.
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