Are you one of those three in five persons who have a dream of owning a business? Does the thought of being your own boss seem like your ideal job?
Maybe you have aspirations of opening a shop. Or is there a great idea or an invention you would like to bring to market? Perhaps you have a skill that you’d like to pursue professionally.
Perhaps you’ve reached that point where the day-to-day grind of hoofing it to a job leaves you feeling like you are stuck in your own Groundhog Day movie. Life seems to have become an endless cycle of work and rest, leaving you angry at yourself and the world because you are tied to a paycheck and pleasing a boss.
Then you are not alone. According to a “SmallBizGenius” article by Dragomir Simovic, 39 Entrepreneur Statistics You Need to Know in 2020, 25 million Americans in 2016 were “starting or already running their own business” and “62% of billionaires are self-made”.
The statistics of business ownership
According to several sources more than half of the people who take the plunge report that being their own boss is more satisfying than expected. And less than a quarter of new businesses fail within the first year. Even more encouraging is that 62% of owners say their enterprise is as successful as they planned it to be.
Those are optimistic and inspiring statistics, right? That certainly gives me hope that whatever venture I have in mind, providing I’m well prepared and realistic about the sacrifices I’ll need to make, could very well be as successful and fulfilling as I’d like.
There is a downside, though. A third of business owners reported that getting their business off the ground was harder than they anticipated (Most Americans dream of being their own boss, SWNS, NYPost).
Many of those who have made the leap to self-employment cite hard work as being the number one factor of success. Financing and marketing their venture, and finding qualified employees were also listed as obstacles to overcome.
Why its easier today to become an entrepreneur
Up until the recent past most businesses were small, family-owned, local enterprises. But with the advent of streamlined manufacturing processes, economies-of-scale, and other technological advances, it appeared that for many of us our only option would be not if, but who would be our boss.
However, the advent of the internet seems to be turning that tide somewhat. No longer are you competing with the big box stores or large corporations over the limited number of consumers in your immediate vicinity. The internet has arrived! And it serves to even out the playing field – the whole world has now become your oyster.
With few funds and just a reasonable amount of time you can accomplish a whole range of goals. You can create your own website to launch your product or sell your service or find that niche to bring your invention to life.
You can mine the world wide web to gather the knowledge and resources to run your business, find partners or investors to help launch your enterprise. What’s more, you can easily find a community of entrepreneurs to serve as mentors and cheerleaders.
But do YOU have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?
There is a laundry list of soft skills that successful business owners and leaders seem to possess and it would pay you to take a minute to read and reflect how you measure up.
You might be an entrepreneur if…
You believe in yourself and your mission and have a strong desire to succeed
People who view the world and themselves in a mostly positive light generally have greater expectations of success and that keeps them moving forward. You believe there is something better for you out there, something more than what you have now, and it keeps tugging at you. And coupled with that is the belief that you can make it happen.
You are naturally curious and spend your time asking questions and learning new things
Kudos to you if you tend to read more non-fiction than fiction, watch more documentaries rather than movies and have an inquiring mind. According to Inc.’s Jeff Haden in his article Science Says the Most Successful People Are Smart, Driven, and Curious. But 1 Thing Matters Even More (and Is the Most Important Factor in Career Success) associating with a variety of people in an “open network” leads to learning new things. At its core, it requires having a genuine curiosity to learn about other people.
Running a business requires a list of skills, especially if you intend doing most of the work yourself (and that is usually the case, especially at first). The more you learn and grow, the more skills you’ll develop that will serve you in a multiple of ways.
You aren’t afraid of hard work
I’m sure you’ve heard it before…hard work pays off. Let’s face it, few successful people have had it handed it to them. Even when it appears that they hit the big time virtually overnight, generally there was a lot of time and effort involved to get to that point. Zig Ziglar said it best, “Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation”.
You can envision the big picture and how the pieces will fit
Masooma Memom writes in her blog, 6 ways to develop big picture thinking (and stop drowning in detail) on Fingerprint for Success, “Big picture thinking is the ability to grasp abstract concepts, ideas and possibilities”. I’ll add that this ability also includes being able to fit seemingly disparate ideas together and see concepts and solutions in a new light. This all sounds rather high-brow, I know, but you may already have this gift and not recognize it.
But don’t worry, even if you don’t see yourself in that light, it’s an ability you can develop. And if you are one of those detail-oriented types, that is just as important. Lofty goals are great, but it’s the getting-it-done mindset and in-the-weeds activities that are the final drivers of goal attainment.
You accept criticism with an open mind and aren’t overly bothered by rejection
Forward thinking people develop thick skin and allow criticism to roll off their back. How often have the dreamers, inventors, and revolutionaries of this world heard how foolish their notions were or unattainable their goal (or that they were just plain crazy)?
But these people have an idea rattling around their brain and won’t rest until they bring it to life. Or perhaps they believe that life for them can be better and more fulfilling than where they are at now.
They don’t let the naysayers of this world deter them from that goal. High achievers use negative feedback to fuel their desire to succeed and tend to view failure as merely a minor setback and learning opportunity.
While it pays to keep an ear out for good advice, keep in mind that people who offer an opinion (and oftentimes unsolicited) may do so with questionable motives. It could come from a fear of failure (their’s not your’s), a desire to protect you from hardship, or maybe they are just envious that you have the gumption to chase your dream.
You are persistent and resilient
You are one of those people that have cultivated a spring-back mentality. It allows you to stretch and bend during the tough times but bounce back when the dust has settled. Bryan E. Robinson, Ph.D. wrote an article recently that appeared in PsychologyToday.com titled 10 Habits of Highly Resilient People where he lists 10 habits that promote resilience that you might find useful.
You are goal oriented and like to plan
If you are that person who doesn’t need a picture of your dream career pasted to the refrigerator door because it is already firmly pasted in your mind, then you could be an entrepreneur. Goal-oriented people have the ability to envision an outcome and devise long, mid, and short-term targets to help them reach their objectives.
Successful entrepreneurs tackle chaos by devising workable, consistent, standardized systems. It may seem boring and tedious, but having a clear plan and ordered routines allows for greater control and transparency in both your life and business.
Planners look for the smart way to do things and constantly self-reflect to ensure they keep on track. They are good time managers and allocate their resources wisely. And scheduling is the logical outcome of planning and time management. Scheduling is the visual manifestation of a plan, basically the “when” and “how” the myriad demands required in running a business will be met.
Chris Proteous said in his article, 11 Organization Skills that Every Smart Leader Needs, on Lifehack.com that “strong organizational skills are key to being a smart leader”. That is one way to define an entrepreneur, even if you are only a leader of one (hey, someone has to organize you, right?).
Food for Thought
So, do you have what is takes to be an entrepreneur? You may not see yourself possessing all these attributes, but there is nothing to say that these skills can’t be developed and honed.
None of us are good at everything. So be honest with yourself about what you believe you can tackle on your own and when you might need to reach out for assistance. There is virtually unlimited resources for you to utilize in your journey.
But don’t get bogged down trying to answer every question. Set a goal, make a plan, and then EXECUTE!
