Most people decide to start their own business because they think it is a great alternative to having to work for someone else. Some even think it is the next step in the evolution for one to go from rags to riches. However, some people think that delving into such ventures are a piece of cake. There are many myths that get around, deceiving people into starting their business with unreasonable expectations.

The result? Out of business signs and frustrated entrepreneurs.

Before you jump into entrepreneurship, first consider the following myths which we will debunk.

1. Starting a Small Business is Easier Work

This isn’t true. You’ll probably work harder. A small business needs more work to survive. However, the potential to earn is much greater. The difference is, at work you would b*tch about overtime. With your small business, you may actually enjoy working overtime because you are caring for your own business.

2. MYTH: I’ll be the boss.

You may be the boss of your company. But you will still have to please someone else: the client. So in truth, they are the boss. Make sure you keep them happy.

3. MYTH: I Can Now Bump Up My Asking Price

We often think that we work too much and are paid too little. When starting a small business we may be tempted to think that we can now push for a price more worthy of our skills. However, we should remember that we have competition who might be offering their services for a better price. We always have to be competitive and practical. And exorbitant pricing may not help our small business at all.

4. MYTH: I Don’t Have to Deal with People I Don’t Like Anymore!

Bullshit. You might find that the clients you now have may be pushier than your boss. And as I said in number 1, your clients are your boss. The goal here is for you to have more and more clients. So from here does it follow that the more the clients, the more the bosses, the more the headaches?

5. MYTH: I Own My Time!

Yes, you do own your time. Unfortunately you will find yourself using more and more of this time to tend to your business. So ultimately, no, you won’t gain much in the time department.

6. MYTH: I can’t work any harder. I can’t do all this.

Do you know that they most managers give more jobs to busy employees because they seem to know how to balance and allocate their time? The key to working more is to work smarter, not harder.

This will take a lot of organization, but being able to accomplish much in less time will prove to be its own reward.

7. MYTH: Freedom at Last!

Free from what? And free to do what? Yes, you will have more leeway to do things when you want to. But this does not mean that you will be free to do nothing. Or be free to do something else than tend to your business when you have to.

8. MYTH: I’m in Charge. There will be No Mismanagement from Me.

You may think that your boss was foolish not to listen to your suggestions regarding work. But unless you are on the hot seat, you will not appreciate how hard management really is.

9. MYTH: If I’m good, I’ll be a success immediately.

The unfortunate reality of life is that sometimes, talent and hard work are not rewarded. However, if one is patient with his or her small business, the chance that that business will turn out to be a success increases. So always be practical in your expectations of success. Don’t count your chicks when the eggs haven’t hatched yet.

10. MYTH: I Can Motivate Myself

No man is an island, remember? In any business, your first line of security is your friends and family members. They will help you assess yourself and should be ready with a kind word or two to motivate you to start your own business. But aside from them you should be driven yourself. Without this drive you might not find the fortitude needed to weather the trials that beset starting businesses.

Entrepreneurial Skill #1: Expertise and a Passionate Belief in Something

Most entrepreneurs begin business based on this trait alone. At least five to ten years of professional experience or more than 1,000 personal contacts are recommended. Your personal network will be a critical component to your earliest marketing efforts.

Running a full-time entrepreneurial business means accepting change and making sacrifices in pursuit of something you wholeheartedly believe in. Know what impact you want to make, what legacy you want your company to leave, and let that guide you in establishing your marketing message and building your business.

Entrepreneurial Skill #2: Expertise in Business

Regardless of the type of business you are starting, it is critical to understand the basics of business thinking. You may need help getting your records organized, learning elements of small business taxation, creating and interpreting your financial statements, or developing a strategic business plan, marketing plan, and financial plan. Take some small business courses, consult with an accountant and attorney who specialize in your field, or call the Small Business Administration for assistance.

Entrepreneurial Skill #3: A Customer Orientation

The most successful businesses in the world listen to their customers and make adjustments to meet their needs. Many companies uncover deep emotional needs and create new products and services to address them. Be sure to talk with your customers, as often as possible, and build long-term relationships with them over time.

Entrepreneurial Skill #4: Openness to Lifelong Learning

The business environment is constantly evolving, and to stay on top of your game, it is important to remain open to learning about new ideas and new technologies that can enhance your professional development and business growth. This may require you to participate in professional organizations, attend classes, read, or do research on the Internet or at your local library. Make sure you have the skills to learn and grow.

Entrepreneurial Skill #5: Be Willing to Sell Yourself

Every small business is intimately linked with its founder and top leadership. As you seek out ways to market your products and services, do not forget that you are also selling yourself: your expertise, your passion, your talents.

Entrepreneurial Skill #6: Positive Orientation toward Risk

Many large corporations watch the ranks of entrepreneurs to help them enter a new market. By buying up smaller companies that have already proven themselves, larger companies reduce their risk. Having a positive attitude about risk-taking is crucial to small business development. Remaining independent means you have given up the relative stability of corporate benefits programs and accepted a new lifestyle. Investing in your business wisely requires an understanding of market risk.

Entrepreneurial Skill #7: Perseverance

Starting a business can be overwhelming. Getting the appropriate paperwork filed, developing your logo and other elements of your company identity, establishing a customer base, reinvesting in your business, and managing the demands of life outside of the business all take time and compete for your attention. It is important to determine the work-life balance you are seeking, flex as needed, and persevere despite challenges.

Four Routes to Entrepreneurial Success

In his book, 4 Routes to Entrepreneurial Success, John B. Miner identifies four paths to entrepreneurial success based on what drives the company’s founder: the personal achiever entrepreneur, the supersalesperson entrepreneur, the real manager entrepreneur, and the expert idea generator entrepreneur.

The personal achiever is devoted to building the business, working long hours, seeking out feedback, planning for the future, and working toward goals while also managing crises. The achiever tends to have a broad base of skills and be good at everything.

Supersalespeople are particularly adept at the soft-sell, tapping into the emotional element of a product or service. If this is you, seeking out management assistance and focusing on customer relationship development may be your best bet.

The real manager feels at home in a hierarchical, competitive business where logic and decisiveness are valued and has a knack for managing ventures to achieve major growth.

Supersalespeople and real managers may do well as business partners, particularly for service-oriented businesses.

Idea generators are the kings and queens of innovation. They make new connections and invent new solutions, develop new processes, find new market niches, and otherwise out-think the competition. Idea generators are visionaries; they need to exercise caution in the pursuit of new inventions, planning a little before proceeding.

Whether you see yourself in these four profiles or consider yourself a different type of entrepreneur, it is crucial to maintain awareness of your strengths and weaknesses throughout the development of your enterprise. The seven entrepreneurial traits identified above are a good starting point in knowing yourself.

RESOURCES:

Miner, John B., 4 Routes to Entrepreneurial Success, Berrett-Kohler Publishers, Inc., 1996.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Melanie R. Negrin is Managing Director and Lead Copywriter for Merocun? Marketing & Public Relations, a marketing communications firm specializing in building awareness and support for entrepreneurial businesses and non profit organizations. For more information, call 973.252.2409.

Have you ever thought that we were not meant to live at the mercy of a few who impose their idea of what we are entitled to upon the majority of the citizens?
Have you ever longed to truly find your purpose in life and be free of the chains of the meager paycheck that barely stretches to cover expenses?
Are you tired and unfulfilled because you struggle just to make ends meet?
Do you long for the luxury of time to pursue the discovery of your purpose in life?
This is the challenge to become an entrepreneur.

Through entrepreneurship, you learn to control your own destiny. You give yourself the freedom to explore your purpose in life and to survive and thrive through the fruits of your efforts, not just from the time you give to line someone else’s pockets. Your successes and/or failures are something you control. You are not giving all your effort at the expense of loss of control over your destiny. You alone decide when and where you will work and what kind of legacy you choose to leave.

Will you accept the challenge?

Are you ready to accept the challenge, or are you content to remain a follower, lost in the anonymity of the corporate world? What are your excuses? Do you think you are too young, too old, not smart enough, not educated enough, not cut out to go it alone? Whatever your reasons not to try, are they worth living your life without realizing your purpose?

I can guarantee you that all of these obstacles can be overcome. You must believe in yourself and know you can do it.

Did I mention that you can start building your business while still lurking in the ‘security’ of your familiar job? You can take baby steps toward your goal of becoming independent, thereby greatly reducing the risks. When you see that you are ready to fly, you can jump off knowing that you will soar with the eagles!

You must make up your mind that you can and will become a successful entrepreneur. Mindset is the most important and most powerful factor in finding your unique purpose in life. You must take consistent and persistent action. You must be grateful for everything you have as you march toward your goals. You must be willing to help others achieve their goals.

Whether you choose the opportunity I did or whether you find another, I encourage you to do your research and discover the freedom that can be yours when you become an entrepreneur. I wish you the very best as you pursue your dreams and discover your unique purpose! In finding your purpose, you will indeed achieve self actualization and be able to give back more than you take from this earth. You will leave your own unique legacy to benefit many future generations!

Mimi Ward is a business coach and mentor who specializes in providing serious entrepreneurs the skills in internet marketing to build a profitable online business with multiple income streams.

To meet me and sign up for a free newsletter packed with tips and suggestions on internet marketing through ebooks and articles, please click here.

You can view a top tier partnership by clicking here.

What was the outcome? As much as 90% businesses started by entrepreneurs and small business went busted or failed within a year. I experienced one of the many busts few years ago (with my cafe business) because i don’t really have a proper and “the few solid sheets” called a marketing plan.

Coming back to my questions to entrepreneurs and small business owners, many of their answers sounded like this, “I don’t really have one”, “It’s in my head coz I know the business so well” and worse, “I don’t know what is marketing plan”! If you happen to be in one of these categories, rest assured you are not the only one. And to perfectly honest, that’s the ultimate reason why I turned back to my writing board where I was actually in the middle of writing (rather perfecting!) a personal development programs. I dropped that program and quickly drafted and started Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC because many of you need it, seriously.

But, I don’t specifically mean my own Marketing Plan S6PEC Framework because there are so many versions and gurus out there that can give you the benefit of marketing plan. Of course I am going to say mine is a lot better because it’s a practical and practitioner’s guide. Other than being a consultant, I also have performed marketing manager role, entrepreneur role, business manager role, investor and student of entrepreneurship (during my MBA!). But that’s not my main point. My main point is for you to have a marketing plan to guide your business. Which one? Well it is up to you!

So, to put things in perspective; why do you really need a marketing plan?

Guide
- in a marketing you will think, record and document all your ideas, products and services offering, price, distribution channel, programs, sales direction, customer segment and so on. I have experienced whereby I suddenly realized that my business is not going on the right direction because I didn’t follow my marketing plan. Have you experienced that? Or perhaps you suddenly realized that the thing you do know supposed to be done many months ago because you forgot about it? And you forgot because you don’t jot it down and plan for it? This is what I mean that marketing plan as a guide. I cover this in my Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC.

Ideas
- people said the more you talk about your ideas the more refine it becomes. I think this is true. Did you ever experience when you talk to more people you generated a lot more ideas? When people give you feedback it triggers another dimension of your ideas? If you are, so where do you keep all these ideas? It should be in a marketing plan.

Resource Plan
- in marketing, there is only one thing that’s scarce: RESOURCES. Some people have a lot of money but lacked ideas and another group is the other extreme; more ideas and less money. Many of us probably the later than the former! In the marketing plan we will tackle things like people to hire, pricing, distribution plan, sales programs budget and so on.

Strategy
- similar to business strategy, marketing plan will capture strategies required to support your business strategy. For example if your business goal is to achieve 20% increase in sales, your marketing strategy would be to 1) introduce new product, 2) increase price for premium offerings, 3) recruit more distributors and offer commission scheme and so on. Strategy is king. When you can see your business in totality, I can assure you that you will find it easier to manoeuvre. Marketing plan is the place to address all these issues.

Risk
- in our marketing plan we shouldn’t only concern about making money or positive points, we also should address the risk we are taking. for example it is common for a marketing plan to capture things like, “require additional staff to handle sales call”, “additional investment from the management budget will increase chances of increasing 10% sales target” and many more. Imagine if you can factor your risk earlier and think through it, wouldn’t it be better for you?

Pricing
- I once said in my Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC that, “Price is the key determinants of your profits”. I stand firm to keep it that way. In your marketing plan, you will address pricing plan for your distributors, customers, multiple segments (some business charge differently – price discrimination) and cost price i.e. your raw materials and things like that. Not many address price correctly and bear in my mind that we need to standby few pricing plan to respond to the market. Take for example during festive season, if everyone is lowering price and slashed their price or even ignited a price war, what do you do about that? Follow suit or wait? If you want to follow, how far? If you want to wait, how long? You capture all this in pricing plan.

Customer Segment
- this is talked about most of the time, but let’s accept the fact that today’s customers are fragmented to smaller niches. Your product and service will not be consumed by only one segment and at critical mass. it is likely to be consumed by smaller segment and multi. No more critical mass, but rather a solid spread of niches. For example, who buys iPod’s today? If Apple only think about yuppies they are making a big mistake because apparently iPod is also used by women and people with active lifestyle. Another example, who buys from hypermarket? If hypermarket only focuses on households they may not survive or be successful like today. Hypermarket main segment is actually small business restaurant operators that buy in larger quantity compare to households and on daily basis. I’ve been there, I know! LOL

Corrective Plan
- a marketing plan is a living document. Trust me, the moment you have it and experience planning your marketing, you will realize this. Therefore it is a plan that allows you to assess past strategies and results and at the same time allow you to make necessary corrective measures to fit your business growth. for example, who expected the 2008 financial crisis to hit us so badly? No one other than the few so called “economists” but how did responded to it? Severely. Many businesses closed including many giants. But the good thing is, many have a solid marketing and business plans, therefore they make quick corrective actions and moved forward.

Innovation
- I once sat in a meeting of project and business updates and suddenly one of the directors said, actually with all that we have now we can be in the medical device market. Violaaa!!! This medical device company used to service government hospitals and they have all the equipments. It’s just that they never thought of going direct to the hospitals and take the lion share of the business. In that meeting, after going through the company yearly updates, this “innovation” came instantaneously and the next year they are pitching about it to the government hospitals directly.

Imagine if you can do all these and manage all these in a marketing plan? Systematic, organized, well thought, innovative and captured all your pertinent business information, don’t you find having a marketing plan is useful for your business?

One thing about my business, I don’t sell templates. I only sell REAL content. I believe that template is only to give you the general overview of direction but not how-to do it. That’s why I highly not recommended you choose to download or purchase marketing templates because I have seen them i personally think it won’t help you much. Let me share you a recent story about template.

I have childhood friend who wanted to open a small business. I offered him my service at $$$ which is so much below market rate because we have been friends for 20 years. He said no, because he thinks there is another cheaper way to do it or in other words “resourceful is my middle name” kinda thing. So I let him do that. I offered him five days later that, if he needs me to view the marketing plan I will do it for free over tea. He showed me a marketing template he bought for USD 25 and all he got was a template!!! I scolded him and cursed the site that provided such thing. It was just boxes everywhere and not even a paragraph on how to fill those boxes. Well, this is what I mean and I defy being in that business because that’s cheating. By the way i got to do my friend’s job after that.:)

What I offered is much simpler, richer and with all the things you need. Firstly, my blog is to help you enhance and as a source to guide you on the marketing plan you purchase. Well, let’s don’t talk about purchase yet.

Would you want to view the actual content or maybe download the Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC Introduction first? Please send your inquiry to entreprenovators@gmail.com Information is FREE. Otherwise please go to http://www.marketingplanbook.com

Mike Anwar
http://www.marketingplanbook.com

These are:

• Identifying opportunities
• Minimizing the risks inherent to these opportunities

Both these factors are greatly influenced by effective strategy. Hence, effective strategy plays a very vital role in entrepreneurial ventures.

Business Entrepreneurship: Creating a Powerful Strategy

A structured approach to business entrepreneurship should involve these steps:

Devising a business plan: A business plan represents the concretized version of an entrepreneur’s business idea. The plan formally sets out business goals and how to attain them. The plan covers products/services offered, client base, target audience, business processes and procedures in detail. It also describes the availability of finance and future engagements. A business plan that focuses on promotion and branding is called a marketing plan.

Business structure: It is essential to define the business structure during the initial stages. A business can be a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or limited liability company.

Pitching: Venture capitalist and financing companies endorse business ideas that have substantial profit generation capacity. Paul Graham said, “Distraction is fatal to start-ups” to highlight the difficulties an entrepreneur faces while arranging finances.

Spotting market opportunities: To identify an opportunity and exploit it to the maximum is fundamental to business development. Often this opportunity presents itself as an inherent inefficiency in the market. Devising possible solutions for this inefficiency leads to profit potential.

Internal operations: Decisions need to be made on internal management, like hiring people, establishing processes, managing revenues and communication with clients.

Marketing product/services: This involves the understanding of consumer behavior and determining the USP (unique selling proposal). An efficient advertising and marketing plan works as the backbone of sales and subsequent revenue generation.

Business Entrepreneurship: Hiring Consultants for Strategy Development

The expertise of professional consultants can prove to be critical in the success formulation of effective strategy. Consulting agencies offer help in identifying market inefficiencies and means to exploit them to one’s benefit. They specialize in developing business strategy, marketing and managing finances. Consulting agencies seek to strengthen both internal and external processes which are fundamental to the long term success of business entrepreneurship.

Level Six Partners offers substantive support in terms of business strategy development to entrepreneurs. They bring professionalism and industry experience to their client’s business. The firm has experienced business professionals with sound educational backgrounds with enterprise experience, delivery experience and a track record of success.

Business Entrepreneurship – Level Six Partners provides workforce management software/tools & recruiting tracking services that are needed for the contingent workforce sector and which are deployable in global organizations.

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a business that consistently grows and another that struggles just to make ends meet? Or why a business that was started in a basement of a home can outperform some of the best-run “big” companies in sales and profits?

Two businesses, operating in the same marketing arena and selling the same products or services, can have extraordinarily different results. How can one business continually grow and prosper, while the other struggles? How can one business owner run a highly successful business while still spending a good portion of his or her time away from the business on trips and vacations with the family, and another owner work day and night only to see his business fail?

Such questions have always intrigued me. In my quest to answer them, I sought input from successful business owners. I became a student of business. I read every business book I could get my hands on. I enrolled in seminars and courses across the country. I listened to audio and videotapes of some of the greatest minds in business.

What I learned has been truly transformational. In this article, I will impart to you some of what I have learned. For the most part, there is no such thing as a successful or unsuccessful business; there are successful or unsuccessful people, entrepreneurs who run businesses. Becoming a successful entrepreneur requires a certain self-image, a certain mindset. I like to refer to this mindset as the

“5 Habits of Highly Successful Small Business Owners.”

Here they are:

Habit #1: Have a clear vision of their business, and commit their vision to paper

“A man to carry on a successful business must have imagination. He must see things as in a vision, a dream of the whole thing.” – Charles M Schwab, American stockbroker

The chances of your small business’ success improve substantially if you have a clear vision of what you want your business to look like, and what you want it to accomplish for you in the future. Your vision is your dream for the future of your business and it should delineate the path you will take to turn that dream into reality. You need a crystal-clear vision, one that you can communicate clearly, with vitality and a strong sense of commitment. Everyone involved in your business must comprehend your vision and, even more important, must believe in its success as much as you do.

Setting direction and guiding the business toward reaching your vision will make it successful. Vision is the owner’s business philosophy. It’s his “double vision” – his ability to keep the business’ long-term dream in mind while micro-managing the business on a day-to-day, hour-by-hour basis.

Successful entrepreneurs commit their vision to paper. In all my years in business, I have found that not doing so is the single most fatal error a business owner can make. There’s a direct correlation between having a well-thought-out, written vision statement and the success of your business.

Your vision should be a written statement of what your business will be when it is complete. It is a detailed picture of the future – what your business will look like, act like, smell like, feel like, and how it will perform when it is fully developed. Some of the things your written vision statement should include are: (1) the line of business you are in, (2) your company size, (3) the markets it will serve – demographics and psychographics, (4) the number of employees you will have, (5) the number of locations that you will operate from, and (6) what competitive advantages will differentiate your business from your competitors’.

Habit #2: Put the proper systems in place

You need systems to be able to deliver a product or service in a predicable and consistent way. All successful businesses have a “how we do it here” manual, also referred to as a “policy and procedures” manual. Standardize your procedures so that everyone knows what they are and how to do them. These procedures involve production systems for your products or services, systems to deliver those products or services, systems to track new customers or clients, systems to help you keep up with your finances, systems to hire and train new employees, and the list goes on.

Look at the systems that operate within the McDonald’s chain. A McDonald’s in the Bronx operates exactly the same way as a McDonald’s in Palm Beach. It runs just as predictably and profitably in either place. Why? Because there is absolutely no area in which procedures are not specifically spelled out through documented systems. Every procedure is outlined so clearly that anyone can be put into the system and taught to function at an extremely efficient level in a very short time.

Documented systems can make a difference to your own time, as a business owner. Without such systems in place, everything depends on you. If something happened to you, even for a short period, the entire business would be thrown into chaos. With properly documented systems of management and organization, a key employee (even you!) could leave suddenly, and the business would not suffer. You could replace the employee with minimal disruption. As new problems come up, you can adjust the systems you have in place to accommodate the needed changes.

If you set up the right systems from the start, they help run the business. You can be free to spend your time however you wish: more personal time for yourself, more time for your family, your community, and more time to enjoy a richer, more balanced life.

Habit #3: Know what they don’t know and then quickly get the help to fill the void

Most small business owners don’t realize that having an occupation or skill does not necessarily equate to building a successful business around it. It takes different skills to build a business. Let me give you an example. A personal friend of mine, John Chang worked as an engineer for 12 years before he started his own engineering firm. He was considered to be one of the best engineers in his firm before he went on to start his own engineering company. But John had never run a business before, and he did not have the knowledge and skill to operate his new company successfully, despite his engineering expertise. There is a lesson to be learned. The sooner you, the business owner, develop entrepreneurial skills, the sooner you will turn your expertise into business success!

You will need a number of different skills; financial, marketing, management, and customer fulfillment skills are among those required if you want your business to run like a finely tuned machine.

Can you imagine an athlete training for the Olympic competition without a coach? Of course not! Nor can you develop these skills without qualified help. A business coach will help you think in a new way, show you how to stay on track with your plans, and ultimately achieve your vision.

Habit #4: Have a mindset of preeminence

Preeminent (adj.): excelling others, outstanding.

The business owner has to have the mindset to view his business as a product – not the product or service he is producing, but his whole business as the product. It’s an entirely new way of thinking, and as soon as such thinking is adopted in any business, the business begins to make massive leaps forward.

As the business owner, you have to learn how you can give your customers or clients the best possible experience; to enable others to see your business as a trusted, valued, respected, and expert advisor. This mindset can be applied to any type of business. You have the responsibility and the obligation to provide guidance and direction to your customers, and to give them the best short-term and long-term outcome.

Many times, I have seen business owners make one simple, but momentous, mistake. Instead of “falling in love” with their customers, they fall in love with the size of the company, growth of the company, number of employees, or the market share. The way to greatness today is to transfer your ultimate passion away from products and services, and toward people! By doing so you will begin to look at your business as a whole, and any interaction that the customers have with any parts of your business, as part of an overall experience. If you as the business owner are focused on making it the best, most rewarding, most fulfilling, most enjoyable experience for the customer or client, you will dominate everyone else in your business sector.

A strategy of preeminence – of excelling – along with the approach of looking at your business as a whole, is truly transforming. If this is the only idea from these 5 habits that you take to heart and adapt and implement, you will see a significant improvement in your business.

Habit #5: Work on their business, not just in it

The successful small business owner understands the real value and reward that is derived from working on the business rather then just working in the business. She understands that working on the business means viewing her business as a whole. She sees her business made up of various parts that integrate seamlessly to function as a whole.

Working on, instead of “in” the business is strategic work. It is the way businesses transform themselves from vision into reality. It requires asking strategic questions and then doing everything to find answers to those questions.

Smart entrepreneurs do the necessary strategic work, and regularly ask the following questions:

• What is my market share?
• Who is my ideal customer?
• Where is my industry headed?
• Who are my competitors?
• What are my competitive advantages?
• What are other successful businesses in my industry doing?
• How do they market their product or service?
• What are other successful businesses outside my industry doing?
• What is the “experience” my customers are having with my business?
• What is the “experience” customers are having at my competitor’s place of business?

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein

Salim Omar, CPA is the author of the newly published book, Straight Talk About Small Business Success In New Jersey.

More free information can be accessed on his website http://www.OmarGroupCPA.com

The concept of entrepreneurship takes a wide range of definition and its meaning has progressed over the century. To many, it is linked to starting one’s personal business. However, nearly all economists believe that it is more than starting a business.

The word entrepreneur comes from the French word entreprendre, meaning ‘to embark on.’ In a business perspective, it means to start a business. Entrepreneur can also refer to a person who systematizes and administers a business and usually takes the risk for the sake of profit or turnover. He can also be defined as a person with high propensity who pioneers change or anyone who wants to work for himself.

Entrepreneurship vs. Small Business

The terms ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘small business’ are quite alike and can often be used interchangeably. With much commonality, however, there are significant differences between the entrepreneurial venture and the small business.

Entrepreneurial venture is quite different from small business in the following ways:

• Innovation – This is the very instrument of entrepreneurship. It provides resources with a new power to create wealth. Entrepreneurship frequently engages extensive innovation further than what a small business might exhibit.
• Risk – Risk must be usually high in an entrepreneurial venture. If not, with the enticement of sure profits, many entrepreneurs would be trailing the idea and the opportunity would no longer exist.
• Amount of wealth creation – A booming entrepreneurial venture generates substantial wealth, normally in excess of several million dollars of profit rather than simply generating an income stream that replaces fixed employment.
• Speed of wealth creation – A successful small business can make quite a lot of profit over a lifetime. But for an entrepreneur, wealth creation often is fast and speedy, for example, within 5 years. Also, the types of business they are engaged in is what basically differentiates entrepreneur activities. Innovation is the key. Every entrepreneur should rely greatly on this. Innovation can be emphasized on the following:
  - new organization
  - new products
  - new markets
  - new production methods

When such innovation produces new demand, wealth is created. From this standpoint, one can simply describe the function of the entrepreneur as one of merging a variety of factors in an inventive manner to generate value to the customer. It hopes that this value will surpass the cost of the input factors, therefore spawning greater returns on investment.

So the main differences between entrepreneurship and small business is that the entrepreneur takes a risk and hits the ground running with the intent of immediate, and hopefully massive payoffs, whereas the small business generally starts smaller, with less risk and the income and success builds over time under very controlled planning.

The Millionaire-Minded Single Entrepreneur, How to Start, Market and Grow your business on a single income. http://www.entrepreneurmillionairesecret.com download your free copy of How To Resolve Conflict Without Ruining Your Reputation

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One of the most frequent questions I get asked by potential clients and acquaintances alike is how to become an entrepreneur when all they’ve ever done was work as an employee. In answering the question I usually ask them why they think they might want to become an entrepreneur, and what exactly they think an entrepreneur is. A surprisingly large percentage of aspiring entrepreneurs simply fail to think things through at even the most basic level.

A common misconception of aspiring entrepreneurs is that all entrepreneurs get rich! While many entrepreneurs do in fact get rich, and many others make very comfortable livings for themselves and their families, the majority of entrepreneurs fail at one or more ventures before ever making a success of it. In fact, when it comes to making it as an entrepreneur I am of the opinion that the difference between those who do and those who don’t has more to with their ability to persevere through failures than it has to do with being able to avoid failures in the first place.

Of the hundreds of entrepreneurs I know and have worked with, most all have suffered numerous failures. The difference between them and those who never make it is that they have the ability to pick themselves up and try it again where most others quit and go back to their “day jobs”. If you think about it, this makes sense. Nobody is born an entrepreneur and the only way to really learn is to get out and do something. The business world is a tough place and the bumps along the road are many. Those entrepreneurs who go on to success tend to be the ones who have enough staying power to get past the learning curve to begin to profit from their past mistakes.

Because real world experience tells us that there is a rather tough learning curve along the road to entrepreneurial success, the home business option makes a lot of sense for those just starting out. Rather than earning your entrepreneurial “battle scars” on a $200,000 franchise operation and potentially risking everything, better to start small at something you can learn at without risking breaking the bank. My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to start small and concentrate on a niche for which they have a passion.

Rather than starting out importing refrigerator motors from Malaysia (or whatever) start with a hobby or other area of interest that will keep you motivated and engaged. Whatever you do, don’t go jumping into a business on a whim. Do your research. Scour the Internet for information on the field you are interested in. Talk to other entrepreneurs in the same industry (you’ll find many entrepreneurs quite eager to talk with you) and get their opinion on potential pitfalls to look out for. Once you’ve done your homework, start small and get your feet wet before jumping into a business in a big way.

The road to entrepreneurship is filled with opportunity and profit potential and starting out with a small home based business is an excellent way to begin. If you go into your new business with the mindset of a student learning a new craft for the first time, and if you are determined to learn from your mistakes and not get beaten up by them, you have a very good chance of someday making it as a successful entrepreneur.

John A. Michailidis, Esq. is an attorney, broker, investor, small business consultant, and author of the WealthLoop Series book, Beginner’s Guide to Building Wealth Buying Houses. Get inspiration and learn more about entrepreneurship at [http://www.WealthLoop.com]

This is your chance to list what, in your opinion, are the most important attributes required by an internet entrepreneur…

Please share with the community your thoughts and your top 7 by commenting below and starting the discussion.

These are the words of my original post on this subject, but unfortunately after 100 viewings, nobody has suggested their own 7 best attributes of an entrepreneur. This leads me to believe that the subject is popular, but that people are looking for the definition of the attributes.

It therefore falls to me to help the discussion along the way, by sharing with you my own thoughts regarding the 7 best attributes. So here we go…

1. Imagination
This is the first requirement for any entrepreneur. Without this faculty it’s not possible to concieve of, and then formulate, a plan with which to accomplish the desired outcome.

2. Desire
The entrepreneur must have a burning desire, a passion, that will drive them forward, enabling the execution of the plan. Sometimes this may only be by small steps, at others, giant leaps forward. Definiteness of purpose mixed with a burning desire does not recognise failure.

3. Faith And Conviction
You must know that without faith in the plan, or in your own abilities, that the entrepreneur may fail at the first difficult hurdle. Remember. that the loss of one small skirmish does not mean the loss of the battle. Remain focused and convinced that success is ultimately yours.

4. Persistence
Take persistent action to complete each small step of the plan. Form habits that are consistent with achieving your goals. Form a daily routine consistent with promoting the plan.

5. Knowledge And Adaptation
Continually garner knowledge on your chosen niche, then implement any new knowledge, through imagination, by incorperation into the plan. To stay ahead of the game, it is necessary to adapt and to lead.

6. Courage
You must be able to control your mind to such an extent, as to banish indecision, doubt and fear. The first leads to the second thence to the third – Fear. While in this state of mind there is no doubt that your goals will never be achieved. Whether you aspire for financial, material, spiritual, or mental goals, you will need courage, determination and will-power. With these in control, fear cannot get a foot hold in your mind.

7. Generosity Of Heart
Give Before Receiving. This is a basic tenet of living a decent life. Giving makes two people happy

With these attributes there is no doubt the entrepreneur will succeed, but what is success. How do we measure success. Is it by the bank balance, good standing in society, admiration from your peers?

I think this quotation by Raplh Waldo Emerson sums up success nicely…

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

So now you have my 7 best characteristics of an entrepreneur dear readers, I would like to know yours, so please leave a comment. We all would benefit from the huge knowledge pool that is YOU!

Access helpful points of view in the topic of forex investment – this is your personal guide.

See, for years I’ve been developing sites and jumping from one strategy to the next looking for the magic bullet that sends thousands of fresh connections my way. I’ve tried everything.

None of it works.

But this isn’t neccessarily about getting traffic or SEO or even websites at all. This is deeper than that… this is about the spirit of entrepreneurship. This is about real-world ambition and doing what it takes to succeed in the long run.

“Forget the word ‘fast’.

Really – forget it.

You can probably use some techniques to get fast traffic but a more profitable strategy over the long haul is to build a blog that people become loyal to and proud to belong to over the long haul. Do this and they’ll pass on word of your blog to others for you and in the long haul you’ll see bigger growth.” – Darren Rowse

Makes sense, right? Of course it does. This principle should be the foundation of any business model – online or offline. I need everyone to forget the word fast in terms of building anything of true value. Make it a habit of taking in the Big Picture. Look at your long-term goals and create realistic milestones for yourself.

There is no fast way. Behind every overnight success there is years of aspiration and building going on. For the entrepreneur you must be willing to work… work hard and give it everything it takes to reach wealth; not riches.