# Entrepreneurship

## Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

1. What characteristics lead individuals to become entrepreneurs?
Will you join the millions of entrepreneurs operating around the world? Wanting to be an entrepreneur is not enough—an individual must be able to develop and refine a new business opportunity, and it also requires a special personality as well as key skills.

### Entrepreneurial Personality

Studies of the entrepreneurial personality find that entrepreneurs share certain key traits. Most entrepreneurs are:
1. Ambitious—competitive, with a high need for achievement
2. Independent—individualists and self-starters who prefer to lead rather than follow
3. Self-confident—understand the challenges of starting and operating a business and are decisive and confident in their ability to solve problems
4. Risk takers—willing to accept a moderate (and sometimes large) degree of risk relative to potential returns
5. Visionary—spot trends and act on them
6. Creative—offer innovative solutions and approach functions such as creative product designs and bold marketing strategies
7. Energetic—offer high energy levels and perseverance, often working a full-time job while starting a venture
8. Passionate—love their ideas and are delighted to bring them to the market, sometimes turning a hobby into a venture
9. Committed—willing to make personal sacrifices to achieve their goals
Most entrepreneurs combine many of the above characteristics. Sarah Levy, 23, loved her job as a restaurant pastry chef but not the low pay, high stress, and long hours of a commercial kitchen. So, she found a new one—in her parents’ home—and launched Sarah’s Pastries and Candies. Part-time staffers help her fill pastry and candy orders to the soothing sounds of music videos playing in the background. Cornell University graduate Conor McDonough started his own web design firm, OffThePathMedia.com, after becoming disillusioned with the rigid structure of his job. “There wasn’t enough room for my own expression,” he says. “Freelancing keeps me on my toes,” says busy graphic artist Ana Sanchez. “It forces me to do my best work because I know my next job depends on my performance.”

### Managerial Ability and Technical Knowledge

A person with all the characteristics of an entrepreneur might still lack the necessary business skills to run a successful company. Entrepreneurs need the technical knowledge to carry out their ideas and the managerial ability to organize a company, develop operating strategies, obtain financing, and supervise day-to-day activities. Jim Crane, who built Eagle Global Logistics from a start-up into a $250 million company, addressed a group at a meeting, saying, “I have never run a $250 million company before, so you guys are going to have to start running this business.”
Good interpersonal and communication skills are important in dealing with employees, customers, and other business associates such as bankers, accountants, and attorneys. As we will discuss later in the chapter, entrepreneurs believe they can learn these much-needed skills. When Jim Steiner started his toner cartridge remanufacturing business, Quality Imaging Products, his initial investment was $400. He spent $200 on a consultant to teach him the business and $200 on materials to rebuild his first printer cartridges. He made sales calls from 8.00 a.m. to noon and made deliveries to customers from noon until 5:00 p.m. After a quick dinner, he moved to the garage, where he filled copier cartridges until midnight, when he collapsed into bed, sometimes covered with carbon soot. And this was not something he did for a couple of months until he got the business off the ground—this was his life for 18 months. But entrepreneurs usually soon learn that they can’t do it all themselves. Often they choose to focus on what they do best and hire others to do the rest.
1. What characteristics lead individuals to become entrepreneurs?
Most entrepreneurs are ambitious, independent, self-confident, risk-taking, visionary, creative, energetic, passionate, and committed. Entrepreneurial individuals are often competitive, with a need to achieve, and are self-starters who prefer to lead. Compared to the average population, entrepreneurs are more decisive and confident in their abilities, and they choose moderate risk where they can affect outcomes. Entrepreneurs spot and act on trends, often producing innovative product designs, marketing strategies, and managerial solutions. Entrepreneurs are able and willing to work hard, and are attached to the work and the outcomes, so much that they are willing to make personal sacrifices to achieve their goals.