So you fancy yourself as an entrepreneur?  Do you have what it takes?  

So what is an entrepreneur? It is said that an entrepreneur ‘can look at something and see an opportunity where you or I would just see an everyday thing’¹ they gain inspiration everywhere, from their own experience, their own needs, and from others. A ‘successful entrepreneurship is basically a successful commercial application of an innovation’², but what personality traits do they possess? Is there a common theme for such traits and do these differ between ‘cultural’ and other entrepreneurs?           

To look at these clearly and produce a rough guide of helpful points several case studies will be used, including Richard Branson and Sarah Doukas (founder of Storm modelling agency) among others. How did these iconic entrepreneurs start out, what encouraged them to achieve and can anyone really do it?          

Becoming an entrepreneur can sound very glamorous it can make you feel like the ‘dashing hero or plucky heroine in the fairy tail, its all about starting out with nothing but a desire to succeed, then using your wit and skill to overcome hurdles and challenges on the way to eventually triumph over disaster and claim your prize’³ however this unfortunately does not happen to everyone, the reality is that over half of all start up businesses fail within three years of their launch, so how can this be avoided?Entrepreneurial traits range from, persistence, independence, confidence, courage, leadership, risk taking and everything in between, not one point can define what an ‘entrepreneur’ is, it is an individual and personal thing, however through this paper you will see that the case studies encountered all have three common traits; Drive, positivity and Self Belief.           

Culture is very important and is seen to provide social cohesion, it ‘is not just a source of jobs and income but also a sense of confidence and belonging’⁴. Taking this into account cultural entrepreneurs are said to revive and bring life back into cities, working within networks and creative clusters to maximise output. Cultural entrepreneurs ‘have a passion for the culture, traditions, talent and creators…[and think of innovative] out of ordinary ways to achieve solutions’⁵ does this set them apart from all other entrepreneurs, is it the passion they hold for the arts and circuits in which they work? I believe that every entrepreneur holds passion for the product they are producing whether it is management based or an artistic work of art, nonetheless business and creativity are often considered to require different skills and mind sets to succeed however entrepreneurs require an amalgamation of the two, encompassing all aspects of a business.           

There are many theories that surround entrepreneurship and what makes the individuals stand out, however self motivation seems to be a reoccurring element. Self belief that ‘anything is achievable, be positive, be enthusiastic…project confidence [and] make everyday a good day’⁶ this coincides with Daniel Mitchell’s personal philosophy that ‘everything is possible. It is just a question of figuring out how’⁷ .           

Daniel Mitchell began selling office equipment at 19 however his first venture was a failure and went bust after two years, yet his determination led him to try again after a far more thought out project was proposed and further research carried out ‘The Source’ was formed, a business that manages insurance claims for companies and then repairs or supplies the equipment replacements. The persistence and belief that he could make it work led to a profit of around £35 million in 2004.           

 Entrepreneurs don’t accept failure, they see it as a learning curve, a situation that has taught then a lesson and improved their final product, invariably working on their own “cultural entrepreneurs opt for independence because it allows them to work in the way they want, which they would find hard to justify within a larger organisation”⁸ having this strong independence entrepreneurs are “generally highly motivated and have a strong work ethic” ⁹ , but where does this motivation come from? Is it inbuilt in their personalities or are there external issues?            

Richard Branson is a household name and started his enterprise at school, his diversity and skill has resulted in a multi-million pound enterprise, but even he had to start somewhere, the majority of enterprises ‘started small and grew big’ (R,Branson. 2007, pg viii) he believes ‘that it is never a bad thing to have a dream, but always [be] practical about it’¹⁰ and the want to work for no-one but himself was a large source of motivation. Looking at motivations proves that business is a very personal thing and not every entrepreneur has the exact same traits; ‘you’ have to want it.

Sarah Doukas talks about how the determination not to let her parents down after a succession of failed academic exams and prove that she could succeed in the business ‘she’ wanted to be in, drove her to strive for the top. Whereas Tim Roupell (Founder of Daily Bread, a sandwich production company) used the hatred for his inner city job to drive him to create and use his business knowledge to set up on his own he describes two common entrepreneurial drivers as fear and greed however he is ‘totally driven by fear. Nobody likes to fail’¹¹.

As already mentioned over half of start up enterprises fail within their first three years, and ‘Daily Bread’ nearly became part of that statistic. However Roupell risked everything, he changed the way his product was sold, distributed and the clients he held; after receiving one large wholesale order he realised this was where the money was and needed to concentrate on gaining more wholesale orders so he dismissed the private ran shops and individuals, which is where the business began (and produced 50% of the companies income) on the hope that more wholesale orders would arrive. This created a make or break situation, the company was already in a precarious position and loosing money, but the risk worked, wholesale orders flooded in and Daily Bread now sells over 40,000 sandwiches a day and made a profit of £10million in 2004. All the above entrepreneurs have a diverse range of skills that have been briefly touched upon which I hope indicates that as long as you are ready, willing to take risks and believe in yourself, you can do it.           

Looking at the entrepreneurial approach and how they have learnt through mistakes, failures etc, shows that planning is important but you must be persistent, if you are prepared and know that there is a market for your product it is just finding the best way to produce and distribute to the required customers. Personal values are important to many entrepreneurs with a ‘treat as would be treated approach’ they understand the importance of communication and how businesses rely on other individuals to work, this (as previously touched upon) is rife in the cultural sector.

            A question you need to ask yourself is ‘why be ordinary when you can be extraordinary?’ Rory Byrne (founder of Powder Byrne, a skiing holiday company), but do you believe in yourself and what you are trying to sell, if so then do it, ‘Lead, don’t follow’¹². There is no set rules on how to become an entrepreneur, quite the opposite, you need a positive attitude, belief in your idea and not allow hurdles to put you off; strive for perfection.

 Bibliography: 

Alvarez,S. (2005) Theories of Entrepreneurship. Now Publishers inc.Branson, R (2007) Screw it, lets do it. Virgin Books Ltd.Bridge, R (2005) How I Made It: 40 successful entrepreneurs reveal all. Kogan Page Limited.Howkins,J (2001) The creative Economy. Penguin Books.Leadbeater, C and Oakley, K. (1999) The independents: Britains new cultural entrepreneurs. Demos 

Websites:

http://www.culturalentrepreneur.org/ 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

http://www.lifetoolsforwomen.com/ 

http://www.thinkpositive.org/

1. Professor Gray cited in R. Bridge ‘How I Made It’ 2005, pg 5 [↩]
2. Professor Gray cited in R. Bridge ‘How I Made It’ 2005,pg 5 [↩]
3. R, Bridge, 2005, pg1 [↩]
4. C. Leadbeater and K Oakley, 1999, pg16 [↩]
5. www.culturalentrepreneur.org [↩]
6. Sarah Doukas cited in R. Bridge ‘How I Made It’ 2005, pg 105 [↩]
7. cited in R. Bridge ‘How I Made It’ 2005, pg143 [↩]
8. C, Leadbeater and K, Oakley, 1999, pg24 [↩]
9. C, Leadbeater and K, Oakley, 1999, pg24 [↩]
10. R,Branson, 2007, Pg viii [↩]
11. T. Roupell, cited in R. Bridge ‘How I Made It’ 2005, pg110 [↩]
12. Matt Stevenson, founder of Reef One, cited in R. Bridge ‘How I Made It’ 2005, pg 171 [↩]

2 Responses to “so you fancy yourself as an entrepreneur?”

1. Webmaster says:

   Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 9:23am

   Этот блог заслуживает похвалы. Обязательно напишу про него на закрытом форуме вебмастеров. Думаю, вебмастера согласятся со мной. Кстати вы можете присоединиться к сообществу вебмастеров, закрытый форум вебмасетров.
2. backlinks genie discount says:

   Sunday, March 27, 2011 at 1:53pm

   Does it give any better than this!?! As a full-time writer myself is always good to read such a well written and well thought out content.