Entrepreneurial Mindset And What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur

My old economic text book discribes the entrepreneur as the factor of production that oversees and organizes the other three factors of production, namely; land, labour and capital.

For his function,which involves taking all the risk and occasionally the losses that may arise from the risks taken, he is rewarded with the profit.

Keywords here are: risk, organize, loss, oversee, profit. In this article, you’ll learn entrepreneurial mindset and what it takes to be an entrepreneur

The keywords shows that it still holds true even today that an entrepreneur is, a risk(of either loss or gains) taker who organises, oversees land, labour and capital for the sole aim of making profit.

Entrepreneurship is the venturing into business start up, running and upscaling of same business, while surmounting various obstacles.

Entrepreneurship requires certain skill sets and mindset that enables it function,. While it is argued that entreprenuership is not for every one, entrepreneurial skills and mindsets is something anyone can developed over time, some quicker than others, but definitely anyone can have it.

There are 3 main types of entrepreneurship, namely:

1. The creation
2. Building
3. And organization.

while some people have these three characteristics or entrepreneurial skills of creating, building on and organizing a bussliness, some are better at either one or the other.

The creator is a power house of ideas and innovations who may not necessarily focus on one.

The builder however, is one who takes an idea, or innovation and build a functional business or structure around it. He basically brings an idea to life.

The organizer/operator sees to it that the structure built around a business does not fail, but looks for ways to improve on it for steady growth.

THE MINDSET OF AN ENTREPRENUER

ONE doesn’t just wake up and take the title of an entrepreneur or venture in to starting a business. One requires certain skill sets or mindsets to be able to achieve entrepreneurary goes.

The following are skills that must be possesed or developed on to…:

1. Independence of mind: the mind of an entrepreneur is required to conceive its on thought and not be dictated to on what it should think.

2. Sense of responsibility: an entrepreneur should be aware that he is responsible for directing the dynamics in achieving a business aim.

3. Fearless or ability to take risk: one of the main characteristics of an entrepreneur is the ability and willingness to take calculated risk with the view to taking a short at success.

4. Goal oriented by setting SMART goals.

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SMART is a tool used in setting goals, and it stands for:

S-Specific: that is, you want to set goals that are clearly stated and straight forward. This way, you avoid the distraction that could lead you away from the aims orlf your goals.

M-Measurable: while working towards obtaining a goal, you want to know if you have hinged any closer to attaining this goals or not. If you can not measure it, there is no way of keeping tract of progress.

A- Attainable : within you, you want to achieve this, or that, but first determine, is this attainable taking into consideration what it takes to attain it and of it is within you disposal, if not, you might want to check your goals against.

R-Realistic:  often times, due to our wild imaginations and the excitement we get from it, we may make it our life goals to achieve some things, where as these are not realistic in the given time and space in which we live.

T-Time bound or time sensitive: this has to do with the time frame you envision within which you project that the set goals could achieved. If its not time bound, of course you can’t measure and if you can’t measure, you wouldn’t know if you are a step closer or still where you where when you started.

I.e, goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time specific.

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5. Open minded: Nobody is an island. Anyone seeking an entrepreneur mindset should know this and act accordingly. You may have one or two brilliant idea or solution to certain problems at some points, but there are times when your thought process towards problem solving wouldn’t be enough to get you solutions at all times. Therefore you should seek peoples opinions and take smart advice from more experienced people.

6.decisiveness: there are times you are caught between two or more options or ideas. If you do not expediently  settle for one after much deliberation, you may end up not settling for anything.

7. Innovative:  being an organizer, creator and building, one has to often time device better ways of applying tools, solving problems and creating new opportunities.

8. Visionary:  this requires great imagination which according to fact is what makes up the substance of being a genius, and the thing with geniuses is that they get things done; things that seems undo-able.

9. Prone to learning:  we have hinted at the importance of the imagination in ingenuity. However, imagination is limited by experience. The more experience and view points one is exposed to, the sharper the imaginative ability. Its therefore imperative to keep learning and relearning.

10. Team oriented or collaboratively: a good entrepreneur should be able to set up teams for specific tasks in view to attaining a set goal. He can not do everything on his own, and therefore should be able to work with people as a team player sharing ideas and colaborating towards a common end.

11. Adaptability: change they say is in inevitable and one must be able to adapt adapt quickly to changes and influences of circumstances beyond ones control, the inability to adapt to changing situations means failure.

Simply put ” adapt or go  extinct”.

12. Focused:  This here has to do with goals and achieving it. You have set a goal, and in your journey towards the set goal which is full with occasion downs as there are also ups, the only thing that is more likely to keep you going when those downs comes, is “focus”;  a focus on the set goals, and while you set them in the first place.

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Knowing what it takes to be an entrepreneur is vital to your growth as a business minded person! We recommend you subscribe to our articles on business and entrepreneurship so as to get all the useful tips you need to succeed.

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See also: Top 10 Most Profitable Business Ideas in Africa

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