How Did I Become an Entrepreneur - Essay Example

Title: Reflection on how did I became an entrepreneur Name Institution Date of submission How did I become an entrepreneur? The nature of entrepreneurship and its role in the business Back to me at early teenage, I think there were this feeling, attitude and interest in getting those green dollars. Well, I my thoughts get deeper and rooted to an idea of coming up with something that can bring me the green dollars or pennies at least to my pocket. There came my role models, dad and mum. Perhaps I will talk more about skills, attributes, knowledge and qualities on how to be an entrepreneur as I reflect my experience from my role models as well as learning experience in class. The nature of entrepreneurship I thought of a situation where I come up with an idea and sell it then I asked myself, what role in the business will I play if the idea becomes successful? I may not provide the leading roles in the business but I have identified the opportunity at the market place which is intended to improve the environment. Yes, this was the case with my dad who came up with door to door grocery delivery business. The experience of my dad shaped me in my idea to adapt fast to the environment without being very optimistic about the returns. I cannot underestimate the role of myself being an entrepreneurial mind back in my early teenage because it pushed forwards the desire to become a successful entrepreneur in the market. The management skills I got from this course and my dad as a mentor together with high achievement targets and risk bearing capacity lead me to the notion that adapting my new idea to the market will pose a lot of challenges during initial stages but the results will be more positive if I live with commitment (Baron, 2013). What are the skills, knowledge, qualities and attributes that drive someone to be an entrepreneur? Skills Proper organization, time managing and reducing stress: These skills are a package of three in one. My dad had proper allocation of activities of the business of which it leads to good time management. Very interestingly, he had very few days of stress on the business. I had to develop my idea through these attributes and I believe they are the driving forces of my idea so far. Ability to sell and learn: I was selling my products as well as my ideas within the collage. I remember one time during collage exhibitions when I was there to present my idea to individuals. Learning also has helped me grow my idea. Interesting to know, this is what I am going to do after my collage sine my passion is rooted in this skill. Creative and innovative: Bring in an idea that does not exist and branding it in the market definitely will help you grow in the market (Baron, 2013). Selling hand-drawings was a fresh idea in collage and it has fulfilled my teenage dreams of getting green dollars into my pocket. Attributes Resilience and focus: The two skills go hand in hand since it defines the direction of where you are investing time, energy and money. After having an idea of selling a hand-drawn picture within the collage, I had to be focused and be resilient in order to make my idea successful. Real-time practice of an entrepreneur does not ever go exactly easy the way it is described in the business plan (Baron, 2013). However, the attribute of resilience and focus helped me to keep going even in situations that appeared bleak. Taking appropriate risks: I was not sure if my products could sell. I risked my energy and time developing my idea and over time the returns were felt. I noticed that for a business idea to flourish we should not be focused on the returns, rather our concentration should be placed on the resources invested. Qualities Adaptability: It is important to adapt the idea into the environment in order to be successful. I found out that in building adaptability if the idea, an entrepreneur need to know his/her passion, do a reality check I order to maximize the strengths and potential, have a mentor and be committed and focused in incorporating the idea into the real world. I loved my idea and thus I was committed to ensure that everything attached to the business is adaptable. Persistence: It took my dad ten years of endurance for him to have good returns from the business. Yes, although I need to have more pennies coming in, I leant to be persistence with my idea out of my dad’s experience. Work ethic: ‘Hard work would earn me what I anticipate.’ That was the internal quality that used to drive me along with my idea. Work ethic is all about commitment to you duties as well (Chandra, 2015). I noticed that even the customers can support you in one way or another if they see that you are relly committed to your business. Entrepreneurial behavior After a great deal of experience both in class and home, I noticed that essence of entrepreneurial behavior is to identify an opportunity, build a successful teamwork, take a risk to get results and ensure there is work ethic in the environment. Approaches to teamwork From my mentor’s experience, I realized that effective teamwork cannot naturally happen. As an entrepreneur you need to lead people towards certain collaborative behaviors such as open communication, cooperative spirit and enthusiasm. Open communication I interviewed some of the employees working in my dad’s business about the nature of corporation they are having. Most of them admitted that giving them opportunity to voice their concerns have helped them overcome challenges in the business. Cooperative spirit I believe that working in an environment where there is a reciprocal dependent of the individuals boost the development of Ideas generated and implemented. For instance, I appeared to the workstation at the time the company was producing a brochure. I observed that there was delegation of duties among employees where one was given to produce words and another was requested to handle graphics of the brochure. Identifying and Evaluating components of an entrepreneurial plan Having a business plan is very important particularly with the new business (Diane, 2015). I realized that it is important to outline the business plan carefully by considering all the variables and testing the assumptions. I was very close always to my mentors and colleagues during the initiation stages of establishing hand-drawing business within the college. The reading s from the class about business plan components were important since I had to carefully bring my idea into reality. Elements of a business plan 1. Incubating the idea: Idea incubators can be sponsors, mentors or business partners (Chandra, 2015). I discussed the evolution of my dad’s company and I noticed that having nurturing the business idea before implementation could increase the business life cycle in the market. 2. Business description: I found that it is important to give a clear description of the business such that when incorporating partners, it is easier for them to adapt to the environment. 3. It was very important to write down the business mission statement when we were discussion my new venture with my business partners (Diane, 2015). I leant that having a mission statement, goals and objectives will always keep the business on track thus leading to achievement of overall business objectives. 4. I took two friends with me to the field to analyze the market of the products. One of my partners was the designer of my drawings and the other was a sales person. I understood that understanding the changing needs of the customers ensures effective allocation of resources. 5. I contributed actively in determining the target market in the plan. Since the idea was mine, I needed my fellow partners to refine it and make it real. Well, it was interesting to learn that it is important to differentiate our products such that we have a successful first entry into the market (Diane, 2015). 6. Ways if reaching our customers was also a concern to me. Majority of the customers in the collage have phones which access internet. Since ICT is largely embraced within the collage, using it to reach customers was very important. I found out that majority of the business in the current society are using internet as the fast media to reach customers with the information they have. Internet creates awareness to the customers thus attracting them to your products (Cooper, 2003). I may have initiated the idea of hand-drawing pictures in the collage by myself. This may look more of a small business. I discussed the possible expansion of the business with my mentor and I found out that there is a good potential of transforming my new idea into a big organization not only within the campus but also nationally. I understand that I have to involve various stakeholders in order to successfully grow my business (Pepelasē Minoglou and Cassis, 2005). I was informed that there are many competitors outside there especially in Canberra city where I was planning to establish my business. Therefore, apart from target market analysis, we sat down with my partners and bring in the issue of marketing strategy of our organization. With the help of one of the lecturer, we got a clue on how to enter the industry. One of which was branding our business. I learnt that it is important to create an attractive image of the company in order to easily attract the customers (Gasparski, Ryan and Kwiatkowski, 2010). The evolution of entrepreneurship over the last fifty years and sources of information With my little experience both in class and field on the field of entrepreneurship, I should admit that social group connections and relationship are the most important sources of entrepreneurial information (Cooper, 2003). Entrepreneurship is not only about identifying opportunities and coming up with new ideas, but also making the best out of what has been done before (Cooper, 2003). Social group connection and relationship helps an entrepreneur to realize the kind of a person he/she is in the market. When I interviewed one of my dad’s coworker about his commitment to the business, he just told me that he is committed to the mission of the business. This means that the corporate relationship among workers act as an effective source of information in understanding your goals in the business. Another important source of information is the ICT which is dominated by social media networks. With my observation, I have found that there are various events that have taken place over the last five decades in the ICT sector as far as development of entrepreneurial culture is concerned. These events include: The development of digital citizenship: My dad often tells me that social media and ICT opens up the opportunity of my business to grow fast. With the lessons from class, I practically learnt that digital citizenship on social media with the help of ICT helps in information acquisition and promotes long-life for the new idea. I remember when I visited one of the banks in Canberra where I was given some newsletters about how to move to online banking. I found out that as much as ICT is making life easier in the 21st century, it also brands the business thus raising the reputation of the organization in the market (Wiseman, 2013). Shift in exchange of knowledge: The entrepreneurs of 50 years ago used to create a centralized model of knowledge sharing about their ideas through meetings and seminars. I visited on of the incubation centers in Canberra and found out that entrepreneurs with the support of stakeholders have created local community networks. These centers allow new entrepreneurs to access greater information content and knowledge as well as opportunities for growth in the ICT world (Chandra, 2015). For example, my idea was welcomed in Creeda Business Center in Canberra where I was given a guideline on how to receive mentoring and skill development through online platform. As I am going through this course of entrepreneurship, I believe that the experience as well as the class work has really changed my strategy on how I became an entrepreneur. The remaining part, which is very important to my idea, is bringing in strategies of growth. I believe that the evolution of ICT over the last 50 years will really change me towards the realization of my business objectives and goals. Also, I am certain that ICT will provide more opportunities to socially connect and network with other entrepreneurs in the world which will help be sustain my idea in a competitive world. Reference Ács, Z. and Audretsch, D. (2010). Handbook on entrepreneurship research. New York: Springer. Baron, R. (2013). Enhancing entrepreneurial excellence. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Chandra, A. (2015). Business Incubation in Australia: Creating an Environment for Entrepreneurship.SSRN Journal, 1(1), pp.14-25. Cooper, A. (2003). Entrepreneurship: The Past, the Present, the Future,” in Zoltan J. Acs and David Audretsch. Handbook of Entrepreneurship Research, 2(54), pp.70-75. Diane, P. (2015). ‘6349 Entrepreneurship -Weeks 02-12 All Entrepreneurship Readings. University of Canberra. Gasparski, W., Ryan, L. and Kwiatkowski, S. (2010). Entrepreneurship. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. Pepelasē Minoglou, I. and Cassis, Y. (2005). Entrepreneurship in theory and history. Houndmills, Balsingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave. Wiseman, A. (2013). International educational innovation and public sector entrepreneurship. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald. Read More