What Is Entrepreneurship In Todays Modern Business World?

Everywhere you turn these days you hear about entrepreneurship be it magazine covers, business confrences, hotel lobbies, all over the internet and even the White House is constantly talking about entrepreneurs, even though the current President sitting in the White House isn't too friendly to them...remember the whole "you didn't build that" fiasco.

The French word entrepreneur first appeared in a French dictionary in 1723 and it described a person who organizes or operates a business and takes a financial risk. Though that was a long time ago the same idea still holds true today. Today however the entrepreneur is celebrated like never before, although today entrepreneurs are defined in much different ways than the past.

I have been practicing entrepreneurship since I was a child. I remember walking around my neighborhood selling salt crystals meant for use with hard water but if I remember correctly I was calling them diamonds of some type of gems. All of us at some point in our lives have probably practiced entrepreneurship.

Some in the past have compared entrepreneurship to a warriors mentality.

So You Wanna Be An Entrepreneur...

Most entrepreneurial ventures fail. Most entrepreneurs make alot less money than if they were working for someone else. The life of an entrepreneur and the road to a successful business is often long and lonely. Long hours, lots and lots of stress, and a huge amount of personal sacrafice. Keep in mind at your current job when there's a problem with a computer you call the IT Dept, when there's something you don't understand you ask your supervisor. When your an entrepreneur you are the IT dept, you are your supervisor, you are the maintenance dept, you are the customer service department. You have nobody to turn to but yourself. So why would anyone want to become an entrepreneur?

To Live: Many people become entrepreneurs simply to survive. If you look at most third world countries there's no social safety nets, you do what you have to do to survive. If you've ever visited even someplace like Mexico or an island in the Caribbean everyone is an entrepreneur.Around the globe people become entrepreneurs in order to survive. They have no job prospects and no social safety nets so they become an entreprenuer to squeek out a living and some wind up becomming very successful while others merely get by. Though I have always had an entrepreurial spirit my first serious business venture was when I was in college and it was because I needed more money than a part time job could pay me and it was tough working work hours around school hours so I decided to strike off on my own and become an entrepreneur.

To Chase A Dream: Many entrepreneurs start a business around something which is a passion of theirs. I have a few friends who had a passion for skydiving. After years of paying hundreds of dollars doing this for fun they got financing, found someone crazy enough to insure them, and started their own business. Now they skydive as much as they want and they get paid for it. Many people have some activity or area of interest they are passionate about and pursue their dream to do it for a living. Many others though maybe not something they are passionate about already have a skill or do something at their current job and realize a demand is not being met and start their own business. Yeah maybe it's not something they are passionate about but at least are knowledgeable about and they can be their own boss. People love to follow their dreams but only a small percentage of people are brave enogh...or maybe crazy enough...to actually follow that dream.

To Make The World A Better Place: Many people become entrepreneurs to make the world a better place. This could be anything from using profits to help the less fortunate or to help their favorite charity. It could they find a way to make a business who's business helps people. And it can even be something as simple as just being an entrepreneur and creating a business because that creates jobs for people which helps people out.

Entrepreneur Like A Warrior?

The United States Armys Ethos Or Slogan Is...

1. I will always place the mission first.
2. I will never accept defeat
3. I will never quit
4. I will never leave a fallen comrade.

This ethos applies to entrepreneurs as well as warriors. It defines an entrepreneurs personal and professional life. An entrepreneur has to make self sacrafice with their time and often has to put their personal lives aside for the sake of their business. This relates to always putting the mission first.

An entrepreneur cannot accept defeat. Being an entrepreneur is about perseverence as much as it is about luck or skill. An entrepreneur has to wear many hats and there's no IT dept to turn to, no manager to ask a quesiton  to. You are every position and you cannot just rollover and accept defeat when faced with challenges. This relates to boht never accepting defeat and never quitting.

So What Makes An Entrepreneur?

When we actually look at what an entrepreneur is we have to look at the warrior ethos. We can also look at things such as their personality, atttitude, skills they possess, as well as what motivates them.

Personality: entrepreneurs must be resilient, tenacious, have the ability to spot opportunities and also be willing to take risks

Attitude: entrepreneurs must have awareness in all areas of their busieness. They must focus on their customers or clients. They must apply creativity to business problems. They must have an imagination and creativity to think outside the box because generally when your an entrepreneur there is no blueprint, you are a pioneer and a trailblazer.

Skills: every entrepreneur brings certain skills to the table. Oftentimes partnerships are nice in that generally one partner has one set of skillls but lacks another where as the second partner may lack a skill the certain partner has but be strong in another area. Some skills all entrepreneurs generally posess are strategic thinking, access to resources, knowledge of business, people skills, and management skills help as well.

Motivation: personal drive and ambition is critical to being an entrepreneur. There's nobody there to give you a peptalk, there's no boss to threaten you, you dictate your succes or failure and with long hours and challenging problems an entrepreneur has to be able to motivate themselves because there's nobody else there to do it. Entrepreneurs have a drive for achievement or self satisfaction, they desire status, they like wealth and social responsibility.

What it really boils down to however is that there is no blueprint for entrepreneurship. Every business is unique and every person running each business is unique and has a unique set of attributes and skills. Entrepreneurship is a jouney, though most of those on this road who are successful share a few common traits. The journey of entrepreneurshi is uniquely yours and yours only.

Good luck...