Success In Your Business: The Basic Guide to Starting Your Business (5)

WHO IS AN ENTREPRENEUR?
There are many differing views on what makes someone an entrepreneur and what an entrepreneurial venture is. The term itself is believed to have originated from French, coined by a French economist, Jean-Baptiste Say, in about 1800, who defined an entrepreneur as “one who undertakes an enterprise , especially a contractor, acting as intermediary between capital and labour”. But it was first defined in English by the Irish economist Richard Cantillon, as” a term applied to the type of personality who is willing to take upon herself or himself a new venture or enterprise and accepts full responsibility for the outcome”.

The definition of entrepreneur is not limited, as various writers and world renowned entrepreneurs have given it various meanings. For instance, one of the great motivational speakers and writers of our time Robert Kiyosaki, in his book “Retire Young, Retire Rich” defined an entrepreneur as “someone that sees an opportunity, puts together a team, and builds a business that profit from the opportunity”. As you can already see, the word entrepreneur is inexhaustible. According to the Merriam-Webster online an entrepreneur is “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise”. A more detailed definition given by Daile Tucker, an entrepreneur herself, who in her own words describes an entrepreneur as “a person who has decided to take control of his future and become self employed whether by creating his own unique business or working as a member of a team”.

Something that keeps coming up about entrepreneurs is their ability to see opportunities and make the most of it, not minding the risks they will undertake. Entrepreneurs are generally in competition with themselves and believe that success or failure lies within their personal control or influence. So it is very important for you, when starting a business, to be sure that you can identify opportunities, make the most of them and have the wherewithal to thrive even in the midst of risks and unforeseen circumstances and that is why carrying out a self analysis cannot be over emphasized.

Entrepreneurs are leaders, prime movers, authors, pacesetters, investors and risk bearers. They are usually pioneers who strategize and formulate the rules for the general interest of the enterprise for others to follow. An entrepreneur conceives an idea and brings it to life through systematic and well-articulated planning, driven by the passion and the need to achieve uncommon things. An entrepreneur not only assumes responsibility and the risk for a business operation with the expectation of making a profit, the entrepreneur also generally decides on the product, acquires the facilities, and brings together the labour force, the capital and production materials. Simply put entrepreneurs are people who choose to see positivity where negativity abounds. Bear it in mind, however, that if a business succeeds, the entrepreneur reaps the reward of profits; on the other hand, if it fails, he or she takes the loss.

Successful entrepreneurs are not perfect people but are brilliant, productive, and articulate; it takes both the heart and the head to successfully run an entrepreneurship. Also note that an entrepreneur is an inspirer, a motivator, a coach, a great listener, attentive, consistent and enthusiastic.

A lot of people go into business for the sole reason of making money; this is not a good idea. It’s not a good idea because the main ingredient for success is missing. The main ingredient for success is passion, and it’s virtually impossible to maintain high-levels of energy when you’re doing something you don’t love. There will always be challenges in owning a business.   Your love and passion is what takes you through those challenges.   Without that passion, you probably won’t make it.

Let me stop and ask; are you ready to start a business now? I can bet your answer is in the affirmative, so be my guest as I take you through the basic steps in starting your business.

START UP OPTIONS
What are your options?
1. Start a new business
2. Buy an existing business
3. Buying a franchise
4. Start an online business
5. Starting a partial business
6. Start a home-based business.