Take this quiz
You may think that you don’t have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, but maybe you do. Whether you intend to strike out on your own or simply want to improve your entrepreneurial skills to advance your corporate career, here’s how to tell if you have what it takes to be a success….
- Does the idea of working outside your current set of skills with your financial future at stake thrill you or scare you? Entrepreneurs must perform tasks and make choices that they have never encountered before, and they must do so with their own money on the line. Most people shrink from these risks, but successful entrepreneurs are likely to consider it invigorating to stretch themselves and take calculated chances.
- Does the rational side of your mind tend to shoot down your dreams, or does it seek ways to make those dreams more compelling and viable? When entrepreneurs have ideas, their minds naturally ask the question, “How can I accomplish this?” They feel driven to push their dreams forward.
- Do you see what’s missing? The best entrepreneurs do not choose to open businesses just because they happen to have talent or interest in the sector and a dream of working for themselves. They open their businesses to provide something that they’ve noticed is missing, such as a service that no one else is providing.
- When you picture yourself as a business owner, do you imagine buying a franchise… opening a business of a conventional type, such as a shop… or creating a new business idea that could change the world? If your answer was either of the first two, you might not be perfectly suited to entrepreneurship. New businesses are too uncertain and require too much work to have much of a chance unless the owner has a deep and unshakable belief that he/she is doing something of magnitude.
- Are you more of a dreamer or a rational thinker? This is a trick question — an entrepreneur must be both. Creative thinking is the most celebrated part of entrepreneurship, but creativity is valueless without the ability to rationally hash out the details of how to put creative notions into effect.
- Can you quickly tell your business’s story in a way that makes others passionate about it? Your new business is not just about you. You will need the trust and support of loyal customers, investors, suppliers, lenders, employees and family members. The fate of your new business will be determined in part by whether these people believe and want to live your business story.
- Do people follow when you lead? Novice entrepreneurs might think that they are striking out on their own, but no one ever really sees a business through to success without help. Even if you start small, eventually you may have to hire employees, and those employees must be committed to your goals.
- Are you in it for the money, the glory or the good of the world? There is nothing wrong with an entrepreneur wanting to become rich or make the world a better place, but for the greatest chance of success, an entrepreneur should also be in it for the glory. Most successful entrepreneurs love applause.
