Entrepreneurs are Born not Made. Discuss this statement with reference to successful entrepreneurs of your choice?
The concept of entrepreneurship has a wide range of meanings. On one extreme it can be said that an entrepreneur is a person of very high aptitude and he or she is a pioneers of change. On the other hand, any person who desires to work for himself, or herself is considered to be an entrepreneur. The word entrepreneur originates the French word “entreprendre” which means “to undertake”. In the context of business it is supposed to mean the starting of a business. It is also defined as “person who organises, managers and assumes the risks of a business or entreprise”. The concept of wealth in entrepreneurship is created when innovation results in new demand. From this particular viewpoint it can be said that the function of the entrepreneur is one of combining various input factors. Thus the generation of superior returns results in the creation of wealth. A person who is able to identify business opportunities and implement actions to maximize the opportunities is an entrepreneur. He or she also initiates enterprise creation undertakes risks and manages resources to establish and operate a business enterprise capable of self sustenance.
Entrepreneurship is not just about being a creative genius or a personality with unshakable will that helps a person dive into several risks. It is much more than just that. According to dependable sources, including scholars, business experts and venture capitalists, entrepreneurs can get recognition at any stage of their lives. These individuals have certain features or characteristics which are specific to them only. It is not always necessary that these individuals have to be overachieving, super-organised, hyper-workaholic with extrovert tendencies to become an entrepreneur. It is not simply about owning a business of their own (Baum et al. 2014).
Entrepreneurs are not born completely made, but they are created through training and experience which they have gained throughout their lives. The character of an entrepreneur has been described in several fields of study.
An entrepreneur is a person who is a free thinker and is usually an individual who dislikes being told what to do. These individuals do not usually take orders. These individuals actually think for themselves. Entrepreneurs do not work like worker bees, they do not work for the sake of collecting their salary at the end of the month but their zeal and their vision for their work determines the success which each of them taste (Sarasvathy, Menon and Kuechle 2013).
Those entrepreneurs who have received huge accolades for their work, namely Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, usually know what their target is and whatever they want to achieve from the beginning and are usually determined so that nothing stops them from achieving their goals. They usually do not believe in anything called fate as they feel that people themselves have the capability of defining their future and a person’s future is the true key to his or her success. Luck is not the only factor which is helpful in making individuals successful as entrepreneurs. Therefore it is not desirable to depend on luck to become successful.
Entrepreneurs are extremely passionate and the key to their success lies in their capability to do what they love. These individuals never do something just for the sake of doing it or just because it is considered to be lucrative enough. Apart from researching a market properly before starting a business it is also necessary for an entrepreneur to have proper level of passion towards their work. In case profitability is not attained at first, proper skills need to be developed so that success can be achieved in that field or a field which is relatively better than the existing one (Zhao 2012).
The study of the life and success of Steve Jobs clearly reveals that a college degree is not needed for an individual to achieve success. Despite dropping out of college, Steve jobs had the necessary skills and the acumen for achieving a proper amount of success in his respective field.
Jobs showed that setbacks can not only help a person learn but also help him or her to re-prioritize and build a much better company. There were several huge setbacks and losses in the Apple Company. Despite that the company rose out of its losses and achieved global domination. Jobs also found and made it clear to all that customers always do not like to be surrounded by a plethora of choices. This is due to the fact that simplicity is often the key in achieving customer satisfaction (Schape et al. 2014).
All these issues make it very clear that characteristics of a successful leader and planner were already existent in Steve Jobs, but the acumen of understanding what decision to take and thereby the skills to become a successful entrepreneur were taught to him by the experiences during his lifetime of leading and making the company (Baptista, Karaöz and Mendonça 2014).
Entrepreneurs are effective planners as well who do not ever say or believe that “the future will take care of itself.” Rather these people believe in making the future. The planning and the capabilities are crucial to make them the entrepreneurs make their dreams into reality. It is not always that the people who aspire to be entrepreneurs get a luxurious and comfortable life. They have to work hard and ensure that they perform successful marketing activities so that the uniqueness of their services are maintained.
One of the most successful entrepreneurs is that of Bill Gates. He embodied the characteristics of proper innovators and career oriented people. The close study of the life of Gates reveals that there was not one factor which contributed to his success. There was an amalgamation of several factors. He always ensured that he was at the top of the career reference. The innovation is crucial for any business. The persons who have been successful entrepreneurs have all taken note of the success story of Bill Gates.
It has been seen that Bill gates gave importance to time more than anything else. He believed that no amount of money could be able to buy more time. He always gave preference to time over anything else and this helped him taste success. It has been found after a close study that Gates was a person who was never afraid to take the un-trodden path. He never had remained in the comfortable state of mind. He never had got the luxury of being in peace always. His strong belief in whatever he implemented led his company Microsoft to immense success (Bridge and O’Neill 2012).
It has also been found that Bill Gates did not believe in giving up at any cost. He never stopped trying. He also faced trouble in the initial years an unlike other entrepreneurs he did not give up at the first, even after several signs of failure. Previously in his life also he had faced many issues which led him to face debt and other issues. Despite all this, he never gave up and attained success with Microsoft which made him a global icon. He also did draw several lessons from dissatisfied clients who according to him were responsible for teaching him a lot (Kirzner 2015).
It can be said after a proper study of the case of Bill Gates that he was more or less self made. He learnt a lot from the experiences of his life in working for and leading the companies he was a part of but the inherent qualities of an entrepreneur were inbuilt in him. His faith in the principles of life which he believed in made him one of the most deserving entrepreneurs of the world (Santos 2012).
Richard Branson believed in tackling problems face to face. He also believed in solving problem pertaining to the workplace at the workplace itself. In addition to this he believed that the things which people believed in at the workplace needed to be brought at home as well. Branson ensured that he did not undermine people and always ensured that the work he did was proper and genuine. He never was judgemental or negative instead was supportive. Every situation was considered as a learning experience which would ultimately help him in achieving success as an entrepreneur (Barringer 2012). He also did all he could to help his workers and employees of his organisation at every step.
Conclusion:
According to research it has been found that several entrepreneurs are self-made and there are a few exclusions who are blessed enough to take charge of entrepreneurial capabilities form their parents. Majority of successful entrepreneurs of the world are first generation entrepreneurs and very few are second generation which actually points to the fact that entrepreneurs are made rather than being born. It establishes the fact that entrepreneurial characteristics are the talents that are increased by several skills which need proper understanding and skills. Based on this idea it can be stated that entrepreneurs are made not born
References:
Baptista, R., Karaöz, M. and Mendonça, J., 2014. The impact of human capital on the early success of necessity versus opportunity-based entrepreneurs. Small Business Economics, 42(4), pp.831-847.
Barringer, B., 2012. Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures, (2012).
Baum, J.R., Frese, M. and Baron, R.A. eds., 2014. The psychology of entrepreneurship. Psychology Press.
Bridge, S. and O’Neill, K., 2012. Understanding enterprise: Entrepreneurship and small business. Palgrave Macmillan.
Drucker, P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Kirzner, I.M., 2015. Competition and entrepreneurship. University of Chicago press.
Pott, O. and Pott, A., 2012. Entrepreneurship. Unternehmensgründung, unternehmerisches Handeln und rechtliche Aspekte, Heidelberg.
Santos, F.M., 2012. A positive theory of social entrepreneurship. Journal of business ethics, 111(3), pp.335-351.
Sarasvathy, S.D., Menon, A.R. and Kuechle, G., 2013. Failing firms and successful entrepreneurs: Serial entrepreneurship as a temporal portfolio. Small business economics, 40(2), pp.417-434.
Schaper, M.T., Volery, T., Weber, P.C. and Gibson, B., 2014. Entrepreneurship and small business.
Zhao, Y., 2012. World class learners: Educating creative and entrepreneurial students. Corwin Press.
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