WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME AN ENTREPRENUER? Taren Rodriguez-Colby

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Entrepreneurs are innovators that have passion, work hard, have great ideas, and educated. The word entrepreneur is a work in French the meaning is “to undertake” (Fortune, 2014), they take risk with the goal of financial profit. It is not easy to run a business… “nine out of 10 startups fail” (Fortune, 2014) there is no right way to become an entrepreneur, but a degree related to business to discover the core principles will help in following a model to the road to success in addition to character and never give up attitude.

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An entrepreneur has four types of businesses models to consider and follow premised on the idea of the startup. The first is small business or company, for instance a restaurant or a brick-and-mortar store. Second, is the scalable startup with a focus on media or social media attention usually from the home and ends up a large corporation like Amazon. Third is the larger scale business where research is involved on a particular product that is in demand and a new division of the company is established for instance. Then there is the social entrepreneurship that advocates social change and not for profit, like an animal rescue or homeless shelter. Entrepreneurship can be in many different industries like “mom and pop” “brick-and-mortar” shops to service professionals like consultants’ accountants, architects, plumbers, and graphic artist.

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It takes a special kind of person to become and entrepreneur, the right attitude of never giving up and personality that is passionate and creative of the business idea. The ability to execute an idea by researching and building a business plan, it is the execution of the idea that makes a successful entrepreneur. Passion is key and if you believe in the product or service then the idea makes the obstacles worth it especially one achievement of the goal is reached. Failure and risk will be apparent as an entrepreneur and it is how failure and risk, is handled, it is only a detour off the path and pulling up the boots straps and moving forward and the “I can”, attitude. An entrepreneur is a lifelong learner and is constantly working self-improvement, growing in knowledge as well as with the growth of the business to be self-reliant and in charge of their own success.

Education for an entrepreneur is important especially in managing a business because of the risk that the taken by the entrepreneur. A quote from Dr. John Yang, the dean of Beijing International MBA program at Beijing University, “In my opinion, entrepreneurship is a matter of heart, and education is a matter of the brain. It is difficult to teach a heart” (Greer, 2010). It is not only having a heart of an entrepreneur but also having the ability to make an educational risk. The ability to understand the strategies of finance, marketing and managing a business is extremely important for the success of the business, and could avoid some costly mistakes such a fraud, “private companies and small business rank highest in occupational frequency 42% compare to large corporations, government and non-profits” (Fraud Statistics, 2018). The main factor is the lack of internal controls process that govern the rules, policy and procedures, the owner of a scrap metal company and author, states “I might have learned in an MBA program — and if I’d learned them earlier, my company might have been even more successful” (Greer 2010). The school of hard knocks can only get you so far in life and business, but an education can never be taken away and is invaluable. https://financesonline.com/entrepreneurship-statistics/

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Business fraud, Statistics, https://businessfraudprevention.org/fraud-statistics/, 2018, accessed 2/3/2021. Greer, Stephen, Harvard Business Review, Does an Entrepreneur need a business degree? https://hbr.org/2010/11/does-an-enterpreneur-need-an-m, 17 November 2010. Accessed 03/03/2021. https://fortune.com/2014/09/25/why-startups-fail-according-to-their-founders/ How to become an entrepreneur: Steps tips & best degrees. (n.d.). from https://www.geteducated.com/career-center/how-to-become-an-entrepreneur/, Accessed 03/03/2021.