What is it that makes one person decide to strike out on his own, to build his own business from scratch, and to take all the stress and delight, the risk and reward that goes along with that? Is it something in their personality? Their life circumstances? Their culture?
I have met hundreds of entrepreneurs in my working life, and it seems to me that there are definitely some people who are blessed with a natural entrepreneurial spirit. I am thinking in particular of Neil who, at the age of 15, watched his sister staring at a blank computer screen, waiting for her dial-up connection, and thought “Wait a minute, what if there was an ad there, for her to look at while she is waiting? Now, there is something I could make a business out of!” And he did. And when dial-up was replaced with new technology, he adjusted his offering accordingly, and later he got into cellular phone advertising. He had the vision, drive and flexibility that make for success.
And there are other people who may have all sorts of wonderful talents, but they are not natural entrepreneurs. I look at my friend Grant who manages a large recruitment firm. He is very clever and very talented – and not at all interested in starting his own business. He is happy working for a corporation, and he does a great job.
So what are those factors that successful entrepreneurs have? And do you have them?
When we work with entrepreneurs at Aurik, we use a tool called the Entrepreneurial Aptitude Test, which is a sort of personality profiling test that rates how an individual scores in 14 entrepreneurial traits. (Incidentally, the reason we do this is not to say “you will never be an entrepreneur…” but to see how a particular individual will run his business, and where he is likely to shine or to encounter problems. Once you know your profile, you can do something about the potential problem areas, and capitalise on strengths).
This test considers characteristics that are core to entrepreneurs – passion, goal-orientation, conscientiousness, social skills, leadership, mentoring, self-efficaciousness (self-confidence), optimism, status seeking, interest in knowledge, innovation, adaptability, risk-taking and independence – and compares the individual’s score against the score of the general population and against the score of entrepreneurs.
What is interesting is that it is not necessary or even advantageous to score extremely highly in all of these traits, in order to be a successful entrepreneur. In fact, a very high score might well bring its own problems. So, for example, passion is an essential trait for an entrepreneur – if you are not passionate about your business, chances are it will not succeed. You might think it is impossible to be too passionate about your business. But it is. What happens if you are off the scale passionate? You might lack perspective, and fail to recognise obstacles and problems in your business or your environment. Your excessive passion might lead you into problems with staff – after all, they will not be as passionate as you are and you might resent that.
Or take leadership. Certainly, it is a very important trait if you are going to run your own business. But a person who scores very high here can be autocratic and controlling. A lower score has its own benefits – that person might be good at collaborating and teamwork – but there is a good chance that a low scorer has problems setting boundaries.
It is the same with all of the essential qualities – taken to extreme, any quality can be your Achilles heel in business. But when you know your profile, you can put systems in place to counteract potential problems, or employ others who complement your profile.
An aptitude test is an incredibly helpful tool, but entrepreneurship is more than just the sum of a bunch of different traits. In addition to all qualities I have mentioned, there is that indefinable something special that drives those of us who choose the life of an entrepreneur. The X-factor, if you like. I love this quote from the book Business as Unusual by Anita Roddick, who started Body Shop: “It is obsession that drives the entrepreneur’s commitment to a vision of something new ... Potential entrepreneurs are outsiders. They are people who imagine things as they might be, not as they are, and have the drive to change the world around them.”
Is that you?
Pavlo Phitidis is the CEO of Aurik Business Incubator, an organisation that works with entrepreneurs to build their businesses into valuable assets. He can be contacted at www.aurik.co.za
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