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8/7/2019 Entrepreneur-final report
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Introduction- Who is an entrepreneur?
Entrepreneurs have been existent even before the derivation of the word. Speaking about
derivation, the word gets its origin from two French word, entre means between and prendre
meaning to take. Entrepreneur initially referred to those who took the risk between the
suppliers and the customers. Though the meaning of entrepreneurs have been widened, it is still
associated with the ideology of them being risk takers. But, the actually truth is usually far from
this commonly perceived idea. Also, in French , entreprendre is a verb which means to
undertake . Hence, in modern context they came to refer those who take up the initiative of
starting new ventures.
When we hear about entrepreneurship, we often tend to think that the entrepreneurs are
those who have a brilliant idea, which they want to convert into successful products or services.
They are also thought to take unnecessary risks in order to achieve their goals. Also, they are
thought to be college dropouts in order to achieve their objective. There is also a conception that
they start at very young age of 20 years or so and then go on to be a successful entrepreneur with
their first ever venture. And so on goes our idea about entrepreneur.
But the truth is that these are not the only entrepreneurs who are around. A large chunk
of entrepreneurs are those who have some work experience. This will give them the required
exposure in order to survive the competition and various other hurdles. Also, they are not all risk
takers. They are very careful when investing into a particular product or service, ie; they never
invest if they are not sure about the results. Such investment being a success or not is a different
issue.
All entrepreneurs are those people who usually come up with a brilliant idea either
technically or due to their circumstance. They are quick to realize an opportunity which no oneelse has till then might have experienced but not yet cashed on it. They are also very determined
and confident people and are sure about what they are about to do. They are ready to work hard
to achieve their goals. Be it a small or large venture, initial years during its growth are extremely
hard and they should be able to give everything in order to achieve their ends. That does not
mean, they can relax after their business has taken off well. They will be confronted with new
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challenges in order to sustain their business. As most of the successful entrepreneurs are
passionate about what they, it is the driving force for them to work hard and come up with new
ideas in order to maintain their venture.
Methodology
In order to get an idea regarding what an entrepreneurship is all about, various books and
articles from the website were referred to. This provided the basis for this paper. Then, a little bit
of research was put into about various successful entrepreneurs who are both well known and not
that well known. From their life story, certain inference about the common aspects which bind
them together was obtained. Then a character study of all the successful entrepreneurs was done.
Lastly, this paper contains 10 cases real cases are taken up for investigating the reasons why they
came up with the idea to start a venture of their own rather than being satisfied with their salaried
job which many of them previously had.
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Is money a driving factor for entrepreneurs?
For many who aspire to be an entrepreneurs are driven by money. But the truth is that
those aspire to become to owners of cash rich ventures ultimately end up losers because money is
never the factor that drives most entrepreneurs. Because if money is a factor, then you can see
they will soon back out when they come face to face failure. They try not to lose more money
and they back out. But for most successful entrepreneurs, money is only the outcome of their
plan coming together and hence a measure of how successful their good, product or idea is. It is
the passion of what they do that actually drives them rather than money.
This can actually be proved by the life story of various entrepreneurs who, though had
initial failures with their ventures and gone bankrupt, were never ready give in and went around
looking for an opening of some sort. For them, they feel kind of suffocated if they are not able to
achieve their goal. Also, many of them had good jobs with low risk. They were able to sacrifice
them after being able to make sure that they are ready for the mission.
In short, the various factors that motivate an entrepreneur are passion to do what they
want, success, to show the world what they are capable of, to implement an idea which occurred
to them either because they are opportunistic or they realize to serve the society which is lacking
that and so forth goes the list.
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What is that an entrepreneur requires to succeed?
This is never an easy question to answer and never will be easy as with the addition of a
new entrepreneur we will have to change our view on what an entrepreneur should be made of.
Hence this paper has no intention of defining all the qualities what a successful entrepreneur
should possess. But from what has been inferred , it is possible to give an incite into what all an
entrepreneur might possess if he is successful.
These are my inference:-
[1] Passion- They have a passion to do what they are interested in. They take up as a business as
they strongly believe that they have an opportunity to succeed in that areana and hence a kind of
service to those who need them.
[2] Ambition- They have an ambition to succeed in life. They are hence very motivated.
[3] Hard workers- They are ready to work really hard in order to achieve their goal. For them this
is never tiresome because they are passionate about what they are doing.
[4] Right moment and right investors- Though we say entrepreneurs require a lot of qualities, it
never works until he is able to launch his product at the right moment or is able to find the
required investors on time. It is partly luck and partly temperament.
[5] Inner ego- Inner ego are those characteristics that a person possess that help him to bounce
back fairly well after a fall. True entrepreneurs never give up after a failure, but fight their way
out after that downfall. There are very few entrepreneurs who havent come face to face with
failure. But it is their confidence and passion that keep the in the drivers seat.
[6] Fear of failure- Maybe for not all this is a driving factor, but for certainly many of them is
what defines them as they are. They never like to fail and hence work hard to keep being
successful.
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[7] No fear of loss- There are some people who have experienced the bitter side of life and
believes that they have nothing worse to experience. This help them to take some risks as they do
not have fear of loss and sometimes go and do some risky investments which proves to be very
fruitful. If they didnt have this attitude, they would have never succeeded.
[8] Opportunistic- They are quick to discover a new need among the people. Since they have the
idea generating capacity, they can quickly make the required good or service and hence become
entrepreneurs. This will also help them to diversify their business.
[9] Idea generating capacity- They are generally people who can generate idea very quickly. This
help them not only to establish an establishment but also to survive the tough world of
competitors.
[10] No money making intensions- Most of the entrepreneurs are never get into the
entrepreneurship with money making intensions but other objectives. This is because if they had
such intentions , they would never be able take some unrational decisions required to sustain the
business.
[11] Trustworthiness- Most of the successful entrepreneurs are able to achieve their goals by
through good means. But if they try to sustain it through unethical means, we can soon see the
end of them.
[12] Good team-builder- If the entrepreneur is not able to build a good team around him, then the
venture will collapse after its initial success as the enterprise grows. This also getting the right
kind of people around you. They also shouldnt be part time workers or those who have other
commitments.
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Why do entrepreneurs become what they are?
In this segment, we will take various cases of entrepreneurs, study their background andhence try to get an insight into what it that drives them into take up entrepreneurship.
CASE 1
Name Lizzie Vann
Founded- Organix brands
Reason-
As a child, she suffered badly from asthma and eczema, for which she was treated with
steroids. But at that time she felt the need for some nutritious food because she felt that only
good food will lead to good health. So the idea of nutritious food was always there at the back of
her mind. Ultimately, after her graduation she and some jobs, she decided that market badly
needed nutritious food for babies made of only organic and natural ingredients, free of chemicals
or additives. So she started experiments with various ingredients with the objective that it should
be attractive to children and it should be both tasty and colorful. After some disastrous
experiments, she was able to stumble upon a good mix which she marketed and hence the origin
of Organix brand. It is now one the leading baby food producer in US.
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CASE 2
Name- Darren Richards
Founded- Datingdirect.com
Reason-
He from his early days in school had been dreaming of doing something on his own such as
business and believed that he didnt have to prove anyone of his abilities and hence never did great
academically. He always try to do new things when he grew up but was never able to hit upon a solid
idea. At the age of 33, he was still single and his attempt to find other singles like him through internet
failed as there were no serious dating sites. It is then that the idea occurred to him that he could start one
himself. Hence, he found a website designer who could implement the idea for him and hence they
started a 50-50 partnership business. This is the origin of Datingdirect.com . He was also able to find his
life partner on his second date.
CASE 3
Name- Mark Mills
Founded- Cardpoint
Reason-
He was a very opportunistic people and found opportunities in anything and everything. Thus he
started making money from the age of 6 but selling small biscuits to his friends. According to him,I
couldnt see the sense in giving something away if people were willing to pay for it. I kept spotting
opportunities and couldnt understand why people couldnt fulfill them. He started his first business at
the age of 18. Cardpoint was his 5th innovation. Cardpoint is a private money withdrawing points in
various petrol pumps by charging a small amount. He has a 15% share in it and earns 6.8 million pounds
annually.
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CASE 4
Name- Penny Streeter
Founded- Ambition 24 hours
Reason-
She was born in Zimbawae, brought up in South Africa and came to England at the age of 16. She
got a job at recruiting agency and soon she was promoted to the post of branch manager. Due to her
success in every point in her life, she was confident that she could start a recruiting agency of her own.
But after spending lots of money on recruiting office by furnishing it well, recession of 1989-90 hit her
business really hard and lost all money she had invested and she went bankrupt. Later, when she tried to
get back into a recruitment job, she realized she still wanted to do her old business, but this time from the
scratch unlike last time. She managed to a desk in the corner of her friends motor business and hence the
beginning of Ambition, the recruiting agency of her dream. Later when they started providing home
nurses, they required to be open all around the clock and hence changed its name to Ambition 24 hours.
CASE 5
Name- Trisha Mason
Founded- Vivre En France(VEF)
Reason-
She was widowed at an early age of 29. So she had the belief there is no worse fate for her and
hence she started taking rash decisions. She felt that she had nothing more to lose. She bought an old
watermill in France which had not been taken care of for almost 40 years. She then started renovating it.
It was then that one of her friends asked her to help them buy properties of their own in France. Thus she
hit upon the idea of providing her service as a property scout and hence she placed an ad in the
newspaper. This was the beginning of Vivre en France. It helped people in England interested in buying
properties in France.
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Analysis
Now we are in a position to analyze the various reason why people become entrepreneurs. In
most of cases, the idea itself is imported from some other sources. Hence it is all about finding the right
people to work with you.
CASE 1 Organix (Lizzie Vann)
She was a very ordinary person in terms of her abilities. It is only her will power and her hard
work that helped her to achieve her goals. The circumstance under which she was in her childhood made
her determined that no child should have her fate. She believed that every growing child require good
food to be healthy. Also , her determination helped her to overcome some difficulties. For example, it was
difficult for her to make the food with the right combination of fruits so that it would be tasty and
attractive. Then later she had the difficulty to market her product, both of which she overcame.
CASE 2- Datingdirect.com (Darren Richards)
He was a person was very excited about new things all the time. He was full of ideas. Sohe was always on the lookout for a platform to implement his ideas. He did lots of business , but
was never sure in which one to concentrate. His need for a life partner actually helped him to
establish the venture. Though he didnt have the technical skills required for making a website,
he was able to find the right person to do the job for him. Thus, it was his passion to do
something new plus his need to find a life partner resulted in the organization.
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CASE 3- Cardpoint(Mark Mills)
He was a very opportunistic person. Also he was ready to pursue to any extent to achieve
his goal. For example, 50000 people had already enquired Royal post whether advertising on the
side the post was possible. But he went on to the extend that he joined a law college 1st
year and
found the article on communication which says that private post are possible. So he set up his
own private post to attain the goal. He was also a very innovative person and came up with new
ideas in a jiffy. He was also a bit of risk taker. He was very confident of what he was doing and
never at any point did he feel that he has taken a wrong step. He was never afraid of failure.
CASE 4- Ambition 24 hours (Penny Streeter)
She was very confident person after she had a series of successes all along her life. This
is what inspired her to start her own business. Even though her first attempt went in vain and
made her bankrupt, she was determined to start anew from the scratch. She was very hard
working and slowly was able to capture market by using her previous experience in the
recruiting sector. Finally, she being opportunistic was able to tap the demand for home nurses in
outward area, which made the business leap to a greater height.
CASE 5 - Vivre En France(Trisha Mason)
She was a very opportunistic person. Buying of the watermills and renovating them
shows this fact. Also, when her friends asked her for help to procure properties in France, she
saw an opportunity to start real estate business in England for properties in France. She was a
very hard working person as she drove the clients all around France and provided them with
meals. Since she faced a huge loss in her life(her husband) she feels that she has nothing more
painful to lose and hence very positive towards life. She always relishes challenges. She is very
energetic and never want to sit simply without doing anything. She had the fear of being bored!!
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Theories applied to entrepreneurship
Leadership required by entrepreneurs
The entrepreneurs should possess some traits that help them to them to be leaders. This is
because they might be able to work really well individually and might gain initial success, but as
the enterprise grows large, they will have to control lots people. If they fail at that point, they
will lose all what they had done till then.
Trait theory- Being extroverts will help them to be rise as entrepreneurs but after that stage,
when they have to lead large number of people under them, they will have to be more open to
new ideas and experience. This will make the people working under them to appreciate whatever
they say and hence help motivate them better. They also should be conscientious and have high
level of emotional stability.
Behavioral theories- Whether they should be employee- oriented or job- oriented depends on the
type of people under them. If they have people who are very much close to them in life, they can
be more job oriented. But the people taken to work are not that close them previously, then they
will have to develop good relations with them through interpersonal skills. But be careful never
to be in authority or Laissez-faire type of leadership.
Formation of the organization
Initially after new people are taken to help him out with his work, there will be a team
forming a stage people when different people will have to find their role in the new organization.
During this phase the entrepreneur will have to facilitate this process so that the transaction goessmoothly. They can be training regarding what they are hired for so that it will be easy for the
entrepreneur to know their strengths and weakness and hence obtain maximum output from
them.
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But after this stage there will be the storming stage, when there are conflicts regarding
roles and leadership. The first stage of team forming done well will see to it that there are lesser
number of conflicts during this period. And the transition to a good team takes place so that
whatever he thinks of can be easily executed without much struggle.
After this norming stage takes place when everyone is clear about what their roles and are
comfortable with the culture of the organization. Then go into the performing when they have to
actually get together and convert the cohesiveness they have achieved over the past few stage
into positive energy so that they translate into positive outcome for the entrepreneur. If the
entrepreneur is successful in developing a good team, it will help ideas into excellent output.
Otherwise, he will start finding that he no longer enjoys the success he used to get when he used
to work all alone. This will be become an hindrance for him to expand his enterprise.
Entrepreneurs also should try to develop teams which are self-managed as far as possible.
This will help them to get better productivity. Initially they might think they can take all the
responsibility and this is good, but as the organization grows, they will find that if they make the
teams more interdependent, it will help them to free their hands. This will help them to take the
organization to the next level. Thus, if they encourage self-managed teams, it will benefit the
organization in the long run. Also the founder might not be the same all throughout like stress
and bad health. In these case, others will be empowered to take forward the organization.
How to develop a culture in the organization
Basically the culture of the organization comes from the founder himself. He is the one
who defines the culture of the organization. He is the one who has the vision and hence he is the
one who defines the roles of the organization. Then it is his responsibility to maintain the same
culture among his followers. So at the selection process he has to be careful that he selects
people who are ready to share his vision and goal. He should hire who have the skill, abilities the
job leading to the organization success.
After the employee become a part of the organization, he should take measure to make
them confirm to the vision and culture of the organization. For this he need to socialize them
through various socialization procedures.
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Conclusion
From the case study it can be seen that entrepreneurs have some common characteristicsin order to succeed. They all had a goal once they were into the business. They all were very
passionate about what they were doing and very confident that they could achieve what they had
started. No force could stop them in any way. They were ready to work really hard for their
objective. Sometimes it required that they work but without getting much returns. Inspite of that
they were motivated to work day and night as they had a fire within them to succeed. They were
also very flexible people who could change quickly according to the situation. They also tried to
get the right kind of people to work with them. This required that even if he is met with some
illness or accident, the enterprise will not perish.
There were various factors that can be attribute to the success of the enterpreners. Many
of them were opportunistic and they could sense those gaps in the society which have never been
served. The shere thought of their idea being put into practice motivated them. Some of them
have been very unsuccessful in life and they used this as a scenario where they could prove
everyone wrong. Some of them are good salesperson and was able to sell anything and
everything and this motivated them to start an organization of their own. But there are still large
number of people who felt that they can improve the society by introducing a product or service
and hence start an enterprise. But entrepreneurs have a entrepreneurship background and
knowing in and out of business help them start a company of their own. For others, it the shere
need combined with some of the above factors that help them start an enterprise.
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Theories applied to entrepreneurship
Leadership required by entrepreneurs
The entrepreneurs should possess some traits that help them to them to be leaders. This is
because they might be able to work really well individually and might gain initial success, but as
the enterprise grows large, they will have to control lots people. If they fail at that point, they
will lose all what they had done till then.
Trait theory- Being extroverts will help them to be rise as entrepreneurs but after that stage,
when they have to lead large number of people under them, they will have to be more open to
new ideas and experience. This will make the people working under them to appreciate whatever
they say and hence help motivate them better. They also should be conscientious and have high
level of emotional stability.
Behavioral theories- Whether they should be employee- oriented or job- oriented depends on the
type of people under them. If they have people who are very much close to them in life, they can
be more job oriented. But the people taken to work are not that close them previously, then they
will have to develop good relations with them through interpersonal skills. But be careful never
to be in authority or Laissez-faire type of leadership.
Formation of the organization
Initially after new people are taken to help him out with his work, there will be a team
forming a stage people when different people will have to find their role in the new organization.
During this phase the entrepreneur will have to facilitate this process so that the transaction goes
smoothly. They can be training regarding what they are hired for so that it will be easy for the
entrepreneur to know their strengths and weakness and hence obtain maximum output from
them.
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But after this stage there will be the storming stage, when there are conflicts regarding
roles and leadership. The first stage of team forming done well will see to it that there are lesser
number of conflicts during this period. And the transition to a good team takes place so that
whatever he thinks of can be easily executed without much struggle.
After this norming stage takes place when everyone is clear about what their roles and are
comfortable with the culture of the organization. Then go into the performing when they have to
actually get together and convert the cohesiveness they have achieved over the past few stage
into positive energy so that they translate into positive outcome for the entrepreneur. If the
entrepreneur is successful in developing a good team, it will help ideas into excellent output.
Otherwise, he will start finding that he no longer enjoys the success he used to get when he used
to work all alone. This will be become an hindrance for him to expand his enterprise.
Entrepreneurs also should try to develop teams which are self-managed as far as possible.
This will help them to get better productivity. Initially they might think they can take all the
responsibility and this is good, but as the organization grows, they will find that if they make the
teams more interdependent, it will help them to free their hands. This will help them to take the
organization to the next level. Thus, if they encourage self-managed teams, it will benefit the
organization in the long run. Also the founder might not be the same all throughout like stress
and bad health. In these case, others will be empowered to take forward the organization.
How to develop a culture in the organization
Basically the culture of the organization comes from the founder himself. He is the one
who defines the culture of the organization. He is the one who has the vision and hence he is the
one who defines the roles of the organization. Then it is his responsibility to maintain the same
culture among his followers. So at the selection process he has to be careful that he selects
people who are ready to share his vision and goal. He should hire who have the skill, abilities the
job leading to the organization success.
After the employee become a part of the organization, he should take measure to make
them confirm to the vision and culture of the organization. For this he need to socialize them
through various socialization procedures.
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Reference
Ref 1: Rachel Bridge. How I made it. New Delhi: Kogan Page India
Ref 2: Bill Bolton, John Thompson. Entrepreneurs- Talent, Temperament, Technique. 2nd
edition. New Delhi: Elsevier
Ref 3: Madhura M Chatrapathy(2007). Basics of Business and Entrepreneurship. Bali, Indonesia
Ref 4: Scott Shane, Edwin A. Locke, Christopher J. Collins(2003). Entrepreneurial motivation.
Human Resource Management Review:13 (2003) 257279
Ref 5: Gerry Segal, Dan Borgia and Jerry Schoenfeld(2005). The motivation to becomean
entrepreneur,International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & ResearchVol. 11 No. 1, 2005
pp. 42-57
Ref 6: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneuraccessedon 14th November,2010
Ref 7: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurshipaccessedon 14th November,2010