The mind-set of the entrepreneur and the

environment
Task 1: Determining and assessing the key aspects of an
entrepreneurial mind-set.

Task 1.1: Determining the characteristic traits and skills of successful

entrepreneurs that differentiate them from other business managers.
Entrepreneurs come from different geographical locations, income groups, social classes and
educational levels. They are not made from the same blueprint. It cannot be totally assured by
some specific traits that make an entrepreneur successful (Herron, 1994). But successful
entrepreneurs all have the following traits-

1. Full of determination: Setting clear goals one of the main requirements to become an
entrepreneur. Several micro goals are prepared to grow business, increasing sales and
hiring new employees.

2. Not afraid to take risks: If want to do business, you have to take risks. Entrepreneurs take
major risks while taking business decision. Entrepreneurs may come first with a little
amount of money to invest while others think limited funding as a handicap.

3. High level of confidence: High confidence level enables an entrepreneur to finish job
under stressful conditions. They believe big challenges come with good results. In many
times most people see a possible challenge but successful entrepreneurs spot them as an
opportunity.

4. Craves learning: Entrepreneurs must stay always sharp and concern about constant
learning since industry constantly change and evolve. Competitors in every industry are
increasing and they are breathing down market leader’s neck and giving a good fight to the
leaders.

5. Understands failure is part of the game: Entrepreneurs understand that failure is the
secret path to success since best idea also derived from the ashes. Accepting failure as a
learning experience is a part of being an entrepreneur.

6. Passionate about his or her business: Entrepreneurs start business with a new innovation
of existing products and they are very passionate to their business and passion fuels the
drive to be successful. If one is not passionate about his or her work, added stress and
obstacles will build up on his shoulder.
 7. Highly adaptable: Entrepreneurs always attentive and seek what is hiding around each
turn. For that reason entrepreneur don’t get shocked by surprise and they are highly
sensitive to the changed situation and take decision that navigate them out of trouble.

8. Good understanding of money management: Excellent money management skills avoid

poor financial decision such as allocation of funds or overspending. These skills enable
entrepreneurs to be efficient while taking risks in business.

9. Expert at networking: Expert at networking doesn’t mean a large collection of business

cards and a huge contact list. Entrepreneurs build relationships with related parties to the
business that lead to business opportunities.

10. Ability to sell and promote: Entrepreneurs are more committee to business and do most
of the task. After making a product it is necessary to sell in market to earn revenue. And
that part also has done smoothly by successful entrepreneurs because he is more eligible in
expressing what it is that makes your product or service a solution to a problem.

Skills that differentiate successful managers from other organizational managers are described
below-

 Interpersonal skills
 Critical and creative thinking skills
 Practical skills

Interpersonal skills:

Since in business successful entrepreneurs have to directly deal with customer, suppliers, investors
and shareholders it is critical to build and maintain relationship. Some are expert in it by born but
others have to achieve it and can be learned and improved.

 Leadership and motivation: A successful entrepreneurs must lead and motivate others
to follow him to deliver his or her vision.
 Communication skills: To inform investors, potential clients, team members
entrepreneurs need to communicate their vision.
 Listening: entrepreneurs must have empathy towards what others are telling.
 Personal relations: Making personal relation will be a plus point to work with others
smoothly.
 Ethics: Ethical behaviors towards employees will create committed work group.
  Negotiation: A successful negotiator is able to resolve differences between people in a
positive way.

Critical and creative thinking skills:

Creativity is the weapon that enhances a great potential market for businesses. Entrepreneurs take
critical decisions to implement creative idea.

 Creative Thinking: Entrepreneurs uses creative tools to invent new products and new
services.
 Problem solving: Entrepreneurs always bring sound solution to problems and earn money
along with solving social needs.
 Recognizing opportunities: Successful entrepreneurs always enable to spot opportunities
and create plan to take advantage from it.

Practical skills:

Practical skills are also necessary because only bookish knowledge doesn’t bring prosper to
the business. Practical experience also helps running a company easily.

 Goal setting: Setting goals regularly and arranging resources to achieve them can be
done by who have the practical knowledge about the situation and knowledge about
how to do.
 Planning and organizing: Practical skills are coherent to develop a business plan and
organizing skills are effective in carrying out the plan.
 Decision making skill: Entrepreneurs must have the courage and smartness making
decision to catch opportunity and rip out the full advantage.

1.2: Assessing how aspects of entrepreneurial personality reflect

entrepreneurial motivation and mind-set.
Not everyone is a born entrepreneur. So what is the way to be an entrepreneur with an intellect
that will change the world? There are some personalities actually makes up entrepreneurs and these
reflect entrepreneurial motivation and mind-set. Common personality traits entrepreneurs
possesses-

1. Passion: Entrepreneurs work hours after hours to be not only successful but also invent
ideal solution to a problem. They work like insane for little or nothing in the first sense.
 But what is encouraging them is passion which motivate entrepreneurs make something
easier or solve a problem through all trials and tribulations (Bangs and Pinson). They reward
and motivate themselves by realizing that they are on a mission for doing well for the
society (Hisrich and Peters). It is their passion that motivates to set their mind no matter how
bad it is when everyone tells them to quit.

2. Resilience: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of
enthusiasm”, said by Sir Winston Churchill. The unfortunate fact is that you are going to
fail but it is good since entrepreneur will learn from their failure. They will never depressed
rather they will avoid the thing that cause failure and thrive off the negativity.

3. Strong sense of self: It is not easy being an entrepreneur because there are numerous
problems to overcome. Being self-confident and self-motivated an entrepreneur doesn’t
think their idea could be good rather they know it’s good. They will also motivate others
to invest their time and money to go forward.

4. Flexibility: Entrepreneurs enter into a market with a belief that their business plan is
drastically different than others. But it is not always true since a good idea may not always
effective. But here are entrepreneurs unique by being flexible enough to make the
adjustments to make the idea feasible.

5. Vision: Entrepreneurs are always in search of opportunity and developing new idea or
improving an existing thing and take chance to make popular to customers. They know it
is hard but in the long run their efforts will bring good for humanity. Entrepreneurs are
thought to be able to see future before it happens.

Task 2: Examining the different environments that foster or hinder

entrepreneurship.
2.1: Examining, using relevant examples, how background and experience can
hinder or foster entrepreneurship.
Background and experience of entrepreneurs is understood as a significant factor in determining
goals and planning and formation of the team and its effectiveness. According to knowledge
management employee mobility causes loss of knowledge.
Not only experience is a valuable resource but also background of the entrepreneur foster
entrepreneurship. With those things entrepreneurs enhance business capability and grab new
market that means more revenue for the owner (Prieto, Briales and Le Marlois). In fact background
and experience is thought to be more essential because an entrepreneur may make every decision
about creation and operation of a company based on them.

Entrepreneur’s ability to manage a business or build a work team depends on the role of his or her
experience used in which way in the business. Experience and background influence in
development of certain business skills. For example, an entrepreneur in a marketing firm in Alaska
said about giving individual attention on the job. In overland sled races she once ran a dog team.
One time the sled team slid into a lake and to motivate each dog she spent a few minutes talking
and petting each dog.

Some entrepreneurs start business with the experience that they achieve from where they worked
for years. A CEO of a real estate firm in New York had discovered his talent for management
while working as a foreman in a plant and also a worker in a management consulting firm. But
eventually his desire took him to launch his own real estate business because his older brother had
developed residential homes. Once a CEO was fired by his father’s advertising company for not
taking business seriously, only to return at work when ready years later (Boone and Kurtz).

Management skills and experience on ability to manage change have a positive influence on
innovative entrepreneurship. Numbers of personal abilities are achieved through background and
experience includes the ability to be innovative, visionary leadership and being change oriented
("Venture Capital: An International Journal Of Entrepreneurial Finance" ebi-ebi).

Advanced business skills and experience are the keys to fulfill innovation process and can be a
more important factor than access to financing. For example, research suggest that in United
Kingdom innovative SMEs are more constrained by a lower management skills and experience
than by financial constraints (Virtanen).

Skills and experience increases the dynamic capabilities of a company, ability to learn and
adaptation in changing situations. Entrepreneurial experiences are necessary for business
formation, survival and growth.

Entrepreneurs come from different cultures, languages and countries. They may come from
science, commerce or humanity group. So we can divide their background in many ways.
Entrepreneurs with their cultural differences bring new idea to the society. Same things can be
done different way in many other counties. Like to fulfill hunger entrepreneur in UK come with
fish and chips but in US an entrepreneur may come with burger and coffee. So there are several
ways to be creative by solving problems of society.
Conclusion
In the contemporary world we cannot think business without entrepreneurship. There are shortage
in government and private job sector. Without small business and business start-ups many people
will remain unemployed. So entrepreneurial ventures give the opportunity to earn revenue and
give tax to the government which is used for people’s welfare. Entrepreneurial businesses also
satisfy customer small needs that are ignored by traditional large organization. With the
background and experience entrepreneur makes life easier for himself and other people by giving
job to earn livelihood. The entrepreneurs not only create opportunity for themselves but also work
as a building block for large business.

Entrepreneurs also build favorable relation with customer groups, supplier groups and investors
and these groups are near one in a society. It strengthens the social bonding among people.
Everybody may not be a successful entrepreneur but there is a story of failures behind each
entrepreneur’s success. All entrepreneurs are not a born leader and have all the skill that means
that entrepreneurial skills can be learned and need to focus in every turn in the road to seek
opportunity where others find obstacle. Above all entrepreneurship is always good for an economy
of a country by making self-employed people.
Reference
2011 Small business, big impact. (2011). 1st ed. Edmonton, Alta.: Alberta Govt., Small Business
Support Unit.

Bangs, D. and Pinson, L. (1999). The real world entrepreneur field guide. 1st ed. Chicago: Upstart.

Boone, L. and Kurtz, D. (2005). Contemporary business. 1st ed. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-
Western.

Debrulle, J. and Maes, J. (2015). Start-ups' Internationalization: The Impact of Business Owners'
Management Experience, Start-up Experience and Professional Network on Export Intensity.
European Management Review, 12(3), pp.171-187.

Herron, L. (1994). The effects of characteristics of the entrepreneur on new venture performance.
1st ed. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International.

Hisrich, R. and Peters, M. (2002). Entrepreneurship. 1st ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

K. Berger, P. (2015). The Role of Fear for Entrepreneurial Venture Creation. 1st ed. Wiesbaden:
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Prieto, J., Briales, H. and Le Marlois, H. (1991). Support policies for business star-ups and the
role of training. National reports from France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and synthesis report.
1st ed. Luxembourg: CE.

Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance. (2015). Venture Capital,

17(4), p.ebi-ebi.

Virtanen, M. (1996). Entrepreneurial finance and venture capital advantage. 1st ed. Helsinki:
Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration.