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Writer: Nefise Kübra Kalkan
noun. /ˌɒntrəprəˈnɜː(r)/ /ˌɑːntrəprəˈnɜːr/ a person who makes money by starting or running businesses, especially when this involves taking financial risks.
I am certainly thrilled to be writing this blog about entrepreneurship. As one myself, I definitely have a great deal of insight to share with those who are interested. But for this very first blog post, I wanted to talk about what exactly are those traits that makes one an entrepreneur? I wanted to share with you what I believe are the 6 most important traits of an entrepreneur.
As Shark Tank judge and entrepreneur Mark Cuban says, “Don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love.” This is actually one of the most important traits of being an entrepreneur. So many people I know start a business because they are motivated by anticipated future earnings. Look, if you want to make a quick buck, that’s called an investment. Go and invest in something you believe will make you instant income. But you cannot start a business you do not absolutely love, because, when the passion starts to fade, you find yourself spending less time on the company and this will eventually lead to failure. Whatever your business is, it needs to keep you excited!
Are you ready for the good, the bad and the ugly? I have to say, entrepreneurship is not for the faint hearted my darling. When I was in my high school business torts and contracts class, I first learned the definition of force majeur, or events otherwise known as an “Act of God.” My teacher said you don’t really need to worry about that one, it usually never comes up. Welcome to 2021 where the world is inflicted with a pandemic, and so many businesses have failed because of it. Sometimes, it’s no one’s fault, but things happen, are you ready to take that risk? Just keep in mind, anything can happen, being an entrepreneur means serious financial risks are involved. An entrepreneur is able to weigh their options and take calculated and responsible risks.
Sometimes, you have just had enough, but a true entrepreneur always finds a way to keep themselves motivated. Most start-ups don’t become profitable for the first three years, but even then, can you find it in yourself to keep pushing forward? Can you work tirelessly to address challenges? I find that it helps to envision a complete goal or the “big picture” so that small setbacks don’t deter motivation. Sometimes I think to myself, what’s the worst that can happen? If you are comfortable with failure, it’s easier to keep yourself in the game.
Without a great idea, there is no business to begin with. Entrepreneurs are the people who can think outside of the box, and can apply their creativity to solve problems. After all, most businesses address problems or shortcomings in order to add value to people and societies. You always have a clear vision and think of ideas before everyone else.
Are you one of those people who thinks, “hey I thought of doing that years ago.” Guess what, you’re not an entrepreneur. Being innovative is not enough, you need to have the drive to take action. If you are not executing your idea or innovation, someone else will.
As an entrepreneur, you need to be aware of your own mental well-being. Whenever my company goes through a hardship, I spend extra time dressing up and keeping myself up-beat so that my team also keeps their spirits high. A company is only as strong as their leaders’ psychology. With that you should also stay alert and be able to recognize changes in the psychology of your team. Being part of a small organization can give employees a lot of experience, but it also means that they are probably multitasking and it’s important as a leader to recognize their contribution.
My favorite entrepreneurship story is that of Leonard Bosack and Sandra Lerner. After graduating from Stanford in 1981, this couple started working at the school in two different departments. Leonard wanted to find a way to communicate with his wife so he found a way to connect their computers on a network, which was actually the first router technology. They decided that this could be useful for other people outside of their university so in 1984, the couple founded Cisco.
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