Starting a business is a major task and a real long-term commitment in life that takes great effort, consumes much time, and demands enormous dedication, drive, and patience to make it a success. Statistics show that 80% of all new businesses fail in the first year. So why do those businesses collapse while others go on to success?
Are some people more adept at business and commerce than others or is everyone equal on the playing field and its external factors that determine result?
For the purposes of this article, we’ve consulted some top experts in the entrepreneurial world and asked them what they thought with regards to the idea of anyone being capable of becoming a successful entrepreneur. The results of that consultation we share with you below in the form of a list wherein we specify three reasons why our experts believe anyone can be a successful entrepreneur and two reasons why they believe anyone cannot.
Let’s accentuate the positive and start with can…
1. Learned Skills
You need a unique set of skills to become a successful entrepreneur – vision, dedication, patience, fortitude, communication, etc – and fortunately most of those skills can be learned through time and experience. Some people are, admittedly, born with an inherently more acute capability in these traits than others, but that doesn’t negate the fact that you can personally develop these characteristics within yourself.
Perhaps sign on for a business administration degree where many of these skills are part and parcel of the overall syllabus and you’ll have the benefit of professional advice and experience.
2. Vision
To quote the famous line from the 1989 Kevin Costner film Field of Dreams, “if you build it, they will come.”
This adage applies to the world of entrepreneurship. Whatever product and/or service you wish to provide in your own business, there’s a market for it somewhere. If you have a vision, that ‘big idea’ for a business, you’re already on your way. Even without prior experience in the high-risk commercial arena, a great idea can help you go a long way to fulfilling your dreams.
Having that idea is one thing, though… holding onto it when things get tough is another thing entirely! But for many successful entrepreneurs, their journey to success began with a single idea.
3. Motivation
Are you in a dead-end job right now, feeling unfulfilled, your talents wasted, running down the clock and dreaming of being your own boss? Why not take the plunge and try to go into business for yourself!
You may not know the first thing about starting a business, much less becoming a success. But guess what, so did many other people who took a risk, followed their dreams without a safety net, and ended up being hugely successful in their chosen field. Motivation is not a genetic trait, everyone feels it about something or other, and if you feel it about wanting to branch out on your own and start a business, who says you can’t!?
One of the primary reasons why anyone can be a potential entrepreneur is encapsulated in a single sentence, “push yourself for no-one else will do it for you.”
For balance, we now come to cannot…
4. Finances
In short, starting a business costs money. You need financial capital to establish a company from the outset and there’s a whole litany of things that need to be paid for before you can make a dime in return: premises, equipment, advertising and marketing, insurance, the list is a long one.
While some government agencies, both regional and national, offer incentive programs in helping to start local businesses through cheaper loans, tax rebates, etc, nonetheless starting a business is beyond some people’s financial capabilities even if they have secondary income. One thing many entrepreneurs will tell you is how they often contributed a substantial portion of their own money into that newly-established startup.
And for some budding entrepreneurs, sadly, they simply haven’t got that kind of money, or if they do, it’s money they simply cannot risk in a commercial venture that carries no guarantees of success.
5. Prior Commitments
Starting a business doesn’t just cost money, it also consumes very considerable time too. It’s not a case of simply having an idea and opening for business a couple of weeks later. For some people, just merely establishing a business before you see any returns takes up to a solid year or more to complete.
For many, that is simply not feasible under their current circumstances. Whether it be family commitments, a commitment to a current job they simply can’t walk away from, or even possible health issues, not everyone can carve out time in their life to devote towards starting a company, no matter how much they would love to try.
And there you have it. We hope this article has been a useful guide to becoming an entrepreneur. Just remember that these are only opinions and nothing more. If you feel you want to start a business, be sure you know the risks as well as rewards in advance before starting your journey. Good luck!
