I advocate entrepreneurship but that doesn’t mean I want everybody to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is essentially starting a business and it’s obvious that the world and societies don’t need just entrepreneurs. So who should be an entrepreneur?
I guess a normal percentage of entrepreneurs in a typical society would be around 10-15%. The percentage might be higher somewhere according to some local laws, conditions and incentives. Have in mind that all self-employed people are basically entrepreneurs. If your profession is a plumber and you work independently by yourself you are an entrepreneur.
Some entrepreneurial qualities:
Since entrepreneurship is basically starting and running your own thing you must be be willing to take some risks. Business people take risks, it’s part of the game.
Another essential is to be decisive. Making decisions and facing problems is every day ritual. If you can’t deal with it, it’s not for you.
Obsession with the business. This is basically more mental investment. If you care about insignificant things more than you care about your business, it’s not for you.
Willingness to work all the time. Owning a business is not a 9 to 5 job. It’s 24/7. Even when you take breaks.
Desire for independence and ownership. Wanting to build your own thing, wanting to own it and not to rely on someone else are good qualities for entrepreneurs. It’s proven.
Doesn’t matter if your business is big or small, if you have huge dreams or you just want to make enough to live and pay bills, all of the things above apply.
Basically it’s all mindset and personality. You don’t need a degree to start a business, you better have knowledge and you better have a good attitude. And the mindset is not a constant. There are no pre-written rules about it. There are some common principles all of which can make exception depending on the individual case.
The people who meet the criteria are those who should be entrepreneurs. Are all entrepreneurs such? No. Are there people who should be entrepreneurs but are not? Yes.
Personal desires and actions don’t always match with personal qualities and potential.
Bottom line, you have to want it. Doesn’t matter why as long as your reasons are strong.
As you see nowhere in the article I mention success. I’m not giving entrepreneurial recipes. You can fall into the category of people who should be entrepreneurs and still fail big time.
I didn’t want to write an article about how great it is and how everyone should change the world, how entrepreneurship is for the young and bright people. You can read that crap everywhere. It’s all blah, blah.
If you want to be entrepreneur, it has to correspond to your beliefs and who you are.
That’s a tweet I wrote a year ago:
Being entrepreneur is hard. Same with flipping burgers for 8hrs a day or studying law. It’s an easy choice for me.
— Lyubomir Stoilov (@lyust) April 1, 2013
I’ll need to write a book to fully explain it, and maybe I will, but for now lets just say that that’s the way I’m thinking and why I’m in business. (it’s a lot more complicated than that)