HOW TO THINK LIKE AN ENTREPRENEUR.

What is the difference between small business owners and entrepreneurs?

There is truly a great difference between entrepreneurs and small business owners but I must mention that your ability to succeed and expand far beyond your tentacles is what makes you an entrepreneur. I will say starting and running a small scale business successful is sometimes the first stage of entrepreneurship. Small businesses owners prefer to run own their firms independently. They are satisfied with their steady profit and do not do much innovations. They most times do not expand or spread their tentacles. They usually are aggressive with profit making because they have a steady expectation as to profit making unlike entrepreneurs whose objectives are innovation, profitability and growth. They crave for development of their firms at every point in time, recognising opportunities and ready to manage, take moderate and calculated risk towards the development of their organisations. They are aggressive in profit making, rapid development and managerial skills.

So many people keep some false ideas or thoughts about entrepreneurs and because of this they do not try or want be an entrepreneur. I will share ten of such myths and how it applies to entrepreneurs.

Myth 1:           Entrepreneurs Are Doers, Not Thinkers

Entrepreneurs are both 'thinkers' and 'doers'. They engage in a lot of creative and careful thinking about the long and short run of a business. They also explore every brilliant idea and necessary precaution that comes to mind to ensure a solid and flawless business plan. They however do not just think and sweep their creative ideas under the carpet like regular people do; they take action by initiating their plans and starting their business.

Myth 2:     Entrepreneurs Are Born, Not Made

Entrepreneurship is not a birth gift and nobody is born an entrepreneur. It only takes the     extraordinary people who have developed themselves that way to identify what other people see          as problems or bad business as something they can turn into a money making venture. The misconception of entrepreneurship being a birth gift has long been in existence. This is not necessarily so as every individual can acquire skills to become an entrepreneur.

Myth 3:           Entrepreneurs Are Always Inventors

We will call entrepreneurs innovators rather inventors. They are people who see the business and profitable part of either natural resources or early innovations. Many inventors are entrepreneurs but not all entrepreneurs are inventors. Entrepreneurs mostly formulate creative ideas for turning around an already invented one. Many entrepreneurs become successful in businesses that have been in existence long before now. Entrepreneurs are innovators rather than inventors.

Myth 4:           Entrepreneurs Are Academic and Social Misfits

Entrepreneurs are not academic or social misfits because they are people who either learnt something useful in schools or their social environment. I will say the study of entrepreneurship is one of the most important courses in every tertiary institution in the world. It is considered a profession to learn the skills to be innovative and creative in every market condition as the case may be.

Myth 5:          Entrepreneurs Must Fit the “Profile”

As human beings, we might sometimes share the same characteristics but we cannot all share the same ideology. We all have our different ways of doing things which cannot make us fit into the same profile regardless of the common characteristics we share together. The same instance applies to entrepreneurs, they are all innovators and successful in what they are doing but they have different ways and reasons for doing what they are doing. Some entrepreneurs do what they do because they want more money, while some others do what they do to make the world a better place for everybody while the others are just motivated to succeed.

Myth 6:           All Entrepreneurs Need Is Money

I must mention that so many people are millionaires through lottery or public embezzlement but are not entrepreneurs and cannot manage or sustain a business regardless of their wealth. In as much as the financial aspect is important ,it is not the only resource required to succeed. Most entrepreneurs started with little or no money and survived all their financial hurdles because they see money as a mere resource out of so many factors responsible to succeed in starting and sustaining a business venture. Most times little or no money is required to be creative and create an avenue where people will have to pay for your innovations.

Myth 7:           All Entrepreneurs Need Is Luck

As much as everybody needs luck to be better successful in what they are doing, there must have being a lot of self effort to qualify you for that opportunity. For example; if there is a job vacancy in a company to be applied for by first class graduates, if you are going to be the lucky one to get the job, you must have put a lot of effort into been an excellent student to be able to apply for the job at all. Just as the adage says luck only happens when preparation meets opportunity.

Myth 8:       Ignorance Is Bliss For Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are selling or have a target market of the elites and as such we cannot say ignorance is bliss for them. They sell their product to people who know the value of what they are buying and are interested in buying because they have a use for it. It must be mentioned that most times high cost is paid for advertisement of a new product to create awareness and enlighten people of the usage of that product.

Myth 9:           Entrepreneurs Seek Success But Experience High Failure Rates

From research, some entrepreneurial ventures survive while some don’t. Theory is usually different from practice and this explains why a business with a well laid out plan might fail when ventured into. An entrepreneur however continues to learn from different experience in a business and lessons learnt are used to improve the business until success is achieved.

 Myth 10:   Entrepreneurs Are Extreme Risk Takers (Gamblers)                                                     

 We most times see entrepreneurs as extreme risk takers because we think they buy uncertainty    with certainty. Entrepreneurs are sometimes perceived as gamblers due to the high level of risk associated with their career. We should however not forget that entrepreneurs also do their homework and conduct proper research on every project or business before venturing into it. They therefore usually take cautious and calculated risk necessary for individual project as the case may be.