Journey to Entrepreneurship: Part 1

What does it take to have an entrepreneurial mindset? This question popped up several weeks ago when one of my classmates discussed this topic before the entire class. Being business majors at the Asia Pacific College, we are required to take the Entrepreneurship course/subject as part of the curriculum. And one of the requirements to pass the subject is to come up with aPowerPoint presentation discussing a particular topic in our reference book, Entrepreneurship by Hisrich, Peters, and Shepherd. This particular topic was discussed in advance by our professor, Mr. Ramon Duremdes Jr. and I must say, this topic caught my attention because of several reasons. First, since I was still a little kid, my dream is to finish my studies, work for a great company, retire young and start my own business venture. But the thing is, I don’t have a very clear idea how to do that. Second, Entrepreneurship as a process, as an undertaking has been very intriguing to me as it is has been to most of us. The common notion is that an entrepreneur is someone who owns a business, someone whose boss is no other than himself. That to me is a very good attempt to explain what the word entrepreneur means. But looking on another perspective, does every one of us know what it takes to be one?

           Three years ago, I read a book by Robert Kiyosaki entitled “Cashflow Quadrant”. This was the second Kiyosaki book that I have read, the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” being the first one. WhatKiyosaki was trying to tell the readers of “Cashflow Quadrant” was somewhat related to the topic “Entrepreneurial Mindset”. In my mind, they kind of complemented each other. The “Cashflow Quadrant” will try to direct your path to Entrepreneurship while the “Entrepreneurial Mindset”, which is the second chapter in our reference book, will somehow make the journey to entrepreneurship a lot easier for you.

           Entrepreneurship according to Robert D. Hisrich et.al., is the process of creating something new and assuming the risks and rewards. There are two approaches to this process. First, the entrepreneur can undergo the causal process. That is to establish first your desired outcome and focus on the means to achieve the goal. Another way to do it is to start with what you already have, what you know, and whom you know and select among the possible combinations and outcomes. This is what is known as the effectuation process. The effectuationprocess is further subdivided into five basic principles which I do not intend to discuss in this blog entry.

 People that are not in anyway interested in putting up their own business can also benefit and improve their lives by practicing these principles and by acquiring some entrepreneurial skills. This is what we call intrapreneurship. Maybe it’s in this particular blog that you have heard this word for the very first time. Intrapreneurship simply means practicing entrepreneurship within an existing and established organization implementing a specific business model. Some refer to it as “Corporate Entrepreneurship”. There is such thing asentrepreneurially fostering environment. In this kind of environment, entrepreneurial actions are being highly encouraged, regarded as both feasible and desirable. An entrepreneuriallymanaged firm recognizes and leverages on individuals with unique ideas. Just look at what Steve Jobs has done to Apple Computers. His creativity and resilience spearheaded Apple’s domination of the personal computer and portable music player industry. 

           There are two things that are inevitable in life, death, and of course taxes. But if we decide to become an entrepreneur; we would have to add another thing to this list. Risk, that is. Probably one of the best distinctions between a conventional managerial setting and an entrepreneurial setting is the attitude towards risk. Managers tend to avoid risk thus, preventing them from realizing the true potential of the business. Entrepreneurs on the other hand understand that risk is an essential part of the process. So instead of evading risk, they come up with ideas and solutions to minimize it while maximizing rewards at the same time. This gave birth to the term “Risk Management”.

           Entrepreneurial mindset does not only cover favorable states of nature. It is also best tested during times of failure. There are times when it seems like the entire universe conspired to make you fail. You might have incurred a loss or the expansion of your business failed. There are a lot of worst case scenarios that might happen to you and your business but acting the right way and doing the right things during these hard times might just be the deciding factor whether you’ll recover or go bankrupt. When all else fails, it is you, the entrepreneur, who has to make the decision. What’s next is always up to you.

There is a lot more to entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial mindset than what I have written here. Just to give you the basic concept, “entrepreneurial mindset involves the ability to rapidly sense, act, and mobilize, even under uncertain conditions.” – Robert D. Hisrich et.al.  

For those who are interested to start up a new venture and looking for ideas to help them decide, you can visit the GoNegosyo website. This website features a lot of successfulentrepreneurs and possible business opportunities.  You will be surprised by the diversity of business ideas made available to you.