The Characteristics of the entrepreneur Are initiative, proactivity, leadership, mental openness, nonconformity, ambition, creativity and problem-solving ability.
Entrepreneurship is a phenomenon that is the order of the day. In an unstable and crisis world in which we find ourselves today, many people find entrepreneurship an alternative to a lack of job opportunities.
Emprender is something complex that has been studied for years in different areas.
Although not a new figure, it does stand as a particularly relevant figure in these times, given that the entrepreneur can bring new ideas and be an agent of change in the current situation.
What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Still today, the exact definition of what it means to be an entrepreneur is still being discussed.
Their nature is multifaceted and theorists still do not find the precise definition. It is known that an entrepreneur is completely different from another, which has entailed drawbacks when what is intended is to define it and find its characteristics.
The concept of entrepreneur comes from the Latin"in, en and prendere", means"to take or to take".
Some definitions have been more consolidated and help us define what entrepreneurship is.
In the dictionary itself, the action of emprender is defined as"to undertake and begin a work, a business, a commitment or a company, especially if they contain difficulty or danger".
The definition of the entrepreneurial person describes an individual who resolutely undertakes difficult or hazardous actions.
We can also find other definitions that refer to people who have initiative and decision to start businesses.
Other, more complete, refer to the person capable of perceiving production opportunities or services and who before it freely and independently formulate a decision to obtain and allocate resources to start up the business.
In addition, the entrepreneur creates an additional value in what he does, creates value for the economy, generates work for him and sometimes for other people.
In this creative process, the entrepreneur invests money, time and also knowledge, participates in starting up and operating in the business and rises the resources he has and his prestige looking for rewards.
For all this, when we talk about"being an entrepreneur", we are talking about someone who starts a business. However, the aspects go far beyond that.
Entrepreneurs have psychological and personal attributes that identify and characterize them as specific agents in the job market. And they have some differences with the"common businessman."
Types of entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs have been classified through different criteria. By a lake, some authors classify them according to the degree of innovation. Thus, they distinguish:
to) Innovators : They would be those who create or improve a product, process or system and who have an education and experience focused on technical aspects.
B) Administrators : Who own large companies.
Other authors, such as Smith (1967) makes use of the formative level of the person and identifies two categories:
to) Craftsmen : They are characterized by limited education and technical training and experience. In addition, he is an unsociable person, owner of a small business and who works hard but has little planning.
B) Opportunist : Is more active, educated, with communication skills, planning, able to delegate in others and their employees are collaborators. It is oriented to create a great company.
Other authors, such as Knight (1983) distinguish them according to their formation and innovative characteristics and distinguish:
to) Artisan inventor : The same characteristics as the innovative entrepreneur.
B) Promoter : Finds its role in marketing and sales.
C) General Manager : Presents a coordinating role.
Other authors, such as Amit, Glosten and Muller (1993) distinguish two types of entrepreneurs according to the motivations to get involved in business activity.
On the one hand, entrepreneurs"by push", who are those people unsatisfied by their current situation who feel compelled to start their own business venture.
On the other hand,"by attraction", those who are fascinated by a business or an idea and are personally involved in their business venture.
Other authors, such as Singer (1990) focuses on personality traits and establishes four categories:
to) Finders : Present a product, service or process where there is innovation, creating new ideas.
B) Synthesizers : Group several ideas presenting several products, services or processes where there is innovation.
C) Power Generators : Those that promote the new use, presenting a product, service or process and there is innovation.
(D) Players : There is no innovation, they offer what already exists.
Moriano and Palací (2003) entrepreneurs are classified based on the motivations that lead them to create their own business or to work independently and are classified in:
to) "Vocational"Entrepreneurs : They feel the impulse, the illusion and dream of creating their own company. They have a high achievement motivation that leads them to take risks and set themselves increasingly challenging goals.
B) Entrepreneurs"situational"or"out of necessity" : Those who create their company to escape from a situation of precarious work or do it driven by the circumstances of the moment.
Self-employment is a shelter that allows them a job to earn a decent living.
16 characteristics of an entrepreneur
They are motivated people to change
There are different reasons that lead a person to become entrepreneurial. The above typology gives a good example of this.
However, we can generalize and affirm that all entrepreneurs are motivated. For example, by a high need for achievement, or by seeking a shelter to survive.
The truth is that there are many reasons that lead you to develop your career through self-employment.
They all have some reason to change and to undertake, and that is the first characteristic common to all of them, although the reason is quite different.
They are inspirers and catalysts of change
Entrepreneurs are inspiring, have much to say and contribute to society, especially in those moments of crisis where it is difficult to see the positive side of things (and the workplace).
The entrepreneur is a catalyst for change, acts to change an existing balance, generates new opportunities.
It is contrary to the manager, whose mission is to maintain the stability of the company, being more reactive than proactive.
The manager does not want to change things, but effectively manage the company to maintain the maximum benefit.
They seek self-fulfillment or have a high need for achievement
Being an entrepreneur is a challenge, but entrepreneurship has to do with self-realization, the passion for what is done, the meaning of life and oneself.
On numerous occasions we have been led to believe that we can do nothing about various situations, we are convinced that we all have a place in the established system and that there is a correct way of doing things.
Entrepreneurship offers us a different point of view, opens the door to action and tells us about the power of oneself.
McClelland (1961) established the need for achievement. In this sense, it is considered that those people high in motivation of achievement will be more likely to create companies.
If a person wants to excel and improve every day, he is more likely to continuously seek and improve and become an entrepreneur.
Are tenacious and persistent
Following the Lao Tse phrase ,"A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step". This could perfectly be the slogan of any entrepreneur.
Although it is not necessary to resort to Taoist philosophy to understand the figure of the entrepreneur, the truth is that this quote is correct because if we stop to think, an entrepreneur is someone who decided to one day take a first step.
They are persistent and tenacious people, who at a given moment were able to start and carry out a project that in the future would bring them some kind of benefit.
They adapt quickly to changes
One of the defining characteristics of entrepreneurs is their capacity for resolution. Entrepreneurs move in a world that changes rapidly and in which we must act in the same way.
Entrepreneurs are people who usually tolerate ambiguity well and who know how to make appropriate decisions in poorly structured environments.
Its flexibility and adaptability is a necessary tool to cope with the rapidly changing world and to make decisions in the best possible way.
They are creative and innovative
A fundamental characteristic in entrepreneurs is that They are creative And are innovative.
From the moment they become entrepreneurs and decide to start their business, they must also launch their innovation, their imagination and their creativity in order to get an opportunity and make it a business.
They are creative and flexible people, who are capable of changing with experience, of finding new experiences, of taking advantage of mistakes and of creatively managing the pressures of the environment.
They are people oriented towards the future
The entrepreneur orientates his idea towards the future because he is able to imagine if a given opportunity or idea can become a successful business.
They are people who perceive the future as a new Goal to reach And that are guided in the development, which are demanded and actively seek ways to achieve the goals that have been proposed.
They often look to the future to identify opportunities, to make innovations, to obtain resources, to take risks and to carry out its company.
They have initiative and are optimistic
Other personal characteristics of the entrepreneurs are their initiative or their optimism.
Some authors consider that their optimistic nature helps them to solve and to face the obstacles with which they are in the way.
The initiative is necessary to develop the idea, to seek the best way to solve problems, to be receptive to social relations, to orientate towards specific goals...
They are people with greater locus of internal control
Entrepreneurs tend to have a greater Control locus Internal, which allows them to attribute what they achieve to abilities that depend on themselves, such as their effort.
Entrepreneurs are people who feel capable of handling the things that happen to them, that they can solve the difficulties and that it is they who direct their destiny, not luck or chance.
This greater locus of internal control makes them more proactive people, who seek to solve problems, are more creative and innovative, take risks and are not afraid to make mistakes.
They are people who trust in themselves
People with Greater self-confidence They are more likely to end up being enterprising as they rely on their own capacity to carry out the project and will be able to solve the difficulties.
Thus, different researchers argue that people who rely on themselves and their skills are often more successful in business.
Are people willing to accept and take risks
As we said in previous sections, entrepreneurs trust in themselves, in their capacities and have a greater locus of internal control, which also leads them not to be afraid to err and thus to take risks.
Entrepreneurs are people who calibrate and calculate well the risks they are willing to accept.
They are people who seek independence
Entrepreneurs are often characterized as autonomous and independent persons. They are often leaders who like to be"their own boss."
This yearning for independence and freedom often leads them to develop their own idea and business and perhaps is one of the most relevant factors when we talk about entrepreneurship.
Autonomy and independence provide the entrepreneur with great satisfaction because they think that they can be responsible for their lives.
They construct their own values, behaviors and objectives, having as socially defined parameters, which leads them to live more fully.
They are people capable of tolerating uncertainty and ambiguity
To be an entrepreneur one must be able to tolerate the uncertainty of life and decisions and all that is to start a new challenge or adventure.
most of the decisions Which an entrepreneurial person takes will do so by guiding himself in partial data or even in intuition or what he thinks may happen. But you will not have anything clear. And this will lead you to make decisions with doubt and taking risks.
Information is often ambiguous and unstructured and the situations faced by the entrepreneur are often new.
Entrepreneurs often tolerate uncertainty, tend to perceive opportunities in new situations and find new motivations to carry out the project.
They are people committed to what they do
Commitment is really a trait of the entrepreneur. Without commitment there is no entrepreneur.
We were already referring to the Characteristic of perseverance , That we could also join the commitment.
The entrepreneur is tenacious and persistent in the idea that persecutes and that takes to him to overcome any obstacle and to continue insisting in spite of anything.
As they are people who also tend to self-realization, they are responsible people, formulate their goals well and commitment leads them to strive continuously.
Entrepreneurs are people who dedicate a lot of effort, resources and time at work, even sacrificing other things in their life that are also important for them in pursuit of their business.
Many of them succeed, and the key is possibly in their tenacious nature and commitment to the project.
They are flexible, stable and problem-solving
In addition, entrepreneurs are emotionally stable and enjoy self-control. If this were not so, they could hardly achieve success.
We are arguing that success depends, to a large extent, not on luck, but on tenacity and persistence of the person.
To take risks and act under ambiguous conditions and uncertainty, the person needs to be emotionally stable and have self control, otherwise, he could not successfully overcome the anxiety that all this implies.
In addition, entrepreneurs are versatile and flexible, they seek truth and are always informed, which helps them to make decisions.
They are very organized and planned people, with a great capacity for analysis and synthesis, which leads them to solve problems in the best possible way.
Social relations are good
Another important characteristic of entrepreneurs is their social side. When you create a business and carry it forward, you have to make it known.
The marketing and advertising of the idea or business itself is fundamental to success. This requires good social relations, contact with people and good interpersonal skills.
Here we would also include the values that define a good entrepreneur: an honest, honest and trustworthy person, which does not mean that he can not be an individualist to carry out his business.
Differences between entrepreneur and entrepreneur
Sometimes there is debate on the differentiation between the entrepreneur and the entrepreneur, since the start-up of a business could indicate to us that an entrepreneur and an entrepreneur is the same, so they could be considered synonymous.
The entrepreneur goes beyond starting a business. And the word entrepreneur is usually reserved only for some cases.
It is used to describe those people who begin and carry out a project around which diverse objectives are articulated (ie, not only economic, but also personal).
Also symbols and conceptions regarding their own specific identity, abilities and psychological characteristics (which would form what is called"entrepreneurship mentality") and all this moves and is projected into the future with a creative and innovative intention.
The entrepreneur is the one who runs a company but although it coincides with the entrepreneur in identifying business opportunities, in that word is not perceived innovation, creativity and risk.
In addition, the objectives of the entrepreneur are usually essentially economic (livelihood, monetary benefits) while in the case of entrepreneurs can also find personal growth, Altruistic , Creative, motivational...
History of the enterprise
It was already used around the sixteenth century to refer to the adventurers who traveled to the New World to seek opportunities without knowing what could be found and also to those who were related to military expeditions.
Two centuries later, this denomination also extended to the architects and constructors of bridges and roads.
In the seventeenth century the concept of entrepreneur changes radically. Then it is taken and seen from an economic point of view. Who gives a twist to the concept is Richard Cantillon, a French economist and writer.
He defines the entrepreneur as"the agent who buys means of production at certain prices in order to combine them into a new product".
Later, other authors, among whom we can find economists, complete their definition. They add that the entrepreneurs were to be leaders.
Other economists such as Adam Smith or John Stuart Mill also theorized on the figure of the entrepreneur and realized that it was necessary to carry out a work of specification with respect to it and to"save"it from subjecting the English term"business management" Too broad and general.
It was aimed at underestimating the term and stressed the importance of the figure of the entrepreneur for economic growth.
Later, Marshall, in 1890, argues that the entrepreneurial spirit is the motive element, which moves the machinery in the economic production.
He believes that entrepreneurs must be natural leaders, in addition to the ability to anticipate and adapt to change, act creatively and take risks.
This author establishes the idea that each entrepreneur is different even though some skills are common in his figure and assume that the skills that are part of what could be an entrepreneur are difficult to observe but can be learned to become an entrepreneur.
It is noteworthy that still continues today to discuss about the aspects that involve the concept of entrepreneur without reaching a tacit agreement between different theorists and researchers from multiple fields.
Many are still Find an acceptable solution . But everyone agrees, usually, that someone who undertakes must be imaginative and put into action their creativity and imagination.
You should strive to create and seek an opportunity and transform it into the business you want. It is the basic characteristic of the entrepreneur the multifaceted nature.
And you, do you consider that entrepreneurs are defined by some other characteristic?
References
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- Circle of entrepreneurs (2009). Entrepreneurship: an essential element to confront the Spanish crisis. Madrid Spain.
- Spirit, R., and Sastre, M.A. (2009). Explanatory factors on the entrepreneurial attitude of university students in the Community of Madrid. Santiago from cali.
- Moriano, J.A. (2005). The psychosocial profile of the entrepreneur: a study carried out in Castilla y León. Madrid: Economic and Social Council.
- Moriano, J.A., Trejo, E., and Palací, F. (2001). The psychosocial profile of the entrepreneur: a study from the perspective of values. UNED: Journal of Social Psychology, 16 (2), 229-242.
- Muñoz, L. A. (2012). The new socially responsible entrepreneur. Pamplona: Eunsa.
- Royal Academy of the Spanish Language. Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language.
- Sánchez Almagro, M. L. (2003). Psychological profile of self-employed. Thesis. Complutense University of Madrid.