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The word Entrepreneur comes from the French meaning 'to undertake'. An entrepreneur is someone who owns an enterprise, company or business venture and assumes significant responsibility for the risks and the outcome of it with the intention of making profitable returns. This article examines whether entrepreneurship is a skill that can be learned or an inherent talent which appears to be built into your DNA. When you think about a high profile entrepreneur who springs to mind? What character profile, family background, educational profile and work experience is formed in your mind? What sectors do you immediately think of? Many people still predominantly associate the word 'entrepreneur' with a fairly typical stereotype. That is a young single American, techno-savvy internet literate male immersed in Silicon Valley who is highly educated, privileged, creative, and inventive working all hours and driven by a burning desire and passion. They likely got started with their first business venture whilst still at school and have quickly realised multiple streams of revenue. They've probably never worked for a company or, if so, certainly not for long due to an overriding drive and passion to make their first million before hitting twenty-five. They're self confident, obsessive and highly educated and brought up in a positive entrepreneurial family environment. They are independent thinkers who follow their own path and are unlikely to be able to work for others. Ask for an immediate role model or brand and Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Face book, Google, Twitter tend to be the most common answers re-enforcing this stereotype. Whilst these characters dropped out of the education system to pursue their dreams they do re-enforce many of the aspects of the stereotypical profile and a belief that entrepreneurs are born. The reality is that this could not be more further from the truth. Whilst these high profile characters have made it the majority of entrepreneurs fit a much broader profile of the population and this is evolving all the time with economic and societal change which brings about the conditions which will increase entrepreneurial activity. Whilst America is still considered to be the land of opportunity where entrepreneurial behaviour is positively encouraged and revered , programmes like 'The Apprentice' and Dragons Den' are becoming increasingly popular in the UK and giving rise to a new generation of people who believe that becoming their own boss and capitalising on their business ideas is the way forward. The Kauffman foundation in their research 'the Anatomy of an Entrepreneur' interviewed 549 company founders across a range of industry sectors and their findings dispel many of the misconceptions regarding the typical entrepreneurial stereotype. Here are the key points; The average age of the founders was 40 years old. 95.1% of the respondents had bachelor's degrees and 47% had more advanced degrees. Less than 1% came from extremely rich or poor backgrounds but instead was mainly middle class or upper lower class. The entrepreneurs were usually better educated than their parents. 69.9% indicated they were married when they launched their first business. It doesn't always run in the family as more than half the respondents were the first in the family to launch a business. The majority of respondents, 75.4% had worked as employees at other companies for more than six years before. 74.8% indicated a desire to build wealth as an important motivation in becoming an entrepreneur. So entrepreneurial behaviour can indeed be learned and past work experience and a good education can actually be advantageous. Hands on experience of practical business knowledge as well as the wisdom and insight learned from making mistakes and experiencing setbacks is invaluable. The ability to work effectively with others is an essential component of being your own boss or an employee in today's collaborative environment. Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes and from an array of diverse sectors. Whilst entrepreneurs are more overtly creators of ideas who will inspire themselves and others to action by a clear vision of a better future, managers, by comparison, are more geared to the execution of ideas and are more firmly rooted to the present. Both categories demand masses of action to realise goals. One of the most important ingredients for both groups to succeed, however, is the belief and the desire as well as the ability to develop and grow oneself. Having clarity of life purpose as well as a driving passion for what and why you are doing it drives action. Kath Roberts is a business mentor and entrepreneur who coaches others in how to set-up their own home-based business selling personal development products and creating the kind of life they have always dreamed of.
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