Abstract
A successful entrepreneur should possess specific characteristics to build a profitable business. For example, one needs to be emotionally resilient, agreeable, adaptable to external changes, and open to opportunities to start and maintain a company. Furthermore, leadership skills, global thinking, the ability to work in teams, adequate comprehension of financial concepts, and persuasive power are crucial for starting a company. Indeed, entrepreneurial identity is not only the capacity to promote a product or service to the target audience but also the art of convincing investors to change their judgment and thinking. Many assessment tools allow revealing positive and negative personality traits that may help or impede building a prosperous firm. As the evaluation of my qualities revealed, I have strong entrepreneurial alertness, leadership skills, personal seller ability, and global thinking. However, I need to develop an expertise in working with other people. Although my weak collaboration skill does not indicate that I cannot open my own company, a profitable business is based on an entrepreneur’s talent to delegate tasks and inspire others.
Introduction
Rapid technologic advancement resulted in the rise of interest in entrepreneurship among young people worldwide. Their contribution to the global economy is enormous because new businesses generate more jobs, reducing the unemployment rate (Setia, 2018). However, entering the business world and creating a prosperous company requires specific traits and characteristics that can be present naturally or developed by learning and training. According to Setia (2018), the five features of a successful entrepreneur are extraversion, agreeableness, emotional resilience, openness to experience, and conscientiousness. Furthermore, business founders need to recognize opportunities, adapt to external changes quickly, and manage several tasks simultaneously (Zhou et al., 2020). Various assessment methods and tools are available to evaluate one characteristics and predispositions to becoming a business person. This essay aims to reflect upon the results of such assessment to discuss my entrepreneurial and managerial traits to identify strengths and areas for improvement.
Entrepreneurial Alertness and Team Venture
One of the main functions of a business person is to recognize opportunities that other people overlook. Indeed, according to Zhou et al. (2020), “creative individuals with appropriate education should construct an entrepreneurial identity that prescribes their behavior patterns, such as creating more innovations” (p. 12). As the assessment demonstrated, my entrepreneurial alertness is high, which is relatively accurate since I often have creative ideas not found elsewhere. However, I have not started my business yet because I am more effective at working alone than in a team. It is challenging for me to delegate work to other people; thus, I find it easier to complete tasks myself. Still, it does not suggest that creating a profitable business with this combination of traits is impossible. Conversely, knowing this weakness allows me to shift my focus to opening a small firm that does not require many people for operation.
Managing Credit in Small Business
Another important trait for an entrepreneur is governing finances in a company. Having resilience is not sufficient to build a successful business because financial challenges require understanding this field. Therefore, one needs to understand an investment, budget plan, breakeven point, revenue, and many other concepts. As the evaluation showed, in a small business, I will be able to pay my bills properly. Still, I need to develop a deeper comprehension of such notions as debt and finances to avoid failures at the early stages of a startup.
Personal Seller
The ultimate goal of any business is to sell the final product to customers or an idea to investors. Indeed, Zhou et al. (2020) claim that true entrepreneurs are distinguished by their ability not only to promote their services but also “to influence judgments and assessments of investors” (p. 2). The assessment revealed that I have strong characteristics of a personal seller. For instance, I am comfortable speaking to crowds about a company’s products, the details of which I can easily remember and articulate to other people advantages. Moreover, I have the tenacity to reapproach clients who are reluctant to interact with any seller or rejected me previously.
Global Thinking
Viewing a bigger picture and considering various aspects of an issue is critical in building a profitable startup. Hence, an entrepreneur should be familiar with different subjects related to one’s company. A trait that allows business people to develop global thinking is openness to experience, which requires enthusiastic interaction with other people to gain new knowledge and skills (Setia, 2018). From this evaluation, I found out that I understand events and participants that may influence my potential firm in the future.
Leadership
Being a robust leader is crucial for success in the entrepreneurial field. Indeed, leadership is the art of taking responsibility, delegating roles, and inspiring employees to outstanding performance. Although the assessment showed that I have good leadership potential, I still need to consider many personal growth and improvement areas. Specifically, I should learn how to translate my enthusiasm to other individuals to evoke positive change in them.
Human Resource Management
An interesting finding from this assessment was that I would be a better fit for working in a small business after graduation. However, I always viewed myself as a person who prefers working for an established corporation to a startup because I value stability. Still, I consider creating my firm in the future that somewhat contradicts my wish to work in a secure environment. Nevertheless, it coincides with my core belief that an entrepreneur should manage two competing ideas.
Conclusion
To summarize, becoming a successful business person requires developing such essential characteristics as emotional resilience, agreeableness, alertness to opportunities, leadership skills, financial literacy, and global thinking. Various assessment tools allow us to understand a person’s strengths and weaknesses in one’s entrepreneurial career. The evaluation of my traits showed that I could build a small business due to creativity, openness to experience, and the ability to manage debts and finances. However, I need to learn to work in teams and delegate tasks to other people for the further advancement and prosperity of my future firm.
References
Setia, S. (2018). Personality profile of successful entrepreneurs. Journal of Economics, Business & Accountancy Ventura, 21(1), 13-23.
Zhou, J., Xu, X., Li, Y., & Liu, C. (2020). Creative enough to become an entrepreneur: A multi-wave study of creative personality, education, entrepreneurial identity, and innovation. Sustainability, 12(10), 1-16. Web.