Hello Stephen my name is Kima Davids I was in the camp were you spoke on Entrepreneurship on Monday.
Davids: In camp I overheard you saying there is a difference between an entrepreneur and a businessperson. Do you mind throwing some light?
Steve: No I don’t. An entrepreneur is a businessperson but all businesspersons are not entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur is usually someone who discovers a potential business idea and makes investment of time, creativity and other resources into it in order to ensure that it succeeds. An entrepreneur usually assumes the risk of the business that he/she is starting since it’s usually a new business with potential risks. But some businesspersons were simply employed to manage existing businesses with already established systems. Take the bank for instance its employees are usually there to follow instructions or routines. The customers are already there waiting for the bank to open. Every staff is responsible for a unit of the bank and does not have to worry much about what is happening to other units. Bankers are businesspeople and many of them are not entrepreneurs.
Some self employed workers are also not entrepreneurs because they don’t act like one. Entrepreneurs enjoy diving into new business opportunities. They are usually willing to take risks. They create business opportunities or take advantage of existing ones. If you’re afraid of taking risks, creating new businesses, or taking advantage of opportunities you are not an entrepreneur.
Davids: which is easier to be a businessperson or to be an entrepreneur?
Steve: well that depends on a number of things. We are in the age of entrepreneurship- people make money doing things that were once considered to be menial like cracking joke, packing wastes, cleaning houses and ushering in events. This age makes it easier for people (entrepreneurs) to rise, thrive and make tremendous impact with little or nothing. On the other hand building a “business” in the right sense of what a “business” is may be difficult for many of us. A business is not a place where buying and selling takes place, a business is simply a system that can function in the absence of the owner. That is why I am careful with the word “businessman” Until you own a business- a financial system- you are not yet a business man. A business has a defined objective, target market, team of competent managers, independent units functionally coherently and lots of other things. Entrepreneurs may not need all of these because entrepreneurs usually make money doing what they love whether it is writing, taking care of dogs, drawing or selling high end products. Business is technical, entrepreneurship is not. Business requires logistics but entrepreneurship requires a driving passion. Once you’ve made the money, you can decide to build businesses and using the experiences and money you have gathered over the years you’re very likely going to succeed in building a better business.
Davids: what’s your advice to entrepreneurs who are still struggling financially?
Steve: life is in stages… give your work some time to yield result. Also ask yourself: why is this not working? What am I missing? How can I bootstrap my business result? What is hindering my success? Financial struggle is not something to pamper or pet, you gotta face the truth. You gotta be brutal in your approach. You may have to consult a business coach, talk to an industry leader, pray much more about your work and most importantly give yourself wholly to your work.
Davids: what does it take to become an entrepreneur?
Steve: To be a successful entrepreneur, you need passion to make a difference anywhere you are. Willingness to take risks- calculated risks of course; a good attitude towards life- seeing failure as an opportunity to learn and work better. You also need to look out for lucrative business ideas and be willing to work things out. Without a good business idea, you are not an entrepreneur yet because you have not found a reason to be paid. A successful entrepreneur must be flexible, learning to adapt, learn, unlearn and grow with time and trends. He/she must be willing to let go of the old and embrace a new opportunity.
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STEPHEN MICHAEL is a speaker, coach and writer. He is the Author of The Enterprising Student, Unleash Your Talents and some other books. He trains writers, speaker and is actively involved in entrepreneurship development programs.
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