Factors Paper by AC

Armando C. Coloma, Jr. Ateneo Regis MBA Program TS - ENTREP What factors I do / don't possess that make / do not make me a Business Entrepreneur? This is not me. This is me at times. This is me most of the time. This is exactly me. I have the initiative to go to work and do what has to be done / I like t be in control of the task at hand. / I want to make things at work better. / I am good with people. / I am not a quitter. I keep on trying until I succeed / I like proving people wrong when they say something negative. / I need to feel that I'm accomplishing something, whatever job I have, not just getting it over with. / I love earning money more than anything else. / I'm always thinking of how I'd change things if I'm working for someone else. / I take responsibility of the wrong decisions and credit of the right ones I made. / When I love the work I'm doing, I don't mind the time I'm spending. / I have dreams and I won't stop until I find out if I could achieve them or not. /             The result of the survey says that I possess many key attributes of an entrepreneur, and that I should give entrepreneurship a serious consideration if I have not yet decided to become one. Other  Factors: Positive Traits Willing to learn. As far as I am concerned, I am willing to collect knowledge from experienced and new entrepreneurs. During my spare time, I would research about different kinds of income-generating activities that would suit my interests. Street-smart. One thing that I can be proud of is being "madiskarte". Being resourceful is one trait of being street-smart. For example, using free advertising capability of social networks in promoting what you are selling. Experienced. Ever since I was a little boy, I have been selling different sorts of stuff to my classmates and neighbors. I sold santol picked from our tree on my second grade in elementary; made ice and ice candy during summers; learned to make macramé bracelets on the fifth grade and earned seven times more than my daily allowance. After graduating elementary when our family business was starting, I would join the route delivery starting at 2:00 am to learn the business and at the same time, to earn money to be able to buy my won Nintendo Entertainment System as a reward for myself. During summer, semester and Christmas breaks in college, I would help around in the business to have deeper understanding and know the twists and turns in managing and operating the business. Creative. Through observation and experience, I have learned that being creative can be very helpful in entrepreneurship. This attribute is vital in marketing and promoting products, especially if it is new. Having good money-handling skills. Practicality lets you save for the rainy days. I remember having a daily allowance of P10 and spending only P1 in the third grade. I learned early in life to prioritize needs over wants, and buy more important items over trivial ones. Sometimes, people call me stingy for being too practical. Multitasking. Being able to do several things at the same time can be very useful for an entrepreneur. Sometimes, there are not enough hours in a day for all the things that have to be done. Diligent. Never mind hunger, never mind lack of sleep or physical fatigue. What needs to be done has to be done. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice your time for family, friends and yourself in order to ensure that the operations run smoothly. Being in the food business, you must bear in mind that during weekends and holidays, when most people eat, rest or travel; you work even harder to contribute in what they eat. Negative Traits Lack of sense of urgency. I admit, sometimes, I put the cliché "There's always tomorrow" to the extreme. Procrastinating can be crippling for an entrepreneur, and I have yet to improve on this one. Lack of focus. Sometimes, I am easily distracted by things that catch my attention. Crossword puzzles, chatters, texters, computer games, and Facebook can occupy my time and make me forget what I am doing. Uninspired.  Doing what you have always been doing for years can be very boring and demotivating. There are times that I would do my work just to get it over with. Sometimes, my mind would just wander off to the beach.             Unprofessional. Sometimes, I take things personal. Some customers can be very irritating, abusive and dishonest and if you lose your temper, problems will arise. But so far, I haven't reached that point yet. What I would do, is to make that customer's life a little harder by decreasing his/her credit limit or even stopping delivery until all accounts have been settled.             Complacent. Being in a business where customers approach me instead of the other way around, makes one feel that they are needed and take for granted the customers' complaints and quality of service. 3 late