Factors Paper by Kathleen Mamaradlo

Entrepreneurship has long been encouraged especially here in the Philippines where most families need a bigger source of income and more job opportunities need to be generated. However, several characteristics must be possessed by an aspiring entrepreneur to help ensure the success of his/her venture. According to www.businessdictionary.com , “Entrepreneurship is the capacity and willingness to undertake conception, organization, and management of a productive venture with all attendant risks, while seeking profit as a reward. Entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by innovation and risk-taking, and an essential component of a nation’s ability to succeed in an ever changing and more competitive global marketplace.”

 

      Www.Forbes.com published an article on their website last June 4, 2012 entitled “Are you an Entrepreneur” which includes a questionnaire from Kauffman FastTrac to test an individual’s entrepreneurial aptitude. Most of the questions were on the individual’s characteristics and abilities while the latter part aims to dig deeper on why this person wants to be an entrepreneur as well as their needs to actually make it happen. Based on the self-assessment test I took, I separated my traits into three (3) categories namely, STRONG, AVERAGE, and NEEDS IMPROVEMENT.

 

STRONG TRAITS

 

               One of my most dominant trait is being passionate. Growing up, my parents showed how proud they are of our every achievement and as their child, I never wanted to let them down. This developed my eagerness to strive hard and succeed in life and trained me to give my all in every task I am faced. I also believe that all of us will   constantly encounter problems but I know that I have the stamina and patience to tackle them until they are resolved. Having said that, I would also like to think that I possess determination and resiliency in the sense that I can quickly recover from difficulties I come across. Another attribute I strongly value is having a sense of accountability. I’ve been in Sales for almost 6 years and in this line of work, I depend on the support of our internal teams to serve the clients’ requirements. Since I am customer-facing, I take accountability for whatever the outcome of our service will be. Although the back-end process is not my responsibility, I know that the customers’ satisfaction is my accountability. In relation to this, I understand that this trait is not only applicable in the workplace. Rather, we are accountable to the welfare of our society. This leads to being socially responsible, a trait that has strongly been inculcated in me especially when I was in college. Cliché as it may sound; I always try to remind myself that I don’t live for myself alone – that I am for others. In every decision or action I make, I always do my best to consider those around me. In every achievement, I believe you would understand its deeper purpose if you give back and share your successes with others. On your journey to success, it is important to ensure that you live out the values of honesty and integrity. At the end of the day, nothing would beat the feeling of reaching the goal without having to step on other people to get to where you want to be. Moreover, the career I chose honed me to build strategic connections and relationships to expand my network. This is a very important trait of an entrepreneur as it paves the way for you to learn about different people’s experiences which may be beneficial for your business. These contacts may also have their own ventures that your business can partner with. Lastly, I have always been independent. Although I recognize that there are people around me who are more than willing to provide support, I prefer to exhaust all possible efforts to get the task done by myself. I am open to advise and inputs from others, especially those whom I know have far more experience than I do, but I am taught to think on my own first before consulting someone else if necessary instead of being completely dependent on others.

 

AVERAGE TRAITS

 

               I also assessed that there are traits I possess which I believe are dominant but still needs further thrust. First of all, I would like to believe that I have the ability to adapt in uncertain environments. There are situations life puts you in which contain more questions than answers. Although I have always been independent and resilient, as previously mentioned, I don’t immediately decide to take on risks but once I do, I am able to adjust and eventually make it through. It may be noticed that there are a quite a number of traits I developed through my job, an addition to this would be my persuasiveness. This is definitely one of the most important traits a salesperson should have but I know that there are still strategies and techniques I need to learn be able to convincingly communicate with other people. It is also important in any field to have self-discipline to get things done. Personally, I do have the ability to control myself and do tasks I have to finish but there are days when I slightly lose focus and easily get distracted. Despite this, I can easily recover from times when I get derailed as previously mentioned but I know that it would be very helpful for me if I improve on this aspect. In being an entrepreneur, it is obviously a great advantage if you have keen market awareness. My college degree as well as a number of my MBA classes has helped me develop critical thinking to assess opportunities and potential needs and gaps in the market. However, since I have not experienced putting up a business of my own yet, my application of concepts have only been hypothetical and theoretical. I am sure that real-life application would be completely different as there would be several factors to be taken into consideration. This also goes with my business knowledge¸ which at the moment, is only limited to what I have learned in school. Lastly, I would like to believe that I have developed a good sense of people judgment considering that I have been exposed to different kinds of people. I believe that this is an important trait for entrepreneurs because if we set hiring employees as an example, they have to be able to determine if that certain individual can help him carry out his vision for the company. This is also applicable in dealing with other stakeholders as others may have insincere motives. Given these, I know that there are still more to be learned in terms of ‘reading’ people and knowing their true intentions. 

 

TRAITS THAT NEED IMPROVEMENT

 

               I recognize the fact that there are characteristics I need to improve on to become an effective entrepreneur. First of all, I realize the need to be more organized which does not merely apply to how I fix my documents but more on setting up effective and efficient processes/systems that would be beneficial for the business. At work, I have developed my own system which is applicable to my function in the company. However, I know that operating a business would be a different ball game. In addition to this, I also need to improve on my people management skills. Although I never had a problem in dealing with people, I have yet to experience leading a group towards the vision of the business to ensure its success. Lastly, I would also like to enhance my problem-solving skills as I know entrepreneurs constantly encounter this. My patience and determination in tackling problems was previously highlighted but I know that the best practice is to anticipate problems before they arise instead of just fire-fighting when it’s already in front of you.

 

CONCLUSION

 

               In summary, I found this exercise of assessing oneself to be very helpful as there are times when we become too complacent and confident that we can easily get to where we want to be. After taking the assessment quiz, the results show that I have the traits of a potentially successful entrepreneur. Knowing the specific characteristics that I need to work on and those that are already dominant in me, I can now strategize in such a way that will leverage my strengths and develop ways to improve my weaknesses. Based on the traits I mentioned which need to be improved, I commit to do my best to work on these because these are practically the core characteristics that make a successful entrepreneur. It may not be done in an instant but it is definitely a good start in pursuing this goal.