Born that Way? Entrepreneurs reaching BIG GOALS

Posted by Vince Poscente on Wed, Sep 07, 2011 @ 04:56 AM

Born that Way?

Are entrepreneurs born that way or are they nurtured to become one?

 

A highly respected entrepreneur, motivational speaker and professor of entrepreneurship at University of Texas, Gary Hoover says, “Entrepreneurs aren’t necessarily born that way. Anyone can become a successful entrepreneur.” With a life devoted to entrepreneurship, he ought to know.

 

Yet, research from books like, The Nurture Assumption by Judith Rich Harris, it is hard to refute that children are born with their character in place. Parents have little control over changing character traits (like entrepreneurism or lack thereof) but can have an influence.

 

Also, look at job trends in North America. It’s increasingly apparent that outsourcing to developing nations has created a seismic shift in the options for you, me and especially, our future generation. Hoover defines this shift in North America as one of a service economy. That combined with the following statistics and we can easily assume entrepreneurship will continue to drive our economy.

Small Business at a Glance

Number of Businesses

  • Large businesses of 1000+ employees: 8,000
  • Midsize businesses of 100 to 999 employees: 93,000
  • Small businesses of less than 100 employees: 8.1 million
    (does not include homebased businesses)

Source: IDC, 2005

Small businesses ...

  • represent more than 99% of all employers
  • provide 60% to 80% of the net new jobs annually
  • are 53% home-based and 3% franchises
  • account for 97% of all U.S. exporters of goods
  • produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms

Source: SBA, "Small Business by the Numbers" 2004

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Our future depends on the next generation’s awareness that being an entrepreneur is an important life skill. Case in point - Alex Poscente (13). This summer she decided she wanted to buy an SLR camera. So she planned Camp Fisher for 6-9 year olds. She sent out an email in June followed up by sales calls. In August she hosted 13 kids for five days. The cost of the camp; $50 per child. Alex hired her friends to help as camp counselors. Complete with camp t-shirts and a commemorative DVD, it was a successful venture. My wife and I did nothing to promote or facilitate the camp. She succeeded on her own initiative. You can bet her brother and sister were taking notes on the whole concept of sales, risk and reward or – in other words, entrepreneurism.

 

It is healthy to nurture your children to embrace entrepreneurship. If they have that magical ‘entrepreneur gene’ then great. Nurturing may not be as critical. If they don’t, then ensure they are exposed to entrepreneurial scenarios. The same plan would be advisable for you too. Stay ahead of the trends surrounding us, and our growing service economy.

 

Make yourself a lifetime student of entrepreneurism and it can only mean good things for our future.

 

Until next week, it’s full speed ahead,

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Tags: Goals, Motivational