Real Entrepreneur Abilities: Are They Innate or Developed?

The Myth Behind the Entrepreneurship

While following the success stories of great entrepreneurs transforming small business ideas into real empires, there is one question on everybody’s lips: How did they manage it? Are they born entrepreneurs, with a predisposition to overcome all difficulties or did they follow a success recipe, which we can all make great use of?

Some researchers might argue that becoming an entrepreneur might result in years of practising and developing skills without which no one could ever manage to build a business from scratch. On the other hand, we do see many entrepreneurs failing and having their expectations let down. Which is the truth behind the heavy title of a great entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurs are Born Successful

One of the most popular approaches to the entrepreneurship myth is that entrepreneurs are born, not made. Their capacity to build and lead a business is innate and comes from good genes.

One supporter of this idea is James Koch, from Old Dominium University, who advises that an entrepreneur has to know his personality very well before starting a business. He also recommends that before going to a business school and taking lessons in entrepreneurship, to analyze the personal behaviour and capacity to go through the process of building a business from scratch. This might be a very helpful piece of advice, as there are many students who start a business school; however, they soon realize that entrepreneurship is not what defines them.

For Koch, the personality traits that are completely essential, in order to become a successful entrepreneur, reside in genetics. Just as some individuals are genetically hard-wired to make it be good entrepreneurs, some are not. This does not mean that having good genes is everything when deciding to start a business. However, this provides a good foundation for an individual to perform above the average.

Entrepreneurs are Made

Even though this side of the story does not necessarily eliminate the idea of genetical traits being inherited and helping individuals be one step ahead those, who are studying entrepreneurship, it does heavily rely on the idea that everyone can be an entrepreneur. Hard-study and being focused on your objectives are key ingredients of being able to have your own business. As there are students that find out half-way through the business school that they are not made for this, some of them might actually discover a preference for entrepreneurship as they go along.

The same way as James Koch defends the idea of a fixed set of values genetically inherited which would help young entrepreneurs on their way to success; Julian Lange, from Babson College, reflects the idea that an entrepreneur needs to have a balanced mix of all these characteristics. While for Koch taking risks seems to be the main characteristic of an entrepreneur, Lange settles for a balanced risk-taking: entrepreneurs should be ready to take risks, but only when risks are sure to bring a long-term win.

Bringing Both Sides Together: 5 Traits to Have as an Entrepreneur

Either side you would choose to go with, there are for sure many things to learn from each one of them. If you are a young entrepreneur or you desire to achieve this, there are several traits which you should acquire or improve:

• Enthusiasm – they say that, if you do what you like in life, you won’t be working one day in your life. This is indeed true, as most people manage to be successful by being extremely passionate and dedicated to their work.
• Versatility – there will be many ups and downs along your way to success. You need to adapt to any changes your business might pass through and see every change as a new life lesson.
• Taking risks – don’t be afraid to take risks and take responsibility for both failures and successes.
• Decisiveness – at all times, your vision about the business must be clear and have sharp indications on where you want it to be.
• Creativity – at many points, your business will need to grow so being able to create new strategies and business points to connect your business will be essential.

Conclusion

All in all, it is up to you on which side you are. Irrespective of the approach you might take on whether entrepreneurship qualities are innate or not, one thing is for sure: you can always improve your skills and behaviour characteristics to fulfil your objectives.

Pursuing your goals as an entrepreneur should also trigger any predisposition for a born entrepreneur; however, you don’t have to be let down if they don’t show up: motivation and decisiveness are enough to help you learn how to be a successful entrepreneur.