Should you be an entrepreneur? Read about how your personal behaviors can help or hinder your startup. Learn how to become an entrepreneur.

1. HIGH GROWTH
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Becoming an Entrepreneur

2. The short answer….
• Let’s dispel the myth that only a few people,
who are ‘born to it’ can be entrepreneurs.
• It’s not about characteristics and behaviours;
it’s about the balance of behaviours. So learn
how to understand and modify your
behaviours.

3. To be covered
• Can entrepreneurship be learned, or are you
born to it?
• What strengths and weaknesses are typical in
entrepreneurs?
• If entrepreneurship can be learned, how can
you become an entrepreneur?

4. Entrepreneurs are, in this
context…
… those who innovate and carry risk in building
a new business
So… I’m not talking about
• Intrapreneurs (so-called corporate
entrepreneurs who don’t carry the risk
themselves)
• Small-business owners (who don’t innovate
much)
• Franchisees (who don’t innovate much)
…though they are included in many
definitions of ‘entrepreneur’

5. And they do it because…
• They want to control their own destiny
• They can build something great/cool/fun
• They consider ‘having a job’ to be boring or
unchallenging
And often ..
• The world of ‘jobs’ is just too slow-moving for
them. Entrepreneurs set their own pace, and
it’s usually fast!

6. Nature/nurture debate
• Entrepreneurs are both born and made
• You have to have a basic personality receptive to
the experiences which make an entrepreneur. But
that filter still allows much of the population
through.
• Our experiences are a bigger factor, and
determine which of us will actually be able to
embrace the mindset of an entrepreneur

7. Comfortable people don’t make good
entrepreneurs
Correlation between unmet
needs and strength of
entrepreneurial profile?
When people are comfortable
and self-satisfied:
• they lose the need to
innovate in the demanding
way required of
entrepreneurs
• they lose the excessive drive
which powers an
entrepreneur’s achievement

8. Three common motivators are:
• The creative desire to build something great
(legacy)
• The desire to make the world a better place
(social conscience)
• The desire to ‘prove yourself’ (challenge)
• The desire to ‘prove yourself’ is particularly
common because entrepreneurs judge everyone,
including themselves, by what they achieve….
Results are everything!

9. Sometimes the unmet needs have
deep roots…

10. Characteristics and Behaviours
Resource gatherer
Innovator
Deal-maker
Seller
Goal-seeker
Communicator
Passion
Drive
Self-belief
Persistence
Opportunism
Vision
Optimism
Resilience …so that’s all you
need!!

11. Strengths and weaknesses are
often finely balanced:
Diluting effectiveness by trying
to follow too many
opportunities at once
Stubbornness in clinging to
a path regardless of
conflicting views
Inability to accept best practice
when it conflicts with the
entrepreneur’s views
Ability to see beyond
conventional wisdom
Persistence in
chasing a vision
Opportunism; the ability to
see and act on new
opportunities as they emerge
p.1

12. Strengths and weaknesses are
often finely balanced:
Unrealistic expectation that others
will be equally internally
motivated
Inability to manage reluctance
by potential investors to accept
the same level of risk
Lack of appreciation of the limits of
the entrepreneur’s expertise (not
knowing when to rely on other
experts)
Deep expertise in some
aspects of building a
business
High tolerance of
risk
High internal motivation
p.2

13. Strengths and weaknesses are
often finely balanced:
Inflexibility; the inability to
recognize/accept a new idea which
does not fit with the entrepreneur’s
model of what is needed
Unwillingness to delegate when
the business grows large
enough to have specialist staff
Unwillingness to give up control
(particularly when the company has
grown beyond the entrepreneur’s
skills to manage it)
The ability, and willingness, to
control the whole business
during initial start-up
Willingness to take
responsibility
Clarity of thinking; a clear view
of the tasks which must be
completed to build the business
p.3

14. Strengths and weaknesses are
often finely balanced:
The inability to recognize that the
market may not be ready for fast
innovation (particularly an issue for
entrepreneurs with a technology
background)
Inability to find time to learn and
adapt during the high-pressure
start-up phase of building a business
(hence, many entrepreneurs learn
through failure)
A high acceptance of the need
for learning and adapting in
building a business
The ability to recognize
innovative concepts and
technologies
p.4

15. • The entrepreneur is likely to be both:
• The greatest asset of the start-up
• The greatest liability of the start-up

16. Learn to be an entrepreneur
by…
• Examining your own profile … knowing how
you’re likely to behave makes it easier to
recognise inappropriate behaviours
• Getting mentors/board members/advisors who
will tell you when you’re going wrong, and
reinforce you when you’re going well
• Taking time to reflect on what you’re hearing
about your own behaviours, and modifying
your behaviours where appropriate

17. The reflective learning process
Work on the
project/company
Listen to the advice you’re
getting from
mentors/boards/advisors
Listen to feedback from
customers and staff
Balance that advice against what
you know about yourself
Change what you’re doing
where appropriate
Repeat
the
process

18. Reflective learning is difficult for
entrepreneurs because…
• Entrepreneurs are externally focused (it’s
about what I do rather than who I am). They
don’t tend to ask for personal help (it’s about
task accomplishment, not personal
development)
• It’s hard to practise reflective learning when
you’re under stress (and company building is
stressful)But the best time to learn is while you’re
actually working on a company… if you are
open to learning.

19. Understand yourself, and you can
still learn while you’re under
pressure

20. In summary
• Can entrepreneurship be learned, or are you born to
it?
• There are some ‘natural’ elements, but
entrepreneurship can be learned if you can
understand your strengths and weaknesses
• What strengths and weaknesses are typical in
entrepreneurs?
• The strengths and weaknesses are often the same
behaviours being displayed appropriately and
inappropriately
• If entrepreneurship can be learned, how can you
become an entrepreneur?
• Understand your own strengths and weaknesses, then
learn by doing and reflecting. Building companies is
the only way to learn to be an entrepreneur

21. FIND THIS INFORMATION
AT:
www.becominganentrepreneur
.biz
www.norman-evans.com
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