Industry Profile: Entrepreneur

The challenge of creating and running your own business is just that: a challenge. The idea of becoming an entrepreneur is appealing to many, but few are willing to take the risks necessary to actually give it a try. There are many good reasons not to take a risk, but those are possibilities that you will have to assess for yourself based on your particular situation. While the advantages of running your own business and the potential small companies have are great, the uncertainty and possibility of failure can be a major deterrent.
Not just anyone can succeed as an entrepreneur. You'll need a good measure of self-confidence because you're going to be the one promoting and praising your business; not only do other people need to respect and trust you, but you must trust yourself as well-your business depends on you. A great entrepreneur should be persistent and willing to struggle through problems without getting discouraged. He or she should be good at interacting with people on all levels, from employees to complaining customers to investors. Perhaps most importantly, a successful entrepreneur must be able to carry the burden and even delight in having full responsibility in a business that is vital to his or her future.
The vast majority of entrepreneurs are individuals who purposely break with their former employers and set up a competitive business, or a business in an allied field. Many successful entrepreneurs never even considered starting their own business and may have even rejected the idea until their company either downsized and thus they lost their jobs, or, realizing their individual potential, took the skills and industry knowledge that they learned at that company and created their own.
At least initially, and perhaps even throughout the life of his or her company, an entrepreneur is required to work long hours and completely commit themselves to their project. This usually means actually enjoying the work and learning as much about the industry as possible. Even before you decide whether or not to go for it, you should have a sound, well researched idea. This entails attending lectures, reading books, scouring magazines, observing what others are doing, talking to people involved in similar ventures, etc. You want to make sure that your business idea is not only feasible, but profitable, before you dive into it.
Some people can become so caught up in their ideas that they do not make an appropriate, objective analysis of the potential business. It can be hard, when you think that you have a great idea, to pull the plug before you even really get started; but in the end it's better to discover a business's fatal flaws before significant investments are made.
Make a list of what might stop the project; pursue every conceivable avenue of investigation to learn about the prospects for your venture; visit your competitors' stores and talk to them; visit another city and talk to someone in your field who might be more willing to give you advice and information because you are not competing with him or her; basically, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Every entrepreneur is bound to run in to some unexpected snags that he or she could not foresee, but after having done the appropriate research you will be much better prepared to deal with unforeseen as well as expected setbacks as they arise.
Once you've decided to go for it, you'll need to write a business plan, decide how to finance the deal (don't invest all of your assets into just one), and ultimately get your business up and running. The specifics of how to accomplish these procedures are beyond the scope of this article, but there are many helpful books and articles on these subjects and more that should be easy to find in any library or bookstore. It's nearly impossible to get into the specifics of running a business because not only is each business different, but so is each entrepreneur (and the potential for entrepreneurial individuality is part of the appeal).
In general, however, an entrepreneur must have a heightened understanding of nearly every aspect of business and how it applies to his or her particular business. While some people may have an innate business sense, most people need a little guidance and direction. There are even college and graduate level courses in entrepreneurship that can help first-timers, or even already established business owners, gain a better understanding of their business and how best to run it.

Industry Profile Entrepreneur: