I will say that I'm glad that I picked a topic that was of sincere interest to me, which all of my professors this semester have wisely suggested, or it would have been a rough road from research to conclusion. I chose to do this paper for Dr. Rhoads class on the effects of educational programs on entrepreneurialism. I know a few of us have talked about the kind of crazy people entrepreneurs are supposed to be in our blogs before, and I wanted to find out if there were a lot of people doing studies that supported programs that encouraged us to be/turned us into crazy people at the university level. Sure enough, a good amount of the research I found suggested that there are a certain set of traits, sort of, that entrepreneurs possess, and that those traits could be groomed and cultivated with the proper training programs.
I think it's an interesting proposition to profess that you can teach someone to be an entrepreneur at the university level, since most people believe that certain skills/characteristics possessed by entrepreneurs are one's that are unable to be taught. I do believe that a lot of the skills that I've developed, however, that are pointing me towards an entrepreneurial career have very much been influenced by the very fortunate upbringing and educational experiences that I've enjoyed up to this point.
On a related note, November 15 to 21st is global entrepreneurship week, which I just found out since I am a follower of the Kutztown SBDC's Blog. You can click here to be taken to the article on the Kauffman Foundations website that describes what that week will be all about. We are actually going to be doing a lot of work to improve our blog over the next few weeks, and I think it would be worthwhile for a lot of you to check out (click here to be taken to the site). If you're interested in becoming an entrepreneur, and receiving some of that education that I just talked about for free, definitely keep us in mind over the next few weeks. We're going to be constantly looking for ways to impove, too, so feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions in class.
I liked your post. I agree that entrepreneurial traits can be groomed, but I believe they have to be there from the start. You need to have a certain set of traits and skills that are part of your persona and cannot be taught or learned. My brother started his own landscaping business about 15 years ago and has done quite well. He's had the entrepreneurial spirit. He works ridiculously hard and gets all that he deserves. He always told me that you have to have a certain level of risk-taking ability and be willing to accept that you might fail. That's a hard concept for a lot of people to swallow, myself included. But if you're not willing to take the leap, how will you know where you're going to land?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jeff that its a nice topic, and worth exploring. I know personally this topic strikes a chord as I have for years debated opening my own hedge fund. That, or going to work for an "established company." It's a tough call becuase of the risk. If the entrepreneurial path works out, great. If it doesn't, then you've spent (notice I didn't say wasted) 3-5 years of your working life, as well as precious capital, on a venture that proved to be fruitless. Throw in a family, and you can see why it does take a certain type of personality, like Jeff K. alluded to. But indeed, the rewards are great if you can turn it into a success. And as a fan of biographies of successsful people, how many times have we read or heard about people who failed SEVERAL times before turning a successful business. Too many. That fact adds to the allure and excitement of giving it a try.
ReplyDelete"You can't learn to swim by reading a book." That quote always sits with me, even as I question the validity of my own business education. But in the end, I think it can't hurt to have as many "tools" as possible before embarking on any journey...in our case, whether that's an MBA degree, the use of the SBDC, or reading biographies of our idols.