Do you have what it takes to become an entrepreneur? Are you full of innovative ideas and ambition? Are you prepared to work hard and take risks? Are you willing to take the more difficult path and face the accompanying challenges? If the answer is yes to all of these, then learning how to become an entrepreneur and starting your own business might be the future for you.
What is an entrepreneur? It’s not only someone who is self-employed. Rather, an entrepreneur is better defined as a risk taker who brings their vision or innovation to fruition. Successful entrepreneurs are able to implement their ideas by starting and managing a business, which usually involves taking a financial risk. There are specific characteristics common to successful entrepreneurs. The most important of these is leadership - the ability to create a vision, and then inspire, influence and motivate others to work towards that vision. Other characteristics include confidence, innovation and being open minded.
Becoming an entrepreneur may be a short or long-term goal. It is important to create a career plan which will help you understand the world of work and provide clarity about who you are, and the ways in which you fit into it.
How to identify the right business opportunity
One of the challenges of becoming an entrepreneur is identifying what business ideas you want to pursue; if your business dreams are to flourish you need to consider the following:
- What skills, knowledge and abilities do I have? What are my interests?
- What financial resources do I have?
- What connections or networks do I have?
- What realistic and achievable business opportunities exist?
Before you start your business, you need: Before you start your business, you need:
- A business plan. This should be detailed, thorough, and preferably interrogated by someone experienced, and with a successful business background.
- Finances. You need enough money to see you through the developmental stages, to the point where your business begins to make money.
- People. This may mean staff but could also be people who will act as advisors and offer support.
Challenges entrepreneurs often face and how to deal with them
What are the challenges of becoming an entrepreneur? The most common include:
- Deciding what product or service your business will offer. This is crucial to business success. If you offer a product that doesn’t appeal to a market, your business will not succeed, irrespective of how efficiently you run your business or how innovative you are. To address this challenge you need to prepare a detailed, realistic business plan, describing your target market and the steps you will take to ensure your business is profitable.
- Marketing your business. If people don’t know about you, they cannot buy your product or service. Investing time and money into marketing is challenging for start-ups. It takes creativity and perseverance to find a way to reach your target market.
- Managing your finances. Starting a business is expensive and you need a tight budget to stay on track. The challenge new entrepreneurs face is to ensuring the smooth flow of operations whilst maintaining the balance of cash flow. Start-ups need to ensure that funding is coming in timeously.
- Managing your time. Starting a business means taking on many responsibilities at the same time. The challenge is there are not enough hours in a day to accomplish your objectives. One solution is to prioritise. Spend time on the most important tasks, and delegate those that don’t take priority.
Do you need to be educated in a specific field before starting your own business?
There is no single educational path that guarantees success in entrepreneurial ventures.
However, there are a range of courses and qualifications that can help you develop the skills to establish and grow a business successfully. These include general business principles as well as financial and management skills. The IIE’s Varsity College offers a Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurship degree which provides graduates with general business principles and theory as preparation for entry into general employment, either as an entrepreneur or entrepreneurial thinker in corporate organisations. This degree will expose graduates to concepts, principles and theories of entrepreneurship within the context of a developing country such as South Africa. It will provide you with the skills required to create, innovate, implement and manage new products and services within either large corporates or small businesses. It will also help develop your capacity to make innovative decisions critical to the development and the establishment of creative business ideas.
The Independent Institute of Education (The IIE), of which Varsity College is a brand, is South Africa’s largest registered and accredited private provider of higher education. At Varsity College we understand that no two students are the same, or learn the same. That’s why we make sure a student’s education is shaped around them; how they like to learn, what they are passionate about, what makes them tick, and what makes them thrive. Our Education by Design approach allows students to grow into their best, and creates a space where they can live, learn and play – their way. To learn more about the School of Education at The IIE’s Varsity College click here