Before we get to the bottom of the question at hand, it is important that we first understand what makes an entrepreneur who they are. Being an entrepreneur is a mindset, a way of thinking, how we see the world. That mindset is something which seems extremely difficult to pigeonhole. The reason for this conclusion comes from the thoughts, words and actions of entrepreneurs themselves. When they talk about what makes them successful they highlight very different qualities. In Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset the CEO of Raizcorp, an African based business incubator, Allon Raiz states that ‘academic research on the psychology of entrepreneurs has shown that there is no single psychological typology (set of characteristics) that suggests an entrepreneur’s success is guaranteed.’ Similarly, William B Gartner, a professor of entrepreneurship at Copenhagen Business School, claims in the academic paper “Who is an entrepreneur?” is the wrong question, that ‘my own personal experience was that for ten years we ran a research centre in entrepreneurial history, for ten years we tried to define the entrepreneur. We never succeeded.’ Founder and director of Impact Online, social media and PR specialists, Kim McAllister claims that ‘I think you have to be driven by something and I think if you’re driven by making money, then you probably won’t succeed. You have to believe in what you’re doing and you have to love what you’re doing to get a real kick out of your success.’
Furthermore, according to an article on entrepreneur.com there are five qualities that budding entrepreneurs should possess. These are passion, perseverance, resourcefulness, open-mindedness and a sponge-like nature. Article author and Yes Man Watches founder, Nathan Resnick claims ‘if you have passion for your start-up, this will drive you to turn your idea into a reality.’ According to an article by Armin Laidre on iplanner.net, a successful entrepreneur is self-motivated, creative, intuitive, authoritative and strong-willed. Laidre states ‘successful entrepreneurs only made it past the difficult times by being strong-willed. They never let pessimism, difficulty or any other problems stand in their way.’
This was certainly the case for Kim McAllister who spoke to me about how experience of hard times can make you a stronger person ‘a cheque bouncing was a real lesson, I then had to go back to the client and speak to them to say that the cheque hadn’t cleared. I had to say to him, pay me in cash or do a bank transfer or I’m not going to do the work. That was a real lesson in standing up for myself.’ Kim also spoke of her fears when Impact Online, ‘I was still in my twenties when I set this up and a lot of my clients were men in their forties and fifties so they would have been thinking that I was just a young girl who doesn’t need to be taken seriously. It was a real eye opener. Being confident, as a business person, has been the biggest lesson that I have learned’. Mark Muir, fellow entrepreneur and founder of Journowave, a platform for student bloggers to get their work out there, states that the secret to his success is ‘just confidence and belief in yourself, if you do have moments where you fail to succeed, that’s when you look at that (confidence and belief) and that’s what you build upon. Confidence that even failures can be successes when you look back at it maybe a year later.’
We can describe the characteristics of already successful entrepreneurs but what makes one person successful may not make the next. Allon Raiz believes that ‘the ability to withstand repeated rejection and disappointment is an essential part of an entrepreneur’s makeup’. What makes a successful entrepreneur is that they have no fear of failure, they are willing to make mistakes, they accept that success or failure is not the end goal but stops along the journey of life. When asked if she thought of herself as a successful entrepreneur Kim McAllister replied ‘no, definitely not, I don’t think an entrepreneur is something you call yourself. It’s something other people might call you but it depends on what you understand as an entrepreneur. I don’t really know what an entrepreneur is, it’s someone slightly different, I suppose I could be called that but I don’t personally think that I am.’
This takes us into the psychology behind entrepreneurial thinking. There are two types of mindset, a fixed and a growth mindset. In Tracy Cutchlow’s blog in the Huffington Post she examines why some kids try harder and others give up. Cutchlow claims that ‘kids with a fixed mindset believe that you are stuck with however much intelligence you are born with…kids with a growth mindset believe that intelligence can be cultivated: The more learning you do the smarter you become’. Cutchlow highlights a study by Carol Dweck on the effect of the kind of praise a child receives. The study found that ‘kids praised for their effort tended to take the challenging tasks, knowing they could learn more.’ Conversely, Dweck found that ‘kids praised for their intelligence requested the easier task, knowing there was a higher chance of success.’
If effort is praised instead of intelligence or outcome, then the study points to developing a mindset which can overcome failure and mistakes, an essential quality for entrepreneurs. Murray Newlands, entrepreneur, business advisor and online marketing professional, also highlights the importance of the ability to learn from mistakes in his blog on cultivating mindsets, ‘the path to success is not straight. The road is full of potholes, the journey has many detours. Learning from failure is how we succeed.’ A blog by smallbiztrends.com claims that ‘entrepreneurs are all different. They have a different entrepreneur mindset that contributes to their success.’ This confirms what the research has revealed, which is that an entrepreneurial mindset is crucial, but what that mindset is made up of can be different for each entrepreneur. Furthermore, it is entirely in keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit of new invention and finding your own way to succeed.
Peace and love fellow human.
James Owens 