Entrepreneurship: Do You Have What it Takes?

A pink
slip is often a great time to start a business, but is anyone cut out to
run their own shop? I asked one
of my favorite entrepreneurial gurus for some insights. 

Beth Schoenfeldt
is a co-founder of Collective-E, a member-based entrepreneur agency.

Q) Not
everyone is cut out for entrepreneurship. What are 3 personality questions
someone can ask to know if they're really ripe for starting their own business?

Entrepreneurship
is about using your skills and talents to make things happen in the world,
anyone can be “entrepreneurial” in many areas of their lives including family,
community or even in a corporate job.

Entrepreneurship
is a challenge by any measure, to actually go out on your own and start a
profitable business these three personality assets that will help:

Independence:  Many successful entrepreneurs
love the idea of working for themselves and taking more control of their lives
and schedules; they may even feel that they have authority issues and resist
being told what, where and how to do things.  This quality works extremely
well for entrepreneurs as they embrace the idea of running their own show and
taking control of their destiny, the will trade this for the structure and
security that often comes with a corporate position.

Tenaciousness:  An entrepreneur will not stop
and will do whatever it takes, no matter the obstacle or fear that must be
overcome to make something happen.    Often, this tenaciousness is
driven by passion and a healthy fear of failure.  

Creativity
with a strong dose of intuition:  The motto that I hear from all entrepreneurs is “I will
figure it out.”  They use their creativity and intuition to make things
happen, create new products and services, overcome obstacles and brand
themselves to stand out in the crowd. As an entrepreneur you don’t have anyone
to answer to but yourself, so trusting your creativity and intuition is
critical to success.

If this
doesn’t sound like you, don’t worry you can practice and build your
entrepreneurial muscle by starting small projects and taking small steps to
build your independence, tenaciousness and creativity.  It is like
anything that is worth doing, the key is to get off the couch and get started.

Q) What's
one challenge and one benefit about starting a business now than a year ago?

From what
we are seeing with our members, the greatest challenge in starting a business
this year over last is the credit crisis; it has impacted everyone from
retailers to consumers to virtually every small business.

Retailers
and business have less credit to pay for products and services, it is very hard
for entrepreneurs to get loans or find investors, and credit has been cut by
billions so consumers are cutting back on spending, postponing purchases or
doing with less.  

There is
always a silver lining and that is that the credit crisis has forced small businesses
to work smarter.  We are seeing that there is much less waste, smarter
investments in technology and a lot of healthy creativity to solve business
problems without a lot of money, including a surge in the use of free social
media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  I hear from
many of our members that they are going to come out the other side of the
recession smarter, leaner and more productive.

Q) What's
the biggest barrier to entry today to starting a business and how do you
overcome it?

By far the
biggest barrier to entry for people starting a business is fear.  Fear of
failure, fear of losing money or income and fear of competition can paralyze
people from ever getting started.  

We believe
that with support, determination and education you can reduce the fear of
getting started.  We suggest surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs
in communities like Collective-E, research your market and business before
jumping in, find the education and resources for the areas that you don’t understand
and prepare yourself financially so you aren’t putting yourself in a fiscally
precarious situation.  By taking these actions you will be able to reduce
the fear that might be holding you back and to take the leap into
entrepreneurship. 

To connect with Beth or to learn more about Collective-E, visit www.collective-e.com.