Parjakalyanm (प्रजाकल्यानम): 12/20/21

Monday, December 20, 2021

Entrepreneurs are not made in Heaven; they are Man-made

One old saying is “The
mind is its place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven”. How
would we describe this proverb? No scholarship is needed for this. Yes, when
one is daydreaming with open eyes it needs a different approach by his
subconscious mind. Often we have heard that dreaming big is fertile and the
fruits of efforts bring us success in a given time, but very few people get a
chance to reap the harvest which they dreamed of in the past so that a big
success they can get in future.

Since I am a professional
entrepreneur so I have to be there with the same line of philosophy. In this
line, we heard that in the same industry one goes IPO and the other goes
bankrupt. Thousands of examples are there to differentiate the logic of what is
best in a man and what goes worst with the others. Here, today I am writing
about an entrepreneur. Becoming an entrepreneur is not an easy task but how we
can find such differentiation which puts us in a different but bright candle.

If you say,
creativity is the indicator of what makes you a successful entrepreneur, then
what about that if you are a creative person, everyone in this world has some
creativity to perform. Despite a small creature weaving a beautiful nest, he
does not get the status of an entrepreneur. What then does it take to become a successful
one?

Believe me, it is not
easy to say that you are an entrepreneur. Yes, definitely this statement will
hurt your ego deeply. This is what makes
our momentum a swing, this or another way our ego gives us a swing in our
efforts.

During my tenure with previous employers, I
worked with many businessmen. Yes, they
were successful businessmen but not an entrepreneur. Does it mean a successful businessman is not
an entrepreneur? In my way, yes they are
not.

They were good businessmen
because they were very creative, passionate, Adaptable, full of Stamina, Ability
to delay gratification, Curiosity about everything, Determination in planning, Competitiveness
as regards to business, Risk-taker, they were Proactive learners, Authentic, Effective
communicators, Selflessness i.e. no greed for money, Self-motivated, Optimistic,
Empathy for people, so they were with great people skills, Active participant in
various activities, Commitment, Good Networking skill, Open for help, Person of
action, Never-ending improvement, Confident, Tirelessness, Bless Empowerment, Desire
to learn, enough Grit, handle stress more effectively and report higher levels
of physical and mental well-being, Adventurous, great Ambitious, fire like Desire.

Above 33 elements of characteristics
make a successful businessman so what is needed to elevate to a throne of
Entrepreneurship?

Let’s hang out for
getting our desired answer. Here are a
few traits that will go in different directions and pace up towards conclusive
and molded thoughts. Here are 17 characteristics that will let you towards
entrepreneurship.

Patience
Decisive
Clear Vision
Consciousness
Professionalism
Planning
Growth
Mindset
Accepting
Feedback
Goal-Oriented
Discipline
Not
Taking Things Personally
Leadership
Consistency
Low
mental switching Costs
Level
Headed
Conclusion
Willingness to listen

No doubt passion is
one of the important qualities that a person should carry, enough energy is
needed to carry a heavyweight passion. But, sometimes our passion leads us
towards on a highway where we forget to put away our pressure from the accelerator
and speed become crazy. So, here we must have control over our speed and we
should continue with the speed which we can control. Patience drive that controls the mind and controls our emotions. You will see that Passionate people are
emotional because they only think in a direction without thinking about the
things they have on the left or right side.

Out of 17 traits
only 6 is needed to become a great Entrepreneur

ü Patience
ü Clear Vision
üPlanning
ü Discipline
ü Consistency
ü Willingness to Listen

Patience: Your patience controls the madness & helps us to stay at a controllable
speed. “Good things come to those who wait” might be the biggest cliché but
it’s undoubtedly true that people who are willing to wait are claiming larger
rewards and built our minds focused on our vision.

Clear Vision: Successful entrepreneurs possess undisputable
vision. They identify opportunities, break new ground and disrupt industries.
As true visionaries, they’re not afraid of taking calculated risks to achieve
their objectives. Perhaps most important of all, they tend to carry a sense of
purpose and unflappable self-confidence, ignoring the naysayers and
accomplishing what no one else has done before.

Your intuition should be your compass, pointing
you in the direction of possibilities that no one else has discovered. In the
end, you have to be able to present your vision to employees and investors to
collaborate to achieve the same goal.

Planning: As an entrepreneur, the most
important step in running a business is planning. All will be a loose
string without preparation, as they say, “If you fail to plan, you plan to
fail.” Planning requires devising a strategy for the whole game ahead of time.
It essentially adds up all of the tools available to you and allows you to conceive a structure and thinking
process for achieving your goal. A business Model is an outcome of an idea
or concept but planning helps it to make it an MVP. You can change the plan for
making the strategies for better execution but cannot change the model. Planning
leads to strategies, strategies help you live the thoughts in the market and
run the model in a live case scenario. Every startup needs this kind of
pace. So, give a gestation period for
every plan and execute the strategies in that period. See the result and
align. In a real scenario, if we are
talking about retail business, any plan/strategy should be put to execution at
least 6 months and reviewed and aligned for further action.

It is true that each strategy or planning has
to pass through four tests i.e. Think, Plan, execute and review

But you have to decide the time gap between
each of their sequence. A quarterly Review is advisable when you are going for the
next level of business development. Give
a minimum of six months’ time to your planning.

Discipline: This is part of Process and systems.
All SOPs prepared and implemented is part of discipline. Discipline is
the first step to having anything or being anything you want in life. It’s the
ability to wake up every morning and do what you said you are going to do that
day, and do that every day. Having discipline will help you continuously grow
your business in the long run.

Hence, the necessity for discipline implements
in what are the characteristics of an entrepreneur list. Discipline is
something you can fall back on when times get tough, fuels your daily actions,
and will help you take small steps forward daily. Discipline also helps set the
tone for your team and gives you power and ownership over your life. Every
moment of the business cycle goes through this trait. Discipline makes a man
perfect and for a successful entrepreneur, discipline is the foremost need.
Take it and make it your daily habit.

Consistency: What is consistency? It is
something that makes you habitual or helps your habits to make your
discipline? If you live a disciplinary
life you are making things consistent. Without a doubt, another crucial
characteristic of an entrepreneur is consistency. You have to consistently
parent your business with the same tenacity parents grow their children. It
requires commitment, investment, empathy, perseverance, and putting the goals
of the business as a priority as a consistent goal. It might look like a tall
order and it requires so much of an entrepreneur but is rewarding in the long
term.

Consistency of decision is a must in
business. You can go for change your
strategy just because of thoughts your mind is thinking day and night. A businessman can do this because his nature
of the business allows him to do but an entrepreneur never does this because he
has to scale his business for larger prospects and for the benefit of his
stakeholders.

Willingness to Listen: I have seen many businessmen
struggling with this trait because they do not listen to their managers, or
stakeholders because of their own superiority complex. I have seen leaders struggling to establish systems
and processes in their organization because of the limited thought process they
carry. It is true that no one is perfect
in this world and we cannot expect that multitasking is good for the organization. No, it is not, why should we listen to our
downline? They are not in the organization
to advise or teach us that how to implement and execute things. Yes, a businessman does think this way but
not an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs listen to their downline and the
board members of their company, their stakeholders, and even their customers because
solutions will come only from the horse’s mouth. After all, they have to execute
and run their department and they know it very well. We cannot hire people to
learn from us, we hire them to run the company in the best way they can do it
with less effort.

Communicating with highly successful
individuals in your industry will bring to your attention the importance of
willingness to listen. People are lifelong learners when surrounded by people
who can teach them new things. Being an amazing public speaker is a must, but
the other half of effective communication is listening. Hence, entrepreneurs
must leave egos at the door and be willing to be persuaded of alternate
evidence and new ideas.

You will be surprised to hear that a Kirana Retailer
(grocery retailer, Kiranawala) carries the above 50 features. And they are the
true entrepreneurs in the true sense. The task I
am giving you and please try to add all the properties and compare that these
are suitable for the grocery retailers in the great ocean of knowledge. Since I
am working with grocery retailers, I can match all the above traits and I can
say that they are the true entrepreneur. No matter they are a small seller
or a big, they are the businessman and his last survivable qualities make him a
true entrepreneur.

I have seen people
moving from a businessman to an entrepreneur and tried to know the difference
between the two. I think one must go through the above 50 characteristics which
will surely help you to increase your knowledge to reach the ultimate goal of
the business pyramid and to see success through the lens of entrepreneurship.

Kindly write your
comment on this article and how you find it suitable to vest the best part for
yourself and forward others to their stupendous success.

Reference : taken from https://enterpriseleague.com from their blog /blog/characteristics-of-an-entrepreneur/

Best of luck in your endeavor
and stay in touch with me. This is
Balwant Singh Rana, Cofounder & Director - Kirana King, Jaipur (Transforming
Grocery Retail in India). Write to me : email parjakalyanm@gmail.com

Article by Balwant
Singh Rana on : 11.10.2020 and publish on blog : 20.12.2021