What drives you to undertake?

We propose 20 questions for you to discover if you are an entrepreneur:

1. Do you consider yourself an optimistic person? To begin with, an entrepreneur always sees the glass as half full. “If you have a project, the entrepreneur is willing to risk the little or a lot of money that he has and, even, his family environment. They are people who commit to a project with an optimistic spirit ”, says Eugenia Bieto, director of the ESADE Business Initiative Center.

2.Have you always had a curious spirit? “Entrepreneurs are curious people. They are interested in everything. They have the antennas on ”, Bieto points out. “Curiosity drives them to be curious 24 hours a day. It is not about letting things surprise you, but going to look for them. This initiative characterizes the entrepreneur ”, he continues.

3. Do you identify with a persevering character? Begoña Beviá, from the EOI Entrepreneurial Initiative Area, warns: "If an entrepreneur is not motivated, no matter how much he associates with other motivated people, if something goes wrong, he will end up throwing in the towel."

4. Do you really trust your possibilities? "The enterprising person has to have absolute confidence in their project and that they are prepared to carry it out", emphasizes Beviá. "She is going to make decisions and she has to do so decisively, without fear and trusting herself, even if they may be wrong or the result is not what was expected," she continues.

5. Do you think you were born with the wood of a leader? Luis Puchol, professor at Icade, highlights the importance of having the “capacity and willingness to assume the guidance, direction and responsibility
of the work of a group of people. Most entrepreneurs experience early leadership ”.

6. Do you have an idea and are you capable of developing it? “Although an entrepreneur prototype cannot be generalized, there is a common attribute that it is difficult to do without to undertake: the vision, understood as an image, a projection into the future, of the place that its products will occupy, as well as the image the type of organization necessary to achieve it ”, explains Eugenia Bieto. To see beyond. "This ability to visualize the future company and its success must be transmitted by the entrepreneurial entrepreneur to all the people around him: family, friends, financial institutions, potential clients and suppliers, with the aim of actively involving them in their dream and, thus, facilitating its realization ”, he continues.

According to Begoña Beviá, “it is not about creating something new, but about seeing how it can be improved and renewed. It is more of a creativity to innovate ”. "It's a matter of being renewed or dying," he jokes.

7. Do you have excess capacity for initiative? Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group, started a newspaper at his school at age 17, at 20 he decided to give birth to a record label for which he signed nothing more and nothing less than the Sex Pistols, and to date he has been involved in each and every one of the 350 businesses that make up his group, from limousine rentals to bridal shops. New solutions. Luis Puchol understands that entrepreneurship is a matter of initiative: “An entrepreneur has creativity or, at least, the ability to provide new solutions to old problems, or even to pose new problems. It is about breaking with the established and known, to find new ways of doing things ”.

Michael Roberts, professor at Harvard Business School, clarifies: “It is not enough to have ideas, in addition, you have to be clear about how they are going to be developed. You have to ask yourself the following question: Do you know what are the characteristics that define the business opportunity that you have detected? You must focus on the opportunity and, from there, start looking for all the means that will allow you to respond to that opportunity before others ”.

8. Have you gone out and know the market? Or what is the same: Are you able to explain to consumers what your product or service is for and how it will improve their lives? Eugenia Bieto highlights the ability of entrepreneurs to be constantly with their eyes open. “Having a good project comes from curiosity. After all, where does a project come from? From what you see in the environment, from the needs you see there, and from being able to solve those needs in an imaginative way ”, he comments. Begoña Beviá expands on this ability: "Knowing the sector where you are going to enter implies analyzing that market, but also knowing your product well, even if at the moment it is only in your head". Sure you recognize yourself in that definition, but you also ask yourself: How can you know if you have a business opportunity on your hands?

Michael Roberts proposes: “There are three variables: market, technology and equipment. The most important thing is that there is a market, that you do not have to fight to get customers. Then you have to ask yourself what can stop your competition if they want to copy your business model ”. But he warns: "For this you have to know the market well."

Change the market. According to Roberts, “if you go out into a new market, which has not yet been tested, you have to be very clear in your head what is the argument that explains what change has occurred in consumers or in the market for that opportunity to have arisen ”. If it is a mature market, advises the Harvard Business School professor, you have to be very clear to what extent and in what way you are going to be able to modify that market.

10. Are you afraid of risking family stability? The story of the entrepreneur during the first years of his business adventure could be titled: "The family ... and one less." This is one of the risks that are not usually evaluated and that also distinguishes an entrepreneur from people who simply have good ideas and are creative. “The ability to take risks is a litmus test that separates true entrepreneurs from creative people or those who are just intrapreneurs. If you are truly an entrepreneur, you have to show that you dedicate all your energy to the project, that you are willing to work a lot, and that you take personal and relationship risks. To the extent that you make a pact with the family, you assume a risk: that they do not see it clearly, ”says Bieto. “What is the price to be paid for being an entrepreneur to carry them out, but within a company. They limit the risk to their reputation within the company, ”he says.

11.Are you afraid of losing money? The fear of risking an economic investment is more widespread. And it is usually a brake with less weight than is usually given. "You have to be willing to face calculated risks, remembering at the same time that risks must be diversified," says Puchol. "You have to assume that you are going to have to be able to subsist for a season with low profits, or no profits at all," continues Puchol. As Roberts recommended, to the extent that the entrepreneur is able to put limits to that fear ... the less fear he will have, and, in the long run, if his business venture does not work, the less frustration he will feel. Intrapreneurs. Eugenia Bieto indicates that “if you don't take risks, you are also an entrepreneur, but internal. They take on another type of risk: their credibility within the organization. Design your project, look for support. And that is a risk, ”he explains. “They have almost all the qualities, but they are afraid to undertake outside their company. They are people who also have a great initiative, who have ideas, and who, in addition, are committed to carrying them forward, but within a company. They limit the risk to their reputation within the company, ”he says.

12. Can you control your frustration? Regardless of the luck that an entrepreneur may have, no success story has always had the wind on its side. “This is a fundamental quality in the entrepreneurial person, because they will have to face delays, difficulties or unforeseen events that can lead to disappointment and failure. It is normal that not everything goes well the first time, but it is necessary to know how to face the obstacles that can get in the way and persevere, ”says Beviá. dor? In the first place, having to choose between money and free time, or between money and quality of life. Most of the profits of an entrepreneur's business will come at the cost of non-working hours. An entrepreneur has to be willing to work hard for a long rather than a short season ”, highlights Luis Puchol.

13. How well do you adapt to changes?

Luis Puchol insists that “the entrepreneur is characterized by the ability to adapt to very diverse conditions, to be comfortable in very different environments and to deal with people with characteristics other than their own, as well as by tolerating frequent changes in their environment and a high dose of stress ”. “This has to do with the fact that the entrepreneur does not act in isolation: the development of his project, its start-up and its growth and success will depend on the relationships that he establishes in different areas, so it is convenient that he has facility for relationships personal, for communication and for negotiation ”, warns Beviá.

14. Do you have communication skills?

Puchol insists, and together with him all the experts that we have consulted to prepare this dossier, that “all successful entrepreneurs are good or excellent communicators. They are capable of expressing wishes, needs, objectives, ideas to their partners, clients and suppliers ”. “At the same time, they tend to have a good knowledge of human nature and know how to sell their ideas tactfully. In relation to the above, they distinguish how to deal with and behave with different people, and they are very perceptive in distinguishing when is the right time to start a negotiation ”, he adds.

Beviá defines the born entrepreneur as follows: “It has to do with the preference for interpersonal work relationships, which includes the ability to communicate and obtain adequate information to achieve the objectives pursued, or for the generation of collaborative relationships. ”.

15. Do you skillfully defend your positions?

The ability to communicate, experts point out, has to do with confidence in your project and in your position when defending your business idea. In this sense, Puchol points out: “It is a question of assertiveness, not aggressiveness. The entrepreneur has to be willing to defend their opinions, their positions, their interests ”. "Entrepreneurs make their decisions on their own, which does not mean that, out of prudence, and to contrast opinions, they do not ask other people before making a decision, but when they adopt it they become fully responsible for it," he continues.

16. Do you know how to work in a team? Do you know how to delegate? Do you know how to create teams?

An entrepreneur has to be capable, not only of knowing how to recruit a good team, but he has to know how to delegate and take advantage of the potential of each of his players. This is a skill that has to evolve as the company grows. In addition to knowing how to select their collaborators, the entrepreneur's ability lies in knowing when to recruit. And it's not just about teaming up with employees, collaborators or partners, but also with service and product providers. According to Eugenia Bieto: “This ability brings together the capacity for conviction, seduction, knowledge, communication, but to drag a team you have to have a good project. It's hard to drive people crazy. " “And to drag people you have to have leadership skills, and having leadership skills implies knowing how to create teams, knowing how to work with teams, and knowing how to communicate. You have to know how to motivate people. We are going to profit and loss. It boils down to this ”, he concludes.

 Knowing how to work in a team also means knowing how to delegate. "Mastering this skill is a useful motivational tool for employees," says Beviá.

17. Are you good at negotiating?

Prices, service contracts, alliances, capital raising… an entrepreneur constantly faces the need to negotiate. "And it does it both externally, as potential clients, suppliers or partners, as well as with people from the organization itself: collaborators, superiors or subordinates," says Beviá. "Despite the fact that it is a daily activity, negotiation processes tend to be little thoughtful and left to intuition," he continues. "This can mean that, in many cases, collaboration agreements are not reached and that relations deteriorate, that the parties do not commit themselves or, simply, that it is agreed in conditions much lower than those that could be reached", he concludes .

18. Do you have a commercial orientation?

Breathe easy, you don't have to. “An entrepreneur has to be a good internal and external communicator. If you do not know how to sell, bad business. Now, it is not so much about not being a good salesperson as about knowing how to transmit your vision of the company, of the product, of how you have to offer the service to a salesperson: what and how do you want to sell, and what is the image you want give ”, highlights Begoña Beviá.

The entrepreneur is born, but it is also made. You have the idea, you have good communication skills and you are more than willing to take risks, but you still lack other skills. Are you therefore less entrepreneurial? Don't worry, there are resources at your disposal to learn those skills that, at the moment, you lack. From free courses financed by the European Social Fund, coordinated by the autonomous communities, to online resources.

19. Do you have knowledge of tax management?

Luis Puchol warns that “to become your own boss, five things are essential: a realistic idea; certain specific qualities; an initial capital; a willingness to work tirelessly at all times, especially in the initial stage, and training, at least basic, in finance, accounting, marketing, sales, human resources, etc ”.

Begoña Beviá insists on the need for an entrepreneur to have knowledge of management, finance and human resources before starting his business. According to Beviá, among the knowledge and skills that are usually mentioned to run a company, no matter how small, you should have notions of:

– Financial management. How to know your balance point.

– Accounting. Basic notions to manage your working capital.

– Market study. With the intention of knowing what you should know about your environment to be successful with your product or your service.

– Advertising, promotion and public relations. Know how these tools work to know exactly what, when and how you want your company to communicate with consumers. Also to learn merchandising techniques.

– Quality of service to customers. Customer Support.

– Taxation. Know the legal framework in case you will have to have a waist later. It is not about being an expert, but about knowing in which environment you are going to move.

“It is not so much about knowing how to calculate VAT, but about when you have to enter it so that you can make a forecast on time. When you talk to your financial advisor, you should also understand all the concepts that he talks about. At the end of the day, you are the one who is going to make the decisions in the company, ”says Beviá. In this sense, Koldo Aiestaran, one of the founders of Kukuxumuxu, always cites among the ideal skills of an entrepreneur “the control of peripheral areas, such as finance, production or human resources”.

20. What about Human Resources management?

If they ask you what is the main element to take into account when selecting your first employees, what would you answer? Work experience? Your academic record? What shares your enthusiasm for your product or service? Or would you assess if you already knew that employee previously? The correct answer, according to Guy Kawasaki, CEO of Garage Technology Ventures, is the third: your enthusiasm. "As with other skills, it is not about being a great human resources consultant, but about knowing perfectly the type of human capital you want to surround yourself with," explains Begoña Beviá.

Fountain:

http://www.emprendedores.es/