People throw around the term “entrepreneur” like you wake up one day and decide you’re going to be one! Nothing could be further from the truth.
The problem is many who call themselves entrepreneurs are really are small business owners in disguise. They could become entrepreneurs if they changed their mindset and mastered the competencies of entrepreneurship. But, that means that they must admit that they’re not currently entrepreneurs, and are instead an “entrepreneur in training.”
Entrepreneurs Have a Different Mindset
A true entrepreneur think of a business differently than small business owner. To an entrepreneur a business is an income generating asset. Therefore, they build it like a self-sustaining entity.
Once you’ve made this shift in your mindset, you’ll some very specific competencies. Let’s look at what you’ll need to master to call yourself an entrepreneur!
Identify a Need (Problem)
While many will say there are many people that demonstrate this competency, I would agree. Any good manager has this skill. But, it is the entrepreneur that knows how to create a cash flow stream from a problem. It is this innate ability to see opportunity in the marketplace and turn it into revenue that allow entrepreneurs to replicate their success over and over.
Entrepreneurs Create Solutions
Entrepreneurs are natural problem solvers. Again, a skill many others possess, but entrepreneurs have a distinct ability in problem solving. They see the opportunity created by a problem and attack it with abandon. Laser-like focus helps entrepreneurs create something innovative which involuntarily attract attention and a buzz. And, through this buzz entrepreneurs creates what most inventor struggle in vain to do – make piles of money!
Generate Cash Flow by Selling Their Solution
Generating cash flow is about more than just making money. You also need to maximize the efficiency by which the order moves through the operational cycle or tuning your revenue engine. If this isn’t your understanding of cash flow, then I would highly recommend reading the post “Cash Flow: An Entrepreneur’s View.”
Once you’ve mastered the cash flow challenge, then what? How about increasing the horsepower of your revenue engine!
Entrepreneurs Demonstrate Scalability
You increase the horsepower of a business’ revenue engine by increasing sales. But, increasing sales means producing more of what you’re selling. That meaning scaling your entire operation not just getting more sales.
This is where small business owners fall short. Many have a hard time “letting go of their baby” and delegating, so their business stagnates because of its most scarce resource – THE OWNER!!!
This is a bad situation. It does not allow you to achieve to the next competency entrepreneurs possess. An even sadder fact is that some small business owners work their business for decades and never can turn it into cash. A harsh reality when is what they are counting on to fund their retirement!
Gets Investors to Buy-In to Entrepreneur Solutions
The final competency is the entrepreneurs “exit”. This usually means selling the business for a pile of cash that allows them to retire. For most entrepreneurs, it’s too late. They’ve caught “the bug!” so. they never really retire. They love the thrill of creating a self-sustaining business, so they move on to solve the next problem (opportunity) they can find.
Transitioning from Small Business Owner to Entrepreneur
For those stuck in a small business, don’t fret. If you’re stuck it’s because you have don’t have the right mindset or you haven’t mastered one of the five competencies.
Here’s the good news! The Business Growth Simplified offers its Business Accelerator Masterclass to help you master these five entrepreneur competencies. Click on the icon to the right and find out more.
You can also download our e-book Missing Components to Successful Entrepreneurship. This e-book will help you better understand what most small business owners lack in becoming successful entrepreneurs. Click the button and complete the form on the page to get your FREE copy.
Dino, I agree completely with you. I am not an entrepreneur yet, but have been a business owner (plumbing) until recently. I always knew there was a difference between the two , but like many business owners, was completely consumed with my business, and did not have the energy to find out what the problem was. I did want to grow the business initially, tried, but the pain of growth was too great for me (without a mentor or guidance), so I became disillusioned and disinterested in the business to the point that I had to get out. Looking back now, I was fortunate with customers paying on time – I often charged 50% upfront if I was supplying goods – if they didn’t pay that then I knew I would have problems with them paying the final bill, so most times dropped the customer. I would have benefited from your simple explanation of cash flow at the time. The scalability for me, I think, was probably the biggest issue. I have friends running businesses and I can see the pain they experience because they do not want to delegate. This is a trust issue I suspect. I always wanted to duplicate myself but I should have realised that the “duplicates” may not be identical to me and would do things differently to the way I would do them, and probably achieve the same result.
I am concentrating on the things that make an entrepreneur now, so have started walking my path.
I hope this is able to help business owners who want to grow and those that are scared of growth – there is help out there and often for free……best regards, John
great points altogether, you simply gained a new reader. What would you suggest about your post that you made some days ago? Any positive?
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[…] First, you must understand that no matter what the general media might tell an inventor, just because they have an idea doesn’t make them an entrepreneur. To earn the title “entrepreneur” they must demonstrate some very specific entrepreneurial competencies. […]
[…] First, you must understand that no matter what the general media might tell an inventor, just because they have an idea doesn’t make them an entrepreneur. To earn the title “entrepreneur” they must demonstrate some very specific entrepreneurial competencies. […]
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