Entrepreneurs Succeed by Sheer Hard Work and Perseverance - Coursework Example

Entrepreneurs succeed by sheer hard work, perseverance and extraordinary energy applied to good ideas with a creative flair. An entrepreneur’s drive will always override the constraints of a team”. Name Institution Lecturer “Entrepreneurs succeed by sheer hard work, perseverance and extraordinary energy applied to good ideas with a creative flair. An entrepreneur’s drive will always override the constraints of a team”. Entrepreneurs are described as people who start business ventures with the promise of economic gain and entails risk too. They usually hold unique traits and qualities to breed their success. They use their traits e.g. creativity, hard work, perseverance and application of effort to ideas to forge great business ventures. According to Scott and Shane (2010, p.7), creative entrepreneurs have forged great business ventures from their creativity. Their hard work and perseverance during difficult times of economic hardships and other challenges and went on to become great businesses. Most entrepreneurs obsess with their ideas and would hold on to their ideas until they transform their ideas into great businesses. They also use the traits to influence the people around them and create significant positive impact when put in teams. Any team is lucky to have an entrepreneurial individual as their commitment, hard work and perseverance and ideas enable a team achieve its goals faster and more effectively. One character trait that distinguishes great entrepreneurs and others is hard work. Entrepreneurs are usually committed to their work and course and cannot be easily distracted. They spend most of their time and energy working .They work 63% more than ordinary workers. Micro business owners work for averagely 52 hours in a week. Entrepreneurs in the construction industry are the work hardest averaging 62 hours in a week. Torrance (2013) also argues that there is a north-south divide, whereby entrepreneurs in London work for an average of 62 hours, compared to just 48 hours to those in Scotland. The startup and growth stages of a business venture require hard work and dedication in order to forge a successful future. This is because the entrepreneur has to multitask in different roles due to limited finances and consequently human resources (Shane 2010, p.7). Benjamin Franklin is one of entrepreneur from and older generation who proves that entrepreneurs work hard. He invented the lightening rod. In his auto biography it is stated that he used to work past 11 pm and would sometimes work overnight whenever it was necessary. The hard work and commitment brought him more business and clients (Heppard et al, 2010). Entrepreneurs endure a lot of hardships and struggles; they are very persevering when accosted by difficult situations. They have the hope and believe that no situation is permanent and that they would definitely emerge victorious after a problem. Perseverance is the most important trait to successful entrepreneurship. They believe that if they don’t succeed at first you should try again and again. Many startup companies face challenges during start up e.g. inadequate capital unskilled labour and rigorous competition from established companies (Meyer & Heppard 2000 p. 8). The best example of an entrepreneur portraying this trait is Steve Jobs. He started Apple at the back of his parents garage at age 20 and become a successful entrepreneur by age 30 with a 2 billion dollar worth business enterprise. He was then fired at the company he founded; he didn’t sit back and give up. He used this opportunity to reinvent himself and he went on to found NeXT and PIXAR. This perseverance and recovery enabled him regain his job at Apple and went one to make it very a popular and successful brand (Landrum 2007, p.18). Another relevant example is Milton Hershey who had a very tough path to creating and chocolate industry. He dropped out of school at fourth grade, became an apprentice printer and got fired. He went one and became an apprentice in candy making then formed three unsuccessful candy companies in New York, Philadelphiaand Chicago. He then moved back to Lancaster and started Lancaster Caramel Company which became a huge success .He later sold the company and started Hershey Company that brought about milk chocolate and most of the chocolate we know today. His perseverance was the key ingredient to his success (Norman 2004, p. 21). Great entrepreneurs invest in ideas. When they come up with a great idea or see one, they will make ends meet to implement the idea and turn it into business. They spend a great deal of money and efforts to make the ideas work. We have had of entrepreneurs dropping out of school since they have great ideas. They think outside the box and apply what they know or have learnt and would consider common knowledge to create business ventures. Bill Gates is one such example; he created Microsoft with Paul Allen at such a tender age. Bill Gates dropped out of school to start Microsoft. He believed his ideas were worth drooping out of school. Their greatest idea was the development of an operating system and licensing it to IBM and other companies that first created the personal computer. These ideas have brought along millions of dollars turning Bill Gates into the world richest man (Allen 2011, p. 2). Another prominent example of entrepreneurs sticking by their great ideas and making them work is the Appster guys, Mark McDonald and Josiah Humphrey fromMelbourne. They have clients all over the world but what makes them stand out is their specialization in startup companies that have ideas but don’t know how to execute their ideas technologically (Friedman, Soliman, & Schwartz 2010 p. 1) Most entrepreneurs are creative inventors and pioneers in their fields. The creativity has given them an edge over their competitors. Most popular creative entrepreneurs have combined creativity and entrepreneurship to make business empires from ideas. Entrepreneurs use creativity to unlock the wealth that lies within them. Creative entrepreneurs are like capitalists and they believe that if creative wealth is managed well it will create more wealth (John Hawkins, 2002).Creative entrepreneurs are usually very bright and value their independence above anything else. The freedom to manage their own time and abilities compensates for the unpredictable nature of their working environment, and irregularity of their income. They are continuously thinking and would have more than one project they would be working on at one time or another. They are the shock troops not only for new ideas about our culture but for new ideas about working in it. One of such entrepreneurs is Michael Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO and the Google guys; they find different and unique methods of doing things. They are unconventional and do not go about their lives as normal CEOs. For instance, Zuckerberg uses the same offices as other executives and wears jeans to work. Facebook provides the latest innovation and latest technology in social media. The creativity has enabled Facebook stand up amidst strong competition for the social media cake (Baron & Hanan 2002 p. 32). It is against this backdrop that I come to the conclusion that entrepreneurs succeed by sheer hard work, perseverance and extraordinary energy applied to good ideas with a creative flair. An entrepreneur’s drive will always override the constraints of a team. As evidenced from the above examples hard work is key to great business empires. Entrepreneurs dedicate most of their time and energy to make their business empires. Perseverance is another powerful trait that characteristics successful entrepreneurs. They don’t give up when faced with difficulties but they soldier on and make themselves event better. Entrepreneurs also apply extraordinary energy to good ideas. When an entrepreneur gets a great idea he/she uses all his/her efforts to turn it into a business or find a way of making money out of the idea. Finally the creativity caps it all in determining a great entrepreneur .Many successful entrepreneurs have turned their creative ideas into millions of pounds. Any business is lucky to have an employee with entrepreneurial spirit.An entrepreneur will overshadow all constraints and weaknesses in some members of his /team. A hardworking entrepreneur will be able to work more and compensate for the lazy ones in the team. They will also persevere and this will be able to motivate other team members who are about to give up. Furthermore the application of great energy to good ideas will make sure that projects are completed in time without distractions. Finally creative members will find easier and effective methods of solving problems or doing something. This will enable a team clear a project in time hence overriding the team’s constraints. As per the above examples, I totally concur that an entrepreneur’s drive will always override the constraints of a team. References Allen, P 2011, Idea man: a memoir by the cofounder of Microsoft, New York, N.Y.: Portfolio/Penguin Print. Baron, N & Hannan, M 2002, Building the iron cage: determinants of managerial intensity in the early years of organizations, S.l.: [s.n.]. Print. Friedman, N, Soliman, O & Schwartz, D 2010, Effortless entrepreneur: work smart, play hard, make millions, New York: Three Rivers Press. Howkins, J 2002, The creative economy: how people make money from ideas, London: Penguin.. Print. Landrum, G 2007, Profiles of Black success: thirteen creative geniuses who changed the world, Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. Meyer, D & Heppard, K 2010, Entrepreneurship as strategy: competing on the entrepreneurial edge, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Norman, J 2004, What no one ever tells you about starting your own business: real-life start-up advice from 101 successful entrepreneurs, 2nd ed, Chicago: Dearborn Trade Pub. Shane, S 2010, Born entrepreneurs, born leaders how your genes affect your work life, New York: Oxford University Press. Read More