Factors Paper by Rocky Gabatin

Rocky Gabatin

SPENTREP – S09

Prof. Jorge Saguinsin, MBA

Factors Paper:

What factors I do / don't posses that make / do not make me a Business Entrep (not more than 3 pages). You can do a self assessment available from the internet. Do a thorough self analysis.

     Using an online "Entrepreneur Self-Test (see Appendix)," there were 5 factors considered in order to assess my entrepreneurial potential. These were motivation, capacity related to business skills, capacity related to networking and partnership, support from family and friends, and support from the community. Out of the possible score of 100, I scored 81.25 which was considered as "High Potential." This result was not very surprising for me because I always wanted to start my own business.

     In terms of motivation, I never doubted myself when it comes to putting up a business. Although there were times as I grew up that I swung back and forth between several business ideas, I was also motivated and certain to build my own business. In fact, I recall myself saying to myself and to others when I was younger that I will never be satisfied being an employee for the rest of my life. I knew that I needed something more; I knew that I can be an entrepreneur.

     Under the motivation section, there was one factor in which I scored myself low—"creative." I can be honest that I am a work-in-progress in terms of creativity. I cannot cite any instance where I can say that I made a breakthrough about something. Despite this, I can recall several occurrences where I demonstrated resourcefulness; I believe that resourcefulness is part of being creative. Yet again, creativity is coming up with something out of nothing; I still have to achieve that feat for me to be confident to say that I am creative enough.

     My capacity related to business skills, I believe, is adequate and is continuously improving as I mature. A huge parcel of this is attributed to my education. I can say that both my undergraduate degree in Psychology and my current pursuing of MBA are a good combination in being a good entrepreneur or businessman. After all, business is chiefly run by people (link to psychology) and tools (link to MBA). In addition, I grew fond of reading books related to both psychology and business. In a span of only 5 years, I realized that I have read a lot of leadership books to fill an entire bookshelf. Not to mention that I also have been acquiring and reading e-books regularly.

     I must admit that my capacity related to networking and partnership can still be improved. I am innately an introverted person who goes out of my shell every now and then. I am not an extroverted person who is sometimes reflective. I understand that networking and partnership is crucial in any business, so I need to learn to be more comfortable dealing with people from all walks of life. My experience in middle management in my current employment gives me a good opportunity to hone this characteristic.

     When it comes to support from family and friends, I can say that I have more support from my closest friends than from my family. I could say that both my parents are risk averse, so they cannot fully support me in my business ventures. However, my friends have always been pushing and motivating me to start as soon as I can because they believe that I will excel at it. I remember telling one of my friends that I am finally setting up my business this year, and he said "Bakit ngayon lang?" (Why only now?). For me, this kind of support enables me to push myself harder and work smarter as I go along.

Appendix