Factors Paper - Camille A. Dela Cruz

ENTREP S20

Mr. Jorge Saguinsin

Factors Paper

Camille A. Dela Cruz

While doing the research paper for the Factors paper, I was able to stumble upon several or even numerous resources that provided me the essential factors of being an entrepreneur. I particularly chose the Entrepreneurial Success Factors by Dragan found in the website I cited in the references. I chose it because it was very detailed and provided me a deep and thorough insight on the characteristics of an entrepreneur. According to the author there are 15 factors that make an entrepreneur and below are these factors. The way I did my self-assessment was to go through each factor and analyze whether I possess or do not posses such factor. On the table below, the left side is where the factors cited by the author that would shape a person to become a successful entrepreneur and the right side is my thorough self-analysis of each factor.  Truthfully, I appreciate such exercise – self-assessment, because it pushes me to look back at my life and re-discover who I am as a person.

Factors	Self-assessment
1.     Willingness to take action - This is the first and most important factor or each potential and current entrepreneur. All other factors presented below, won't have importance if he or she didn't take a real action.	I highly and strongly believe that in this factor I'm still half-baked. I am so blessed that in the early course of my young adult life I have discovered that being an entrepreneur is what I really want and I've decided that the corporate life is not the path I will no longer journey in two years time. I have been blessed to discover what I really want but knowing is only one thing. Being an entrepreneur won't happen if I don't act upon it. I think the call to materialize my desires is still my biggest challenge and the number reason for this, is that I have so much fear to fail and to risk everything for the something that is uncertain. Unless I conquer that fear, I may not be able to pass the first stage of being an entrepreneur.
2.     Knowledge - they must have superior knowledge about business issues for business that they start.	I have not fully earned this factor because one I don't have the experience to gain and earn knowledge about entrepreneurship but I believe I have taken huge steps to develop this skill. First, I enrolled in MBA to further develop myself and learn more about the subject of entrepreneurship. Second, I have been trying to discover and learn more about our family business by asking my dad from time to time the history of the business and how it works.
3. Creativity. They must have creativity to be unique and continuously improves business.	I am blessed to be born with a creative mind. Since grade school I have noticed that I have an "eye" for things.  Maybe the reason for that is that I am surrounded with a family who loves being creative and unique and you are allowed to appreciate art in all forms. What is significantly lacking is my ability to give time to hone and further improve this factor.
4. Skills - Each entrepreneur and each business need different entrepreneurial skills that in some cases can be crucial for business success.	Similar with the knowledge factor, I believe I have not fully developed my entrepreneurial skills but I have taken a huge leap by enrolling in this class and finishing my MBA to further improve and hone my entrepreneurial skills. I consider also that I have gained a few entrepreneurial skills over the time I have worked in the corporate world.
5. Intelligence - They must be intelligent to manage all possible situations and to solve the hardest problems that will be a constant in business life.	Again, similar with skills and knowledge, I have not fully possessed this factor. And again, I believe have taken the necessary steps to further build on this factor.
6. Patience - They must be patient and to continue after losing the first battle, because the war is not finished. It's only the beginning.	This is one factor I am certain I strongly possess. I am the type of person who can extend the utmost patience to any person or the situation I am in. I am not the typical who is restless and demands answers immediately from people, the environment or myself. In addition, I don't easily give up. I try until I know have I have exhausted all means, measures and resources.
7. Persistence - Persistence simply is a refusal to give up from something, or ability to keep your actions against your personal feelings that you're not ready for such actions. Feelings and motivation didn't produce results, but the action is something that will produce it.	I am still confused about this factor because I am the type of person who has the resilience to deliver results and that highly contributes to being persistent. However, while reading the definition of the factor, I believe I have not possessed the factor of persistence fully. I have the tendency to decide based on my emotions and that I know is exceedingly wrong because I would be making irrational decisions.  I am aware of this mistake, and I have been working tremendously hard to change this trait of mine and to always make decision based on facts and objectivity.
8. Teamwork - Nobody can achieve anything alone so this is true also for an entrepreneur because they're not a "Superman". They must be team players for their business success.	I am the biggest fan of this factor, as I've always believed that teamwork will bring any organization to a success that is immeasurable. At work, I highly promote this essence because without it people will be doing their own thing that will just result to a waste of resources. With teamwork, objectives and goals are easier to achieve and accomplish.
9. Calculated risk - This is truly one of the most important questions: did they take the risk? Yes, each business startup is in some level risky. However, more important is how a successful entrepreneur takes a risk? The word calculated risk is the most appropriate word for this feature.	Similarly with the factor of willingness to take action, this is one factor I have yet to possess. As mentioned above, I have a huge fear of the uncertain. I think I grew up in an environment where I had the perception that being "safe" should be the right path to choose because it has less consequences and failures. The disadvantage of this is that it led me to be a person that became highly fearful of risks, which eventually led me to this situation – having the difficulty of taking that first step of becoming an entrepreneur.
10.  Self-Confidence - Self-confidence is a really important and key factor. I think that nobody would be an entrepreneur if don't have self-confidence that he knows how to start and manage their own business.	I strongly believed I have possessed this factor already early at my life. I grew up in an environment where my parents taught me to love who I am and not to be afraid to show the unique me. So I grew up having the least insecurities. I am not afraid to gain my fullest potential and to show the world what I am made of.
11.  Experience - Sometimes experience is in category not must have as a factor, but it is something that will increase business potential energy. They must employ all present and previous experience they had into the business.	I am very grateful for the experience I have learned over the years from my work and school. The experiences I've gained over the years will truly help me on the time I will start my own business. The next step for me is to further improve this factor by absorbing more experiences.
12.  Talent - Talent is something inborn in an entrepreneur. Sometimes talent can be replaced with knowledge.	I think this particular factor is what I am very unsure of. I really don't know if I have the talent to be an entrepreneur but I guess my other talents can be used for me to build the business I desire of. I am very much passionate about cooking and I believe that I can use this skill to create my own business like a restaurant or a bakery store. I think it is important that if a person wants to be an entrepreneur, he or she must find what she is good at and use this as a leverage to create their own businesses.
13.  Honesty - Honesty is important in every case, but sometimes honesty, can be the biggest enemy of an entrepreneur in some complex conditions.	I am proud to say that this is one factor that I truly possessed. I have been to several situations wherein my honesty was test to its fullest potential and at the end I chose to be the honest person.
14.  Connections - More connection the more possibilities for building a successful business.	This is the factor I have to push myself to work for even more. I know I have built my connections during the course of my corporate but I believe it isn't enough. I lack on making acquaintances becoming stronger working relationships.
15.  Luck - Luck is a psychological factor. Some people can say that they don't have luck. And indeed there are some "lucky people" who just accidentally found the right place at the right time. However, it is a small percentage and cannot be included as a serious factor for success.	I really don't believe in luck because I know that a person will succeed only if he or she does her best and exceed the expectations he/she set for him/herself. However, I do believe that timing is crucial to one's success. You may have the resources and the right skills now but if the timing isn't right then it won't definitely happen.

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References:

Dragan (2012). Entrepreneurial Success Factors. Accessed December 2012 at http://www.entrepreneurshipinabox.com/852/entrepreneurial-success-factors/

FACTORS PAPER - Kevin Toledo

ENTREP S20

Prof. Jorge Saguinsin

FACTORS PAPER - KMT

What does it really take to be an entrepreneur? And how come I have interests on it? Even I have been wondering on how I came to be interested in entrepreneurship.

I grew up with a family that has a mindset of employees and building careers in the corporate ladder. My father is an engineer and my mother is an accountant. Since I was a child, I looked them up as my heroes, my role models, thinking that someday I will be like them.  I took up engineering mostly because of my father’s influence on me. I have never thought that my interests could also lean on to entrepreneurship, until I learned as I grew up that businesses are owned by these entrepreneurs, and that the world is driven by the different established enterprises.   Further, I had a deeper appreciation of it when my father and mother had decided to venture to start their own businesses. Never did I think before that my parents possess entrepreneurial mindsets. They have tried to venture into different businesses and involved us as well in the conceptualization and operations of those. Most of those businesses had a good start. However, we really had difficulty of sustaining it, especially on managing the employees so most of the first business ventures of my parents had to be stopped before accumulating bigger losses. We just had to accept that those kinds of businesses are not for us yet.  It was frustrating as most of us had involved ourselves in it doing hard work. But still, I noticed that my parents, especially my mother would always know how to stand up again and continue to find new business opportunities she could venture into. Recently, we started to venture into real estate business and surprisingly, we are managing to sustain and expand it and make it profit. Perhaps, my mother found out that her passion is in the real estate business.

Going back to the question on the factors to be a successful entrepreneur, I made a research on it and found the following factors/characteristics:

Factors to be a Successful Entrepreneur	Self-Assessment
1. They are self-motivated Successful entrepreneurs do not need someone who holds them accountable or forces them to be efficient and productive. Unfortunately, without a manager, many people cannot take their business past the planning stages. It takes hard work to create your own business; most people need someone who forces them to keep working. Moreover, when people do not have someone to hold them accountable, they may let their work’s quality suffer. For example, many freelance writers set their own hours and choose their workload. However, for this same reason, many freelance writers do not work how they ought to work.	I must admit that there would be times that I am too stubborn to immediately do the tasks given to me in school. And perhaps it’s because I lack the motivation to do so. I always find myself delaying doing those tasks/assignments because of the thought that I cannot really find enough reasons on why I should do those things and think that it is just being given to us just for the sake of doing it and having grades. But I know myself. When I want something and I find it reasonable to do things, I have the full motivation to make it a success. I may be stubborn to do things that someone requires me to do, but when it comes to things that I want and I am passionate about, I am very motivated to the point that I would always want the best output I could do.
2. They are creative When creating a business idea, many entrepreneurs have to be very creative. There is a good chance that someone else has already established himself as the authority for the niche that a new entrepreneur chooses. However, with a little creative twist, new entrepreneurs can take old ideas or business models and revolutionize them, making them attractive to potential clients or customers.	I believe I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur when it comes to creativity. I may not be an artist but I could really be creative when it comes to generating and developing ideas, and even things.
3. They are intuitive Entrepreneurs do not become successful due to luck. Every successful entrepreneur created his own path with his intelligence, creativity and intuition. Business models are constantly changing. Consequently, the way business owners market and grow their business constantly changes. The most successful entrepreneurs understand how fast current trends change. More importantly, however, they know how to keep up with the changes.	I could really not site on how I am intuitive as a person but I believe I have used my intuition on every decision I make in my life and even in helping out other people to decide. I usually decide based on reasons and facts, but when there facts and reasons cannot be considered and immediate decision making is required, I just decide based on what I feel and believe is right, and I make a stand for it.  I remember an instance that I just purely used my intuition to persuade my mother to immediately buy a certain lot out of concern that someone might be already eyeing as well that lot wherein if we are not able to buy that lot, it would hinder our real estate development to expand. We did not know if there really is someone who was eyeing to buy that lot but it was a good decision as we felt that business expansion in that aspect is secured.
4. They are authoritative If you were to open your own business, you would learn very quickly that there are many people with whom you need to network. However, not everyone has your best interest in mind. You may encounter naysayers, manipulators and scammers. Therefore, you must not allow yourself to be easily influenced; you must be authoritative. Though there is nothing wrong with taking advice or opinions, in the end, you must make decisions that you strongly believe will better your company.	I have been raised in a very family-oriented environment. Meaning, we have close relationship as a family and we really value the importance of family, to the point that each of us are very protective of our family. We were trained to be polite and be respectful to other people we meet but we are also trained not to be too trusting in order to protect ourselves and the family as well. With it, we were raised to make our own decisions based on the reasons we find and not from other people’s influence. Perhaps I can say that I am also authoritative in nature.
5. They are strong-willed Successful entrepreneurs started their business with a vision - a dream. They acted on their dream by taking small steps towards accomplishing their goals. With every step, entrepreneurs get closer to attaining their ultimate goal or vision. However, not all steps are easy to take. Unfortunately, nothing worth fighting for is easy to attain. Successful entrepreneurs only made it past the difficult times by being strong-willed. They never let pessimism, difficulty or any other problems stand in their way.	Perhaps this factor/trait is the most evident in me. We were raised to be optimists and strong-willed. Our parents were really good motivators in terms of helping us achieve our goals. They believed in us, and we believed in ourselves that we could achieve and be successful in whatever path we take and decisions we make. We were thought to always look at the bright side if there are bad things happening. Further, we are a witness to our parents that they were very strong-willed and resilient despite of the challenges we have been through just to provide for our family and to develop ourselves, their children.

I believe that my interest on being an entrepreneur can be traced to the influence of my parents, through their hard work and the values and vision they shared to us. And for the factors to be a successful entrepreneur, I believe I have what it takes but just that I feel I still should further improve on myself on these factors as I start to venture into entrepreneurship. 3

Reference:

http://www.iplanner.net/business-financial/online/how-to-articles.aspx?article_id=entrepreneur-characteristics