Prof Jorge - ATENEO entrep

   
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.   
  
< Good >

References:

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

On Tuesday, March 19, 2013, Kevin Toledo <kev.toledo@gmail.com> wrote:
> Kevin Toledo
> SENTREP S20
> Prof. Jorge Saguinsin
>
> Food Trip so far was the most enjoyable experience for me in Entrep Class. The class really looked forward for this activity wherein it even took us time to decide on where to hold this food trip activity. The class agreed to have it along Makati Avenue, particularly in the A. Venue area. At first I was hesitant to go there considering that our working budget per person is limited to P500 only, and we had to try out 3 kinds of food/place. I did not know that there is actually a food bazaar in the area as I was earlier suggesting that we should just go in in a place with food bazaar like Mercato. So, it made sense to me that the class had decided for a perfect venue where accessibility was not really hard for most of us. First stop was at A.Venue Food Tent. As I earlier said, I was surprised that there is actually a food bazaar in the area. A. Venue Food Tent's concept is a food bazaar where varieties of street food that are safe with proper sanitary preparations are sold. This concept is really good as this is where you can buy value-for-money food that guarantees safety, where enough tables & seats are provided as well. The street food idea can make us feel excited about the thrill that these food could bring to our taste buds considering that it is usually unsafe to buy real deal street food. As I entered the Food Tent, I managed to observe that people actually go there. It even got my attention that a lot of foreigners are actually buying food there as well. There were a lot of food to choose from ranging from the Filipino street food like isaw, kwek-kwek, and even the Vigan empanada to the other foreign cuisines such as Mediterranean (kebab), and Italian (pasta). We had Vigan empanada, Isaw, vegetable kebab, and gulaman for drink. All the food actually tasted good, I even had 2 orders of the Vigan empanada, which my taste buds really missed. Last time I ate those was 10 years ago, the first & last time I went to Vigan. There was also no question to the food preparation and presentation, as I have noticed as well that the food were being prepared with sanitary considerations such as wearing hair net and or toque. Over-all the experience was great, and indeed it was value for money food experience where we just spent around P70 each for good and exciting food.

For the main course, we walked along Makati Avenue and stumbled upon a Korean restaurant, called Dona-Dona Korean BBQ Restaurant. When we checked the menu, we realized they are actually serving authentic Korean food. The group decided to have the dinner there. The people/staff were very warm to welcome us and really provided enough attention to us from choosing the food we will order to serving it and attending us until we finished eating. The owner even assisted in serving the food to us. I actually liked the food. The set-up was very typical Korean restaurant where they provided a lot of appetizers, especially the unlimited Kimchi. Also, the experience of letting the customers grill their food was a plus factor. The only set-back I noticed was that it was really hot inside as they did not have exhaust equipment for each grill in the table. But overall, I could say that the restaurant was very good as they have a decent price, service was really good, the food tastes great and the grilling experience is superb.

After eating at Dona-Dona, I was really surprised that the group still have cash left for dessert. We tried to look for a decent pastry shop where we could have dessert and find nothing, so and we ended up having dessert at Goldilocks. We ordered 2 small cakes and coffee for everyone, and even managed to buy some polvoron for everyone. I should say that Goldilocks was a good choice considering that we have little money left to spend for dessert and their food really tastes good. I noticed that its location was very strategic where no other pastry shop can be seen in the area. Generally, the Food Trip experience was really fun, exciting, educational and relevant. Hope that there should be more of activities like this in the MBA course.<It was our last day yesterday>

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.

Prof Jorge - ATENEO entrep

Pages

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Factors Paper - Camille A. Dela Cruz

Food Trip report by Kevin Toledo

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Special Report by Kevin Toledo - Social Enterprise in the Philippines