Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

The entrepreneur has been the topic of much academic research. Like an animal in the zoo they have been studied at length by economists, anthropologists, management academics, psychologists, sociologists, historians, finance experts and organisational scholars.

Who are these creatures? Why do these persistent people never give up? What drives them to take risks that ordinary folk find overwhelming? Where do they get that energy and that courage? How do they create value from nothing and most importantly … what makes entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs. In other words - what makes the entrepreneur tick.

So keen to add our bit to the debate, Dr. Neil Flanagan and myself sat down to come up with what we think is the A to Z of what makes entrepreneurs - entrepreneurs. What do you think? ... see the knol The Entrepreneur (A to Z) to get the full description.

You can say that being an entrepreneur is a "calling," but that really doesn`t say anything does it? After all, what difference is there between trying to define an entrepreneur, or going one step back and defining a "calling."

Entrepreneurial thinking is just that, a mode of operation for the mind. Would we say that being musical is a skill? Or is it a talent? How about having an analytic or conceptual mind: is that a skill.....or a trait?

The problem with all these academic views of entrepreneurship is that they start with the expression, then try to study commonalities within that set of expressions. That`s like trying to define an artist on the basis of studying only paintings and sculptures.

It`s the type of mind a person has that makes them an entrepreneur. They see patterns, see problems, and also see solutions. They likely grew up being taught how to think independently, and were encouraged to try all sorts of things.

Often, by only around 8 years old, they`ve already begun proposing solutions, inventing workarounds, and put together some sort of organization to accomplish something. Whether it`s a lemonade stand or a team of 8-yearold engineers trying to build a treehouse, the key is the mindset. They see a solution to a problem, then work out a "system" to get it done.

What about inventing a problem?
When I was 12 my father bought me a remote control toy car which I loved
The next day I "remodeled" my backyard to host a new racing track with some hard-terrain driving
I was very proud of myself and had hours and hours of fun by myself and with friends
My father wasn`t too thrilled about having his beloved yard, what he later referred to as `fubar`ed, evicted of anything even remotely close to a plant

I did grow tired of it about 2-3 weeks later though :-)



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Jmes, your story isn`t actually about inventing a problem. We "observe" a problem but don`t invent them. Actually, the other side of the entrepreneurial mindset is to "create" a new event.

You didn`t invent a problem of putting cars into an outdoor track. You created an outdoor track that perhaps hadn`t been foreseen by the car makers. The problem wasn`t the new use for an existing product, it was your father`s lack of enthusiasm.

For that reason, there`s a large potential market for Makeover Dads. :-D

using the term "mindset" doesn`t get us much further.  what is a "mindset"?

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

"Mindset" is a synonym for "perspective," which is the subjective viewpoint, personality, and mental processes associated with the conscious "self."

So, technically, the issue of what makes an entrepreneur is one of determining the nature and structure of personality.

Craig, are you saying that if I don`t have the correct "mindset" you can`t be an entrepreneur?
If so, can you change your mindset? and if yes, how?



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Chris Miller, a simple taco maker:
The Tiger Taco home in the U.S.A.
Tiger Tacos in Australia
Tiger Tacos in the United Kingdom

:-) Don`t take it so personally! I`m only saying that you`re obviously an entrepreneur, solving problems. You don`t "invent problems," you solve them. You observe something that causes other people problems, and for which they may be willing to pay money as a solution.

The key issue is how somebody deals with failure. Entrepreneurship does not require any special skills or abilities. As was mentioned before, entrepreneurs have such a diverse skill set that not one set of skills can be described as being typical.

However, failure is the key to learning in the real world. Being able to fail and identify mistakes is crucial for entrepreneurs. Incremental improvement is how most companies get better.

The majority of people are afraid of failure. So therefore, they never go down the entrepreneurial route. Entrepreneurs see failure as a learning experience. I think this attitude is developed in the early stages of someone`s life but can also be learned later on.