1. Characteristics and Skills of an Entrepreneur
Chapter 10
Characteristics and Skills of an Entrepreneur

2. Entrepreneurial Characteristics
not everyone is entrepreneurial
Characteristics and skills usually developed through education, hard work and planning
ENTREPRENEURIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Risk Taker
Entrepreneurs often take on a high degree of risk and stress.
Many entrepreneurs face bankruptcy, that can leave them with not business and no personal assets.
Perceptive
The owner of Cott Corp. was perceptive, he saw the opportunity to offer a private-label beverage to the grocery industry.
Private label or private brand is a product that is manufactured by another company but is sold with a store’s brand name; also called a store brand or private brand.
Curious
Ray Kroc, a leader in the development of the modern franchise system, recognized the potential of the McDonalds brothers’ restaurant and its formula for producing good and inexpensive food and capitalized on it.

3. Entrepreneurial Characteristics
Risk Taker
Every business faces risk
Entrepreneurs take on a lot of risk, but minimize it through research, planning, and skill development
Perceptive
view problems as opportunities and challenges
Curious
like to know how things work
take time and initiative to pursue the unknown
ENTREPRENEURIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Risk Taker
Entrepreneurs often take on a high degree of risk and stress.
Many entrepreneurs face bankruptcy, that can leave them with not business and no personal assets.
Perceptive
The owner of Cott Corp. was perceptive, he saw the opportunity to offer a private-label beverage to the grocery industry.
Private label or private brand is a product that is manufactured by another company but is sold with a store’s brand name; also called a store brand or private brand.
Curious
Ray Kroc, a leader in the development of the modern franchise system, recognized the potential of the McDonalds brothers’ restaurant and its formula for producing good and inexpensive food and capitalized on it.

4. Entrepreneurial Characteristics
Imaginative
creative, visionaries
imagine solutions to problems
create new products and generate ideas.
Persistent
make mistakes, receive criticism, and deal with problems but stick to their goal
ENTREPRENEURIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Imaginative
The founder of Canadian Railway Newspaper Company (Cara Operations Ltd.), T.P. Phelan took his newspaper service to the next step by providing food service in many sectors.
Persistent
The story about The Little Engine That Could is a children’s storybook tale of persistence.
Goal-setting
Some entrepreneurs have local success and then take on new challenges by going international with their business.
Hardworking
J.M. Schneider worked days for a button factory and in the evenings and at night he worked to provide his own customers with sausages.

5. Entrepreneurial Characteristics
Goal-setting
motivated by the excitement of starting a new business.
Once achieved, they set new goals
Hardworking
need a lot of energy to see a venture start and succeed
not deterred by the long hours
ENTREPRENEURIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Imaginative
The founder of Canadian Railway Newspaper Company (Cara Operations Ltd.), T.P. Phelan took his newspaper service to the next step by providing food service in many sectors.
Persistent
The story about The Little Engine That Could is a children’s storybook tale of persistence.
Goal-setting
Some entrepreneurs have local success and then take on new challenges by going international with their business.
Hardworking
J.M. Schneider worked days for a button factory and in the evenings and at night he worked to provide his own customers with sausages.

6. Entrepreneurial Characteristics
Self-confident
believe in themselves.
self-confidence covers any doubts
Flexible
adapt to changing trends, markets, tech, rules, and economic environments
Independent
desire for control and the ability to make decisions
ENTREPRENEURIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Self-confident
Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Records, went out of his comfort zone and started Virgin Airlines.
Flexible
Video rental businesses demonstrated flexibility buy quickly adapting to the change from video format to DVD format.
Independent
Each venture is a reflection of the independent entrepreneur who started it.
See

7. Questions Which of these characteristics do YOU have?
Which of these characteristics do YOU lack?
How could you develop these charactestics?