Looking OutSide
After looking into yourself – your personal qualities, your interests, skills, experiences and hobbies and how these would orient you towards a business of your own, you may now look around. See if the environment is a conducive one for entrepreneurship.
Look OutSide
Here are some questions to ask about the “outside world.”
1. How adequate is the infrastructure for business in your community, province or city? Are there enough provisions for basic requisites like roads and bridges, power and water, telephone, postal and internet facilities, as well as banking services?
2. Is the environment peaceful, safe and orderly? Investing hard-earned money is already a big risk. Operating in an unsafe environment makes it even more risky.
3. What are the incentives, assistance programs and other support that the national and local governments make available to business, especially to small, start-up businesses? Ask about tax exemptions and discounts, low-interest financing, technical assistance, marketing and promotional services, training, etc.
Looking WithIn
Do you have what it takes to go into business?
A successful entrepreneur possesses personal qualities that will help him grow and thrive his business. Extensive research by the Management Systems International reveals ten Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs) that lead to success. These are grouped into what are known as the Achievement Cluster, the Planning Cluster, and the Power Cluster.
Take a look at these competencies. Try to see if you have some of them and to what extent.
ACHIEVEMENT CLUSTER
1. Opportunity-seeking
• Perceives and acts on new business opportunities
• Seizes unusual opportunities to obtain financing, equipment, land, workspace or assistance.
2. Persistence
• Takes repeated or different actions to overcome obstacles
• Makes sacrifices or expends extraordinary effort to complete a task
• Sticks to own judgment in the face of opposition or disappointments
Risks Of Going Into Business Or Entrepreneurship
Possibility of failure
There is always the possibility of failure – a single wrong business decision can bring a business to bankruptcy.
Unpredictable business conditions
A small business is vulnerable to sudden changes in the business environment. In a fast-paced industry, a small firm may not have the financial capability or the organizational capacity to respond adequately to new opportunities and their concomitant problems.
Long hours of work
A prospective entrepreneur must be ready to spend most if not all his waking hours in the business. Also, family time and personal affairs may be sacrificed.
