by Elena Fawkner

Fully one in ten adults in the United States today is an entrepreneur. This phenomenon is by no means restricted to North America. The leading country for entrepreneurship is Brazil with one in eight adults an entrepreneur. Australia is not far behind the U.S. with one in twelve. These countries - Brazil, the United States and Australia - lead the way. Contrast, for example, Germany (one in 25), the United Kingdom (one in 33), Finland and Sweden (one in 50) and Ireland and Japan (less than one in 100). (Source: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2000.)

Entrepreneurship Defined

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 1999 defined entrepreneurship as "any attempt at new business or new venture creation, such as self-employment, a new business organization, or the expansion of an existing business, by an individual, a team of individuals, or an established business."

Entrepreneurial Activity - a Historical Perspective

Entrepreneurship is a major contributing factor to the economic well-being of a country both in terms of economic growth and job creation. Traditionally, entrepreneurial ability tended to focus on the following four attributes:

Initiative - the entrepreneur takes the initiative to bring together the economic resources of land, labor and capital to produce a commodity (whether a goods or a service) with the hope that such production will create a profitable business venture.

Decision-making - the entrepreneur makes the basic business policy decisions for the business, thereby setting the course of the enterprise.

Innovation - the entrepreneur is an innovator, attempting to introduce new products and new ways of doing things.

Risk-taker - the entrepreneur risks his or her time, effort, business reputation and invested funds in the entrepreneurial venture.

The Modern Entrepreneur

Until recently, the above attributes, especially innovation and risk-taking, were the dominant factors that defined the characteristics of those who chose to become entrepreneurs.

Now, however, with corporate downsizing being a fact of life, many entrepreneurs find themselves thrust into the role by default.

The question for anyone either finding themselves in this position involuntarily or thinking about leaving corporate life for the heady world of entrepreneurship is whether you have what it takes to be successful ... the "right stuff" in other words. Some people do, in spades. Others simply don't. If you're one of the ones who just doesn't, either resign yourself to working for someone else or cultivate in yourself the qualities that successful entrepreneurs share. Believe it or not, entrepreneurs are not just "born". Well, some, of course, seem to be natural-born entrepreneurs, but for the rest of us, the qualities of entrepreneurship can definitely be acquired by hard work and application.

Common Issues

The "common denominator" issues facing all entrepreneurs are planning, finance and implementation.

Planning

All entrepreneurs face the challenge of starting a new business, be it through innovation (inventing something new or doing something a different way), finding the right opportunity to get into, or buying a franchise. Whichever road you choose, it will involve serious planning.

Financing

Unless you have ready funds at your disposal, getting finance is the next major challenge and cannot be attempted until your business plan is in place. You will need to prepare funding proposals and applications for loans, venture capital, and funds from angel investors.

Implementation

This is make or break time. Many people think just getting started is the hard part - and it is hard. But where many businesses stumble is not in the planning and financing stages but in implementing their business plan. Why this is so is not certain. There are various hypotheses including the idea that ideas people and implementation people are two very different breeds and it is highly unusual to find one person who can do both. More likely though, is the simple fact that implementation requires such a broad range of skills that no one person can possibly be adept at all of them.
The real challenge and skill of the entrepreneur, then, is to recognize what you do well and then appoint employees or subcontractors to do the rest. Of course, if you're running a business on a shoestring, this simply may not be possible! So be brutally honest and objective in assessing your particular strengths and weaknesses BEFORE you cash in your day job and your 401K.

The areas to think about in terms of implementation are the same as those encompassed by a broad definition of management: promotion (marketing and advertising), public relations, sales, employees, communications, legal issues, plant and equipment, risk management, disaster planning, crisis management, insurance, technology, computer systems, taxes, bookkeeping, finance, and the internet.

Personal Qualities

Equally important as the common issues shared by all entrepreneurs are the personal qualities of the entrepreneur him or herself. To start you thinking about whether you have the right stuff to make a success of an entrepreneurial venture, here's a list of character traits and work ethics common to successful entrepreneurs. Although it is not necessary that you possess all of them, you should possess most:

Passion - entrepreneurs have a strong passion for their idea or concept, so much so that their work is their play. If you don't like what you do, you won't stick it out when challenges come along, as they inevitably will.

Curiosity - entrepreneurs need to understand how things work. They ask a lot of questions. Curiosity therefore triggers innovation.

Sponges - entrepreneurs are sponges. They devour information about their industry and are always current on new and emerging trends and technologies, not only in their specific industry but in closely related industries. This habit of scanning their environment is a rich source of discovery of new opportunities. Entrepreneurs are ALWAYS looking for new markets, applications, products or twists on an old concept.

Optimism - entrepreneurs think of problems as opportunities for improvements and new ideas.

Forward looking - entrepreneurs are never satisfied with the status quo and are always proactively carving out their future.

Careful about money - entrepreneurs are careful with money and have a firm grasp on what things cost and their value to the business. This allows them to recognize a true bargain when they see one.

Started earning at a young age - entrepreneurs commonly displayed entrepreneurial leanings as a teenager seeking out entrepreneurial activities such as babysitting, lawnmowing and lemonade stands.

Competitive - entrepreneurs are naturally competitive and don't let the grass grow under their feet.

Time conscious - entrepreneurs know the value of time and how to make the best use of it. You won't find entrepreneurs spending much time on nonproductive activities. That said, entrepreneurs typically also recognize the value of downtime and time with family and will factor these activities into their schedule.

Risk takers - entrepreneurs are not afraid of taking calculated risks. They typically trust their hunches and act on them.

Usually loners - entrepreneurs generally prefer a solitary work environment as opposed to teamwork.

Professional - entrepreneurs are professional in their approach to work. They operate as they would in a corporate environment and don't allow themselves to be distracted by outside influences.

High energy - entrepreneurs have a plan and a vision and they work it. Entrepreneurs are often health-conscious too, recognizing that the fitter they are, the better their minds work. So entrepreneurs will take time from their schedule to work out and eat well.

Flexible - entrepreneurs are nothing if not responsive to change. Although they appreciate the importance of having a plan and working that plan, they allow themselves room to react and respond to opportunities that may sudd

One fateful trip found his cargo plane flying through a nasty storm somewhere in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. The plane crashed near a tiny, deserted island. The only survivor was Hanks.

Upon awakening the next day, Hanks found himself all alone. Alone with nothing except the clothes on his back.

So picture this: no matches, no tools, no food, no shelter, no communications, only 1 small flashlight along with a few packages containing some useless items that had washed up on shore.

He learned to survive a meager existence sleeping in a small dark cave. His food came from coconuts and the few fish he managed to catch.

Tom Hanks was captured and held prisoner on an island with seemingly no hope of ever escaping. Every day the island dictated to him how he was to live.

He was trapped on that island because he saw no way of escape.

His fears of losing what small sense of security the island provided, as despicable as it was, prevented him from trying to escape to a better life. A life he knew existed, but now only dreamed about.

Looking out over the vast expanse of the ocean, he constantly thought about that better life. But those thoughts soon returned to seeing the opposition and competition that prevented him from returning to what was rightfully his.

4 long years later, Tom Hanks made a decision. He had grown sick and tired of having a nothing life. It was either die a nobody, going no place, on a nowhere island, continuing to live a struggling and pitiful hand to mouth existence, or......die trying to escape to a real life.

The Pacific Ocean was the obstacle. His opponent was his own fears of overcoming that obstacle.

He made a plan to escape. The day arrived and Hanks set sail aboard a make shift, rinky dink raft of logs tied together with tree bark and video tape.

He met every adversity the South Pacific could throw at him. It wasn't easy, but finally, the rescue came.

The movie portrayed a very intense drama. An analogy of what life is like for many people. Thousands of folks every day feel trapped in a nowhere life. They feel like their life is being wasted, like they are going nowhere, on a nowhere island with little hope of escape.

Every day these people trudge off to a boring and hopeless job that offers only an existence but no real sense of satisfaction in life as accomplishing anything.

These people know there is a better life out there, a life they so desire, yet it seems so far away. They are trapped on their own island of despair.

Held there, not by the island itself, but by their own fears of not being able to overcome the adversity and opposition that lies between them and their dreams.

A few do escape from that island. They are the ones who finally become sick and tired of living a wasted life, they are the ones who overcome the fear inside.

They start out from their island, not really knowing if they will make it or not. But they look at that sea of difficulties square in the eye and say, in the unforgettable words of Admiral David Farragut, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."

http://choosetoprosper.com

July 10, 2006, I received what i consider to be the best job I've ever had. The hard times of sweat and physical labor were over. I had taken classes to learn a drafting computer program called AutoCAD. It's used to create technical drawings of different designs and plans. After taking the classes, I began the job hunt. I went on websites like monster.com, carreerbuilder.com, etc... and began to spread my resume around. I received several calls, and went on a couple interviews. Finally I found what I was looking for. An office, Air-Condition, a desk, plaque with my name on it, and even my own business cards. The job was perfect, and a dream-come-true. I was going to be working for one of the largest engineering firms in South West Florida. I couldn't be more excited. The industry I was now working for was a very fast growing industry. At the time, the development and housing industry was at record breaking levels. I was being hired into the transportation department, where we expected to be extremely busy. When you have a strong rate of development going on, you need an adequate means of roadways and highways to accommodate it. My job was to design and develop highways and roadways for the super fast growing South West Florida.

South West Florida at this time was under an amazing growth period. Real Estate was an amazing market to be in. Home values were through the roof. If you were a real estate agent, you were a happy individual. But then, in the beginning of 2007, everything halted. Sales ceased, home values dropped, growth slowed to a halting stop. The company I had now been with for a year had begun to face an enormous change in revenue.

Now I, being the computer savvy person that I was, had already had a back up plan. Around the time that i first got the job, I was looking for something for my wife to do at home, to make a little extra cash, preferably, data entry. We needed something so that she could stay home with the kids. We found what sounded like a great opportunity. It was a way to work from home, and be your own boss. Who wouldn't want that? We paid the $45 to have the package shipped to us, we followed all of the directions, sent our resumes to all of the companies it had listed and waited...and waited....and waited some more. Nothing ever came of it. We were supposed to be bombarded with phone calls of people wanting to hire us to do data entry work. It never happened. It was a big scam. I supported my wife with this and hoped it was real. I set her up a website and created her a simple logo, but nothing came of it. So I maintained the idea, and kept going with it. I tried to make it work on my own, without the bombardment of calls. I was determined to make this work for my wife. I got online and submitted the site to every directory i could find. Unfortunately data entry was not doing so well. I decided it was time for another strategy.

I thought back, and remembered the fun I had developing the logo for my wife. Then it just came to me. Graphic Design, I can do Graphic Design. So, my wife's adventure into the work at home world, has tuned into my own adventure for a part time income. I searched and searched for ways to become a graphic designer, for tutorials and other articles to help me with this new strategy. A friend of mine recently purchased a copy of Adobe Photoshop for a class he was no longer taking. I asked him about it and he let me have it. This was great, now i have what the professionals use. I found some forums online, that focused on webmaster and design topics, and found a place for logo contests. Finally I found a possible source of stay at home income. After tons of practice and contest entries, it finally paid off, and I received my first win. I won a $50 logo contest which lead into a bit more work with developing the graphics for a flash game. All of this while working a full time job. As i entered more and more contests I got better and better.

As the economy continued to weaken, my company that I worked for full time, had a round of layoffs, due to the lack of work. I was told, we, in transportation, would be ok due to a massive back log. So I continue doing my job, and maintaining the home business, then, another layoff. At this point im starting to get worried, because it's an obvious sign that the company is really struggling. I was told transportation should be ok. I continued on about my business, working full time, and running my business at home, and getting better and better at it. The money was beginning to become pretty steady, not a lot, but it was help none the less.

One day at work, the day was nearly done, and my boss called me to the back, I knew something wasn't right. He walked me to the department manager's office, where i was given a severance package and an apology, and was laid off to the wolves. I was devastated emotionally. I cried. But then i looked at it for what it could be... a chance to develop my home business even more.

Today I work full time as a graphic designer, while my wife works. I maintain a pretty stable income from Skilled Graphics, Which is the name of my business. This all started 3 years ago. It's been a long learning process, but it's all paying off now.

Within this book i am going to explain to you what it takes to create your own stay at home business. It may not allow you to quit your job at first, but eventually you can guarantee you will be able to do just that. This is not one of those scams that make it sound like there is no work involved. I assure you, there is a lot of hard work involved, but its well worth it in the end.