Developing Your Skills By Gaining Experience – the Path to Being an Entrepreneur

To allow your inner entrepreneur to emerge, first you have to identify your talents and skill-set so that you can begin to refine and focus them.    Previously, I had the opportunity to talk with Adriene Washington, a successful Washington, DC based entrepreneur who has been very successful as a real estate developer.  Knowing what he knows now, Mr. Washington suggests a path he would encourage would-be developers (or entrepreneurs generally) to take to help refine their entrepreneurial skills. 

 He suggests first going to a large, well established, first class company to train, learn best practices, and gain an understanding of what it takes to play in a large arena.  After a couple of years, having checked off a list of pre-defined experiences, move to a smaller organization that has an entrepreneurial spirit and learn how to play bigger with less resources.  Begin to make a name for yourself and establish key relationships.  After a few years at a smaller organization, set out on your own and start your own company.  Mr. Washington believes such an approach might have mitigated a key low point in his career when he was out on his own and found himself to be 'undercapitalized' and 'under experienced'.

Developing key skills before you cast your lot as an entrepreneur will go a long way in allaying concerns and fears that you may have about starting your own business.  Preparation through experience is a touchstone for any successful entrepreneur.  

The Path to Being an Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is a person willing to take-on the various risks related with bringing an idea alive--to bring it to market.  As defined by Wikipedia, an entrepreneur is a person who undertakes and operates a new enterprise or venture, and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks.

Have you ever wondered, “Do I have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur?” Or, have you ever thought, “I’m just not sure I’m the ‘entrepreneurial type’.  If so, you’re not alone.  Many talented people with great ideas believe they don’t have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.  For many, the thought of running their own business leaves them feeling anxious and apprehensive.  For most people, the notion of leaving a secure job or profession creates a host of questions, fears, and uncertainties that kill their dreams before they even have a chance to breathe.  I believe the fear of becoming an entrepreneur stems from a flawed thought-process, which if corrected, can help you find your inner entrepreneur. 

Most people believe that entrepreneurs somehow emerge from the womb at birth.  Many of us believe that being an entrepreneur is an innate skill, and you’re either born with it, or you’re not.   While I agree there are certain people who know virtually from birth that their one mission in life is to found a start-up “widget” company, take it public, and then spin it off into several international widget conglomerates, most of us don’t find our inner entrepreneur quite as naturally. My conversations with many successful entrepreneurs of all ages, sexes, and races have led me to this conclusion.  Entrepreneurs are not born.  They are made.  Being entrepreneurial is not an innate quality that some of us get and others of us don’t.  Rather, an entrepreneur emerges from an individual’s identification of his or her talents, which he or she develops through a course of intentional acts and persistent conduct.  I hope to share insights from my personal journey through this blog and hope that it might be helpful to you in finding your inner entrepreneur.