Entrepreneurship: Do You Have What It Takes?

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by Elena Fawkner

Common Issues Facing Entrepreneurs

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.

Entrepreneurship Defined

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