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Entrepreneurship

6 Struggles Every Entrepreneur Will Face in the Beginning

Becoming an entrepreneur isn’t as easy as some people think. Some motivated entrepreneurs are fooled into thinking coming up with an idea and throwing some money at it is enough to succeed. Although you do need an innovative idea and money, there are many other factors to consider.

Success looks different for every new business owner and while no two paths are the same, there are some common struggles that every entrepreneur will face when they’re just starting out. Some of these hurdles are expected, but others might surprise you.

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest struggles you’ll face as an entrepreneur in the beginning and tips for tackling them with grace.

  1. Being a Boss is Hard Work

Many entrepreneurs are fooled into thinking that being your own boss means you get a cushy position at the top. While this might happen eventually, it takes a lot of hard work to get there.

Being your own boss also comes with its own set of struggles.

All of the pressure to succeed, responsibilities, and stress fall squarely on your shoulders. Many new business owners find themselves working long hours to save money on payroll. You may even become obsessed with working to guarantee your business succeeds.

It’s difficult to set boundaries as an entrepreneur and you’re never really “off the clock”.

When your livelihood depends on your success, you’ll experience quite a bit of pressure and stress. Customer service becomes crucial — without happy customers, your business will likely fail. 

There’s also no guarantee of steady income. Having a financial cushion going into business ownership is a good idea to compensate for slow times and unexpected expenses.

If you’ve worked for someone else all your life, you may be accustomed to someone else swooping in and cleaning up the mess. Now that someone is you! 

One way to help combat this stress is by hiring reliable people who are just as passionate as you about your business and idea. This helps take some of the pressure off of you and lets you focus your attention elsewhere.

Just remember, it’s hard to find reliable employees that care about your business as much as you do.

  1. Money Troubles

People say you need money to make money. Starting a new business means having enough financial backing to get things off the ground, as well as having an “emergency fund” to fall back on if things go south.

Once your business is established, you’ll rely on regular customer payments and other revenue as your steady stream of income. But what happens when that stream isn’t so steady?

Your income pays for things like overhead, operational costs, inventory, and advertising. When customers can’t pay on time (or you don’t have any customers), you need to think on your feet to make sure the bills are paid. 

One way to do this is by creating automated payments for certain clients. This means guaranteed revenue regardless of foot traffic. 

If your business generates bills for customers, try creating a detailed payment schedule or require payment upfront. Most customers have no problem paying you before they receive the product or service — just make sure you deliver to salvage your reputation. 

In the event customers don’t pay, put a hold on their accounts. This may seem harsh but it’s necessary to make sure you don’t fall behind financially.

A few late payments for entrepreneurs could be the difference between paying your mortgage or having your lights turned off due to a late electric bill.

  1. Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Entrepreneurs can’t just throw money at the problem. While some things can be addressed by investing more money or hiring more people, there are other tasks that need your undivided attention. 

This is especially true when you don’t have a lot of money just starting out.

One way new business owners save money is by doing a lot of the work themselves. After all, you’re “free” labor. But that also means you’ll be performing all sorts of jobs you never planned on doing.

Successful business owners aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty and work alongside their employees.

You may only have a handful of employees to start. Everyone needs to share the workload and that means doing jobs they’re not accustomed to — and that includes you! 

You might find yourself stocking shelves, processing payroll, or working the register if your business is a retail establishment. Some business owners find this frustrating or even below them. Don’t let your pride get the best of you.

There are actually benefits to being so involved in the daily operations of your business. You get to work the front lines and see, first hand, how things operate. You can identify customer pain points and address them before they turn into major issues.

This could actually save you money and aggravation in the long run.

The good news is, as your business starts to grow and make money, you can hire other people to perform these tasks. But don’t become so far removed from the daily grind of your business that you lose sight of why you started or the needs of your employees.

Another benefit to being so hands-on in the beginning is that you can lead by example. Working alongside your employees means showing them exactly how you want things done. That means less confusion and a more streamlined process that aligns with your values and work ethic.

  1. Check Your Ego at the Door 

Are you strong-willed, opinionated, and stubborn? While this might be fine in your personal life, it won’t work as a business owner. You need to be humble and able to take constructive criticism. Remember that your customers are your lifeline – without them, you will fail.

As founder of Rent Round, Raj Dosanjh explains:

“Customer service should be at the top of your list of priorities. Especially in a world where one bad online review could do irreversible damage to your reputation and your bottom line.

Unfortunately, one bad review for a small business just starting out is much more damaging than even a dozen bad reviews for a larger company. Big businesses can burden several bad reviews because they’re often overshadowed by countless positives. They also have more resources for combating them.

One of your best lines of defense against bad online reviews is a quick, professional response. Don’t let negative reviews linger online without addressing them. And be careful how you respond.”

Don’t get overly defensive or try to make excuses for what went wrong. Instead, offer a sincere apology with a coupon or other offer to make it right. Even if you don’t win over that unhappy customer, other potential customers will see how you handled things in a positive and professional manner and be more inclined to give you a chance.

You, on the other hand, as an entrepreneur just starting out, rely heavily on positive reviews from customers, as well as recommendations and referrals.

Another struggle associated with bad customer reviews is how it makes you feel. While it’s important to separate your emotions from your business in many respects, negative feedback can feel like a personal attack. It’s not!

Instead of viewing negativity as a bad thing, use it as inspiration to improve and make things better. What things are customers complaining about? How can you improve the customer journey?

As an entrepreneur, you won’t get everything right from the onset, and customer feedback is one of the best sources for making things better.

  1. It’s Lonely at the Top

Your business is your baby. You’ve likely poured your heart, soul, and bank account into it. One struggle as an entrepreneur is realizing that not everyone feels the same way as you.

You might find a handful of employees that care enough about their jobs to give 100% every day. But you’ll also encounter a lot more than view their role in your company as just a job. This can be both disheartening and frustrating.

Similar to negative customer feedback, don’t take this personally. It has nothing to do with you. Instead of expecting your employees to bend over backward for you, highlight their strengths, and capitalize on those. Don’t try to change them but instead, utilize their unique skills and talents.

In addition to employees, third-party suppliers and vendors may also put your needs last, which can be both frustrating and costly. In many ways, you’re just another number to them. They don’t feel your same sense of urgency. 

If you notice one particular vendor is always behind, account for that when you place your order. Or, find a new vendor!

In business, you should always have a plan B to reduce stress and create consistency. 

  1. Toughen Up

Remember how we said it’s lonely at the top? Part of being a successful entrepreneur is having a thick skin. It’s not as glamorous as most people think and takes years to get to a position of making stress-free, passive income — for some business owners, that never happens.

You need to stay strong mentally — there’s no time for hurt feelings in business.

It’s sometimes difficult to draw a line between having a thick skin and not caring. You still need to be passionate about your business and its success, but without taking things personally or being blinded by negativity. 

This is sometimes easier said than done. After all, you’ve invested money, time, and hope into your business. Surrounding yourself with encouraging, like-minded professionals can help keep you grounded.

Remember that the first few years of any new endeavor are always the hardest. Your hard work will pay off in the end.

Check your emotions at the door and focus on tangible decisions and benchmark gains. Take one day at a time and before you know it, you’ll be a great success! 

These six struggles for entrepreneurs can be tough to handle but they’re not impossible to overcome!  With the right mindset, you can achieve anything.

Take negative feedback in stride and learn from it. Always have a backup plan and expect the unexpected. As hard as it is to forge on, it’ll be harder to live with yourself if you give up.

The hardest times come with the sweetest reward.

Author: Raj Dosanjh founded Rent Round, a letting agent comparison site that is taking the property industry by storm. Raj Dosanjh also founded a consultancy that works with large banks including the Bank of New York Mellon, Barclays & Deutsche Bank. He has been featured in the Harvard University research portal and numerous tech & property articles.

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Entrepreneurship

The Rise of Social Enterprise

The rise of social enterprise

The pandemic has inspired a new wave of social entrepreneurs developing business ideas to support their Covid-stricken communities. Here, Kevin Marquis, Social Enterprise Manager at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC), explains how entrepreneurs are shaping communities and changing the world.

Since the outbreak of the virus, we’ve noticed a marked rise in demand for our business advice services. More and more people are realising that the social enterprise model offers the perfect way to run a business that is not only profitable but also has social purpose at its heart.

We’re receiving enquiries from individuals preparing to start-up new businesses aimed at making a difference to local people and places, as well as from existing enterprises with plans to expand everything from counselling services to food co-operatives.

As with all crises, the pandemic has brought out the best in a lot of people and has inspired them to take collective action to consider how they can best support others.

People are thinking more about their social objectives and their own accountability and responsibility to their communities. They’re turning to social enterprise as this is the best model to support those objectives.

Creative Minds – run by North Star Counselling CIC is a fantastic example of an ambitious social enterprise that is rising to the challenge of Covid-19 to help its community.

Working closely with our team, Creative Minds secured grant funding to help them reach more people reeling from the impact of the pandemic. The counselling team has adapted the way it works to provide free online and telephone counselling sessions and workshops, as well as a range of programmes specifically focused on suicide prevention, grief and the mental health of young people.

Bishopwearmouth Co-operative CIC in Sunderland provides day care, training and employment opportunities for some of our most vulnerable adults. Previously a City Council service that has externalised, it is a business that uses horticulture to provide day care services, training and employment for those with learning difficulties. The fully commercial, retail garden centre has significantly increased turnover, profitability and opened up many new opportunities for the business.

Building on the success of the garden centre, they raised £200k from social investors to acquire the adjacent cemetery house to convert it to a café / restaurant to serve the Garden Centre. This will further increase retail sales and delivery on their social objectives – expanding the range of services, training and employment opportunities for their care customers.

The evidence suggests that social enterprises will play an increasingly important role in our economic recovery. At the latest count, by Social Enterprise UK’s State of the Sector report* in 2019, there were 100,000 social enterprises contributing £60bn to UK GDP. Despite the challenging economic climate of 2020, a total of 183 CICs were incorporated to the start of November 2020. This accounts for 19% of all CICs in the region.

We are preparing the way for even greater numbers coming forward for support -from both new social entrepreneurs and traditional businesses looking to explore this business model and we’re expecting to see many new and exciting social innovations in 2021.

The rise of social enterprise [B DailyNews]

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Entrepreneurship

Pricing Strategies For Small Businesses

One of the first lessons I learned when I started my business is that setting prices, especially for a service business, is quite difficult, especially when you’re essentially charging for your ideas, backed mostly by your reputation.

When it comes to pricing, there are many important factors to consider, such as sales channels, cost of goods, and competitor pricing. But, just as important is how well you know your target audience and how much they value what you offer.

Here are five pricing strategies to keep in mind as you grow your business.

1. Understand Your Market Price

Correctly pricing your product or service starts by determining the market price—the current price your product or service can be bought or sold. An economics professor will tell you the forces of supply and demand influence market price. The price at which quantity supplied equals quantity demanded is the market price, and because supply and demand are fluid, market prices change quickly. Factors such as employee wages, world events, and natural disasters all impact market price. Just look at how the recent pandemic disrupted the supply chains and affected food pricing on dairy, meat, and fish products.

Start by researching market trends in your industry, market demographics, and supply and demand. Check with your industry trade association—they should have valuable information for members. Also, Google Trends is an excellent resource about popularity trends over a specific time period. Risk Management Association (RMA) Annual Statement Studies are available at libraries or online and provide benchmark financial ratios for businesses in over 370 industries.

2. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

Calculating the direct costs of producing a product (COGS) ensures you are not pricing your product too low or too high. Include the cost of materials, equipment costs, utility costs to run equipment, shipping costs, and labor directly utilized to create the product. You then add other factors to that total to establish a profit margin. Research what the average markups are for your industry. When pricing a service, look at standard industry practices, plus market prices.

3. Sales Channels

Pricing also depends on your sales channel (or channels). Sales channels are how products and services are distributed to the customer, such as:

  • Business-to-business (B2B): Selling products or services directly to other businesses.
  • Business to consumer (B2C): Selling products or services directly to consumers or stores.
  • Distributor: Selling to a wholesaler or distributor who then sells to retailers.
  • E-commerce: Selling online.

4. Competitor Pricing

The amount your competitors charge for the same or similar products and services is a vital factor in your pricing strategy. Should you charge less, more, or the same? If you’re just starting, it’s difficult to charge more than your competitors unless you are offering something genuinely unique. In that case, you can take customer value into consideration (more on value later). Finding out the competitions’ prices is as easy as a quick internet search, but there are other factors to consider when comparing competitor pricing:

  • What sales channels do your competitors use?
  • How large are the companies? How many employees do they have?
  • Where are your competitors located? How many locations do they have?
  • What are your competitors’ branding strategies? Do they position themselves as high-end or low-cost leaders?
  • How do the features and benefits of your competitors’ products or services compare to yours?
  • What are your competitors’ pricing strategies? Do they offer bundled services or products for a discount? A subscription or member plan?

5. Understand What Customers Value

To define and measure customer value, you need to look at a product or service in terms of the benefits (technical, economic, social) a customer receives in exchange for the price they pay. Therefore, by this definition, lowering or raising prices does not change the value offered—instead, it changes the customer’s incentive to purchase the product or service. Part of your pricing strategy should be to note all the ways your products or services offer value, whether it’s solving an accounts receivable issue for your business client or satisfying a demand for vegan cookies. Understanding your value also contributes to your marketing strategy as you tout your value points to the market.

Keep an Eye Out for Reasons to Adjust

As market trends change, it’s vital to consider whether your pricing needs to change also. Make sure you continuously monitor customer demand, the sales and pricing of your existing competition, and any new market entrants. Revisit your product or service’s value elements, as well. Then, when you’re ready to invoice customers, let Bill.com take care of the details and help you get paid faster so you can spend more time helping customers and clients.

Pricing Strategies to Help Grow Your Small Business [Small Biz Trends]

 

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Entrepreneurship

How to Ensure Your Business Reaches its Full Potential in 2021

Experienced professionals already know that a great business idea alone isn’t enough to ensure long-term success. Sadly, many excellent business concepts have failed for one reason or another over the years. And even the most dedicated entrepreneurs may have trouble launching a new business in the current economic climate. The good news is that you can take steps to protect your investment and ensure your company reaches its full potential this year. Just make sure to follow these four tips: 

Focus on Education

For a company to grow and evolve in any meaningful way, its employees need to grow as professionals first. As such, one of the best things a business leader can do to promote long-term success for their company is to invest in training and education now. Hiring a learning consultant to help your team develop new skills and perform with greater efficiency will provide immediate and future benefits. Plus, thoroughly training your staff will make it easier to promote from within and retain excellent employees. 

Set Realistic but Ambitious Goals

2020 was a rough year for most business leaders. However, just because things have been difficult in the past, it doesn’t mean you should stop making ambitious goals for yourself, your team, or your organization. Rather, just the opposite is true. If you want your company to improve, then you have to set realistic, but substantial goals to pursue. Merely going through the motions at work shouldn’t be good enough for you or anyone else. 

Identify New Opportunities

No matter how successful your organization is, a few things will always remain true. There are always going to be new markets to explore. There are always going to be new products you can develop. And there are always going to be better ways to connect with customers. The key to unlocking your business’s potential is –– in many ways –– simply being open to new possibilities when they arise. 

Invest

At the end of the day, money talks. As a business owner, you have an obligation to invest in your infrastructure and your organization to make sure that your employees have all the resources they need to succeed. Note of course that investing in your business can take many forms. It may include purchasing tech upgrades for your staff, for example. Additionally, though, it’s  just as important to “be invested” in your business as it is to support it financially. Small businesses in particular require time, energy, and support from leaders to fulfill their potential. Ultimately, there’s no substitute for old-fashioned hard work.

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Entrepreneurship

What Does It Mean To Be An Entrepreneur?

 

 

What does it mean to be an entrepreneur? It’s more than being a business owner; it’s a perspective and a lifestyle.

The road to entrepreneurship is often a treacherous one filled with unexpected detours, roadblocks and dead ends. There are lots of sleepless nights, plans that don’t work out, funding that doesn’t come through and customers that never materialize. It can be so challenging to launch a business that it may make you wonder why anyone willingly sets out on such a path.

Despite all of these hardships, every year, thousands of entrepreneurs embark on this journey determined to bring their vision to fruition and fill a need they see in society. They open brick-and-mortar businesses, launch tech startups or bring a new product or service into the marketplace.

What does an entrepreneur do?

An entrepreneur identifies a need that no existing businesses addresses and determines a solution for that need. Entrepreneurial activity includes developing and launching new businesses and marketing them, often with the end goal of selling the business to turn a profit.

An entrepreneur who regularly launches new businesses, sells them and then starts new businesses is a serial entrepreneur. Additionally, although the term “entrepreneur” is often associated with startups and small businesses, any founder of a successful household-name business began as an entrepreneur.

If you want to become an entrepreneur but worry you don’t have the money for it, your finances don’t have to stop you from achieving your goals. Many entrepreneurs seek the initial funding for their pursuits from external sources such as angel investors, who may provide entrepreneurs with capital to cover startup costs (or, later, expansion costs.) If you can demonstrate a high growth potential for your business, you can also turn to a venture capitalist, who offers capital in exchange for receiving equity in your company.

Examples of successful entrepreneurs

Many household-name businessmen exemplify entrepreneurial success. Here are just a few examples:

  • Steve Jobs, the late tech leader who started Apple in a garage and grew it to the dominant tablet, smartphone and computer company it is today.
  • Bill Gates, the Microsoft creator and founder who has often been listed as the world’s wealthiest individual and has become a global leader on pandemics and how to handle them.

What motivates entrepreneurs to venture forth when so many others would run in the opposite direction? Though each person’s motivation is nuanced and unique, many entrepreneurs are spurred on by one or more of the following motivators:

  • Autonomy: Entrepreneurs want to be their own bosses, set their own goals, control their own progress and run their businesses how they see fit. They recognize that their business’s success or failure rests with them, yet they don’t view this responsibility as a burden but, instead, as a marker of their freedom.
  • Purpose: Many entrepreneurs have a clear vision of what they want to accomplish and will work tirelessly to make that happen. They genuinely believe they have a product or service that fills a void and are compelled by a single-minded commitment to that goal to keep pushing ahead. They abhor stagnation and would rather fail while moving forward than languish in inactivity.
  • Flexibility: Not everyone fits into the rigidity of traditional corporate culture. Entrepreneurs are often looking to free themselves from these constraints, find a better work-life balance or work at times and in ways that may be unconventional. This doesn’t mean they are working fewer hours – often, especially in the early stages of growing a business, they work longer and harder – but, rather, they’re working in a way that is instinctual for them.
  • Financial success: Most entrepreneurs realize they aren’t going to be overnight billionaires, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in the potential of making a ton of money from a hugely successful business over which they have full control. Some want to establish a financial safety net for themselves and their families, while others are looking to make a huge profit by creating the next big thing.
  • Legacy: Entrepreneurs are often guided by a desire to create something that outlasts them. Others want to create a brand that has longevity and becomes an institution. Another group wants to pass on a source of income and security to their heirs. There are also those entrepreneurs who hope to make a lasting impression on the world and leave behind an innovation that improves people’s lives in some tangible way.

How to become an entrepreneur

If you’re contemplating entrepreneurial activity, you should first identify which of the above motivators serve as your guiding force. Then, consider if you have the specific character traits and attributes that will enable you to thrive as an entrepreneur.

To help you determine if you’ve got what it takes, here’s what 25 company founders and business leaders told Business News Daily about what they think makes a truly successful entrepreneur.

  1. “Entrepreneurship is at the core of the American dream. It’s about blazing new trails, about believing in yourself, your mission, and inspiring others to join you in the journey. What sets [entrepreeurs] apart is the will, courage and sometimes recklessness to actually do it.” – Derek Hutson, president and CEO of Datical
  1. “Entrepreneurship is a pursuit of a solution, a single relentless focus on solving a problem or doing something drastically different from the way it is done today. [It’s] aiming to do something better than it’s ever been done before and constantly chasing improvement.” – Blake Hutchinson, CEO and small business expert at Flippa
  1. “Entrepreneurship is … the constant hunger for making things better and the idea that you are never satisfied with how things are.” – Debbie Roxarzade, founder and CEO of Rachel’s Kitchen
  1. “At its core, [entrepreneurship] is a mindset – a way of thinking and acting. It is about imagining new ways to solve problems and create value. Fundamentally, entrepreneurship is about … the ability to recognize [and] methodically analyze [an] opportunity and, ultimately, to capture [its] value.” – Bruce Bachenheimer, clinical professor of management and executive director of the Entrepreneurship Lab at Pace University 
  1. “The most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who possess grit. Grit is made up of persistence, passion and resilience. It’s the passion to achieve long-term goals, the courage to try again in the face of rejection, and the will to do something better than it has been done before. The most successful entrepreneurs tend to be gritty ones … they do not give up until they exceed their goals. When the going gets tough and they get knocked down, gritty entrepreneurs bounce right back up and try again.” –Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation
  1. The ability to listen, whether it be to the opinions of customers or employees, is also integral to success. While … you must have the confidence to make your own choices, it is still incredibly important not to become detached from the people whose needs you are trying to meet.” – Tirath Kamdar, founder and CEO of TrueFacet
  1. “Being an entrepreneur is like heading into uncharted territory. It’s rarely obvious what to do next, and you have to rely on yourself a lot when you run into problems. There are many days when you feel like things will never work out and you’re operating at a loss for endless months. You have to be able to stomach the roller coaster of emotions that comes with striking out on your own.” – Amanda Austin, founder and president of Little Shop of Miniatures
  1. “To be a successful entrepreneur, you must have a passion for learning – from customers, employees and even competitors.” – James Bedal, president and CEO of Bare Metal Standard
  1. “Entrepreneurship is, fundamentally, the art and science of building profitable systems to help people in ways that other systems do not. The core competency of the entrepreneur is not business acumen or marketing ability but rather empathy – the ability to understand the feelings and needs of others.” –Logan Allec, CPA and owner of Money Done Right

  2. “Being a successful entrepreneur also means being a good leader. Leadership is the ability to bring people to a place where they want to follow you, not feel like they are forced to follow you. This takes investing in your team personally. They must know you’re not only going to hold them accountable and drive them to be better, but [you will] also look out for them when they are struggling. It’s not transactional, it’s a relationship.” – Steve Schwab, founder and CEO of Casago
  1. “Entrepreneurship is the ability to recognize the bigger picture, find where there’s an opportunity to make someone’s life better, design hypotheses around these opportunities and continually test your assumptions. It’s experimentation: Some experiments will work; many others will fail. It is not big exits, huge net worth or living a life of glamour. It’s hard work and persistence to leave the world a better place once your time here is done.” – Konrad Billetz, co-founder and co-CEO of Offset Solar
  1. “A key skill an entrepreneur must possess is self-awareness. An entrepreneur must know who they are and what they need. Self-awareness is the first step for an entrepreneur to build their team.” – Krystal Nelson, founder of Impakt Consulting
  1. “[Entrepreneurs] have to be people-oriented. Your business will die without a good team to back you up. Study management techniques, learn from great leaders, [and] review where you’re succeeding and failing so you can help others improve. An entrepreneur has to be able to build a team who cares about its work, and to do that, you have to care about how you create your team.” – Jonathan Barnett, president and CEO of Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning
  1. “To be a successful entrepreneur, you need perseverance. Most successful business people or entrepreneurs have never given up on their idea. When challenges arise, they have found innovative ways of overcoming them. You must be able to adapt to changing economic conditions, and innovate and embrace technological advances to keep your customers engaged. These things take determination and a strong focus on the end goal.” – Stacey Kehoe, founder and director of communications of Brandlective Communications
  1. “Entrepreneurship is the mindset that allows you to see opportunity everywhere. It could be a business idea, but it could also be seeing the possibilities in the people who can help you grow that business. This ability to see many options in every situation is critically important; there will be unending challenges that will test your hustle.” – Preeti Sriratana, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Sweeten
  1. “Entrepreneurs and business owners definitely need to get used to taking risks … You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Trying to grow a company or execute on an idea is difficult. It’s not always going to be roses and unicorns. At some point, you’re going to run into issues, lose customers and have financial constraints. It’s at this point you need to get back on the horse and take another risk, whether it’s in the form of a new product, new marketing campaign or a new customer recruitment strategy.” – Mathew Ross, co-founder and COO of Slumber Yard
  1. “Successful entrepreneurs look past [the] ‘quick buck’ and instead look at the bigger picture to ensure that each action made is going toward the overall goal of the business or concept, whether or not that means getting something in return at that moment.” – Allen Dikker, founder and CEO of Potatopia
  1. “Being an entrepreneur is ingrained in one’s identity. [It] is the culmination of a certain set of characteristics: determination, creativity, the capacity to risk, leadership and enthusiasm.” – Eric Lupton, president of Life Saver Pool Fence Systems
  1. “Entrepreneurship is an unavoidable life calling pursued by those who are fortunate enough to take chances. [They are] optimistic enough to believe in themselves, aware enough to see problems around them, stubborn enough to keep going, and bold enough to act again and again. Entrepreneurship is not something you do because you have an idea. It’s about having the creativity to question, the strength to believe and the courage to move.” – Jordan Fliegel, managing director of Techstars
  1. “You may need to also be a bit of a contrarian. Sometimes it takes a person who thinks differently than the herd to start something new and defy the odds.” – Akshay (Asher) Khanna, founder of CareClinic
  1. “Entrepreneurship is seeing an opportunity and gathering the resources to turn a possibility into a reality. It represents the freedom to envision something new and to make it happen. It includes risk, but it also includes the reward of creating a legacy.” – Maia Haag, co-founder and president of I See Me! Personalized Books and Gifts
  1. “An entrepreneur must be able to accept failure. Everyone thinks they can accept failure until they come face-to-face with failing at a major thing they have put their everything into. To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be someone who is able to risk failure at the deepest personal levels.” –Steven Benson, founder and CEO of Badger Maps
  1. “[Entrepreneurs] must be able to pivot. If something isn’t working, keeping at it won’t make you successful. But changing your approach, changing your business model, changing your plans to make it work is the power of the pivot. You’re adaptable regardless of what’s thrown at you.” – Michael Maher, chief idea officer of Matters of the Cart
  1. “Entrepreneurship is about always moving forward: never stopping, never allowing self-doubt or fear to take over, and believing wholeheartedly that even a wrong decision is better than no decision.” –Adam Sherwin, founder of Viakix
  1. “Entrepreneurs are the dreamers and the visionaries. Without them, the world stagnates and progress stops. Society needs entrepreneurs the same way the body needs air.” – Cynthia Kirkeby, founder and CVO of Seasonally Fresh

Entrepreneurship Defined: What It Means to Be an Entrepreneur[BusinessNewsDaily]