Entrepreneur and entrepreneurship: 9 Things to ensure before start

Entrepreneur and entrepreneurship are correlated terms of each other. A person cannot become an entrepreneur without entrepreneurship. On the other hand, entrepreneurship is not possible without an entrepreneur.

Here, I have discussed about the following things;

• Who is an entrepreneur?
• What are the types of entrepreneurs?
• What is entrepreneurship?
• What are the things to ensure before starting a business?

Who is an entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is the person who takes the initiative to start a business by taking all the related risks, responsibilities and liabilities. The idea of that business could be completely new or already existing.

What are the types of entrepreneurs?

Depending on the nature of business operations and activities, entrepreneurs can be 3 types.

1. General entrepreneur
2. Digital entrepreneur
3. Hybrid entrepreneur

These have been described below.

1. General entrepreneur

If an entrepreneur takes initiative to do a business of physical products and/or services by offline or physical operations and activities only, then he/she is a general entrepreneur. A general entrepreneur also known as a traditional entrepreneur.

For example, any business that makes deals, and provides products and/or services to customers physically from business to customers. Like: supershop, restaurant, etc.

2. Digital entrepreneur

When an entrepreneur takes initiative to do a business of digital products and/or services by online operations and activities only, then he/she is a digital entrepreneur. A digital entrepreneur also known as an online or internet entrepreneur.

For example, any business that makes deals, and provides products and/or services completely online to customers. Like: online based agencies, digital contents, etc.

3. Hybrid entrepreneur

A hybrid entrepreneur is an entrepreneur who takes initiative to do a business of both digital and general products and/or services by both offline and online operations and activities.

For example, any business that has both offline and online operations and activities to make deals, and provide products and/or services to consumers. Like: e-commerce, general business with online facilities, etc.

What is entrepreneurship?

If an entrepreneur takes initiative to start a business, then it is known as entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship refers to the combination of all the stages and processes in which an entrepreneur goes through. It starts from the very initial stage of thinking about a business and ends when a business becomes visible and possible.

Entrepreneurship is the initial state of goal of an entrepreneur.

Read: Entrepreneurship: The way to accelerate an economy

What are the things to ensure before starting a business?

Success or failure of an entrepreneurship depends on many factors. Some are avoidable or controllable and some are unavoidable or uncontrollable.

Every entrepreneur deals with some unavoidable or uncontrollable factors. Within all of those, 9 factors are most impactful and common for all entrepreneurs. So, an entrepreneur needs to be sure about these 9 factors before starting a business. The factors are:

1. Source of funds
2. Adequate knowledge
3. Surrounding people
4. Suitable environment
5. Demand in public
6. Nature of competition
7. Law and order situation
8. Government’s policies, rules, and regulations
9. Backup choice

These factors have been described below.

1. Source of funds

Source of the funds is the most important and first thing to think about. Investment is a must to do for any sort of business. Every entrepreneur has to have a source of funds. It is not possible to skip it.

So, before thinking or planning for the rest of the things, an entrepreneur has to ensure that he/she has the source of funds from which to invest and manage a business.

But in my opinion, an entrepreneur should not go for any loan, which is interest based. Entrepreneurs always need to stay away from any interest based activity.

2. Adequate knowledge

Knowledge is priceless. For an entrepreneur, adequate knowledge on the chosen segment of business is must to have. Without proper knowledge, it is almost impossible for an entrepreneur to make an entrepreneurship successful.

An entrepreneur could hire knowledgeable and skillful people for his/her business. But it is not the alternative solution of an entrepreneur’s own knowledge & skill.

An entrepreneur should not fully depend on other’s knowledge. It is necessary to have adequate knowledge on the field in which an entrepreneur wants to get in.

3. Surrounding people

For an entrepreneur, the most important thing is the people who are surrounding him/her. Besides his/her own abilities and qualities, an entrepreneur always needs support from surrounding people.

We all know that as a human being, we get easily influenced by the people around us. People around an entrepreneur can make differences in many ways. Qualitiful surrounding people can make an entrepreneurship successful. On the other hand, a lack of quality people can destroy an entrepreneurship in no time.

An entrepreneur also needs a lot of help from surrounding people to make things possible. So, it is important for an entrepreneur to have ethical, effective, knowledgeable, and productive people around.

4. Suitable environment

Suitable environment is essential for an entrepreneur to start. Suitable environment means an environment that is entrepreneur friendly. Environment around an entrepreneur has a large impact on the success or failure of an entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneur friendly environment encourages and motivates an entrepreneur toward success. But a non-friendly environment creates many obstacles in an entrepreneur’s success.

So, it is a must for an entrepreneur to ensure a good, productive, and entrepreneur friendly environment around.

5. Demand in public

It is important for any product or service to have demand in public. If a product or service has a hold in public demand or has potential to create demand, then it could be a safe option to go with. But if a product or service has less demand in public or has less potential to create demand in future, then it is better to ignore.

So, an entrepreneur needs to ensure that the public has demand for the product or service he/she wants to launch.

6. Nature of competition

If an entrepreneur wants to come up with a product or service, then it is must for him/her to think about the competitors.

If an entrepreneur comes up with a new idea or product or service, then it becomes easy for him/her to make an impact in the market as a first mover.

But if the product or service already exists, then an entrepreneur needs to compete with those. In this case, If healthy competition exists between competitors, then it is fine to enter. But if the nature of competition is unethical, then it is safe to not enter into that segment.

7. Law and order situation

Law and order situations have a direct impact on an entrepreneur and entrepreneurship.

A well stable law and order situation makes an entrepreneur feel better, safe, and secure. It motivates an entrepreneur to start and grow a business and do something for the betterment of people or society. But incase of an unstable law and order situation, it is hard for an entrepreneur to run and grow a business.

So, an entrepreneur must ensure that he/she is in a good law and order situation.

Although the law and order situation is much less impactful for a digital entrepreneur compared to a general or a hybrid entrepreneur.

8. Government’s policies, rules, and regulations

Every entrepreneur has to start and run a business by following the government’s policies, rules, and regulations. So, before starting a business, an entrepreneur should check the given policies, rules, and regulations by the government for the segment he/she is interested in. An entrepreneur has to be sure about each legal factor.

9. Backup choice

An entrepreneur must have more than one backup choice of business in which he/she is interested to start. Backup choices give the opportunity to think and compare. It gives the flexibility to an entrepreneur to select the most perfect one for him/her after doing all the research.

If an entrepreneur does not have backup options to choose from, then he/she might miss some better opportunities.

An Entrepreneur and entrepreneurship may get affected by many other internal and external factors. But above mentioned 9 factors are the most important but surprisingly most ignored to ensure. Most entrepreneurs do not think much about these. As a result, they fail to convert their dreams into reality.

An entrepreneur should start working on making a business plan only after ensuring these factors described above.