Entrepreneurship is about selling goods or service that can make a profit but it also can be quite scary because there is no guarantee that the business will work, and the entrepreneur may end up losing money for the first few years. Moreover, I am not a person who is interested in business. Truthfully, I really hated it because I feel very ashamed to sell goods or services because it quite hard for me to talk about what I am selling to other people.

 

b)      What I want to know?

How is the skills of a successful entrepreneur and how their managed on their work and personal stuffs? Why an entrepreneur is very eager to try something new. Where do they get the strength to continue their business? Why they said that becoming an entrepreneur is fun? Obviously I am a very curious person. Is being an entrepreneur worth it?

 

c)       What I have learned?

I have learned so much from that class. We were given a few examples of successful entrepreneurs. First of all, I knew who are entrepreneur. Entrepreneur is people who like to be their own boss.  There are four essential skills that a Technopreneur needs. There are Entrepreneurship Awareness Skills, Personal Empowerment Skills, Business Planning Skills

Business  Management Skills. It is quite hard for me to understand it because as I said earlier, I have none interest in becoming an entrepreneur. It is okay, I think I will learn slowly. Next, we are required to think and plan for my own future, the needs of my business, my  resource requirement, feasibility of the business, helps to troubleshoot and solve problems, appraise quality and performance. I also knew the difference between small business owner and entrepreneur. 

�  Small Businesses Owners

¡  Manage their businesses by expecting stable sales, profits, and growth.

�  Entrepreneurs

¡  Focus their efforts on innovation, profitability and sustainable growth.

 

Lastly, is their mindset.  An entrepreneurship mindset.  Entrepreneurship is more than the mere creation of business: 

¡  Seeking opportunities

¡  Taking risks beyond security

Having the tenacity to push an idea through to reality 

What exactly is it that sets entrepreneurs apart from the rest? What is it that makes certain people believe in themselves enough to take the prospect of failure head-on and have the determination to come out on top? It takes a special kind of person to set an idea in motion, riding the highs and lows from humble beginnings to ultimate success. 

Entrepreneurial Spirit is about the positive thinking of an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial spirit is a mind-set. It’s an attitude and approach to thinking that actively seeks out change, rather than waiting to adapt to change. It’s a mind-set that embraces critical questioning, innovation, service and continuous improvement. The entrepreneurial spirit is also a gift that inspires others to become the best they can be. From passion and positivity to leadership and ambition, here are the entrepreneurs that best define the entrepreneurial spirit. Basically, you have something to do and you eager to do it with your positivity, you can do it.

 

b)      What I want to know?

There are some characteristics in work and life that you just can't teach. They form from within and over time, they become part of who we are. One of those characteristics is the entrepreneurial spirit. It develops in the individuals who demonstrate a true passion for building something great from nothing and they are willing to push themselves to the limits to achieve big goals.

As an entrepreneur, these are the people you want to hire and surround yourself with. I firm believer that you don't need to own a multibillion-dollar business or start the next Facebook to exhibit the qualities of having the entrepreneurial spirit. It's something you exhibit every day in how you approach your life and career. I always have been curious to know, if there are any mantra or powerful mission to become a successful entrepreneur.

Other than that, most people always said that tagline has always been the most powerful marketing and advertising strategy of one’s company. Is it true? Last but not least, is there any connection between luck and entrepreneurship?

 

 

 

 

 

 

c)       What I have learned?

I have learned a lot of positive things in Chapter Two which is Entrepreneurial Spirit. Firstly, the characteristics of the successful entrepreneurs. Below are few indicators that demonstrate that the entrepreneurial spirits are alive:-

·         Believe can make a different.

·         Passion for making thing happens.

·         Unjustifiable optimism – Believe that can succeed with what he/ she doing.

·         Tolerate for uncertainty.

·         Genuinely concern for other people.

·         They are in-tune with their passion.

·         Optimistic about all possibilities.

·         They take calculated risks.

·         Desire for responsibility

·         Preference for moderate risk

·         Confidence in their ability to succeed

·         Desire for immediate feedback

·         High level of energy

·         Future orientation

·         Skilled at organizing

·         Value achievement over money

Next, I learned about the quality to become a good entrepreneur.

·         Discipline

·         Confidence

·         Open Minded

·         Self-starter

·         Competitive

·         Leadership

·         Being Organized

·         Being Highly Energetic

 

 

Luck does play a role in business, but when you start talking about luck in entrepreneurship, you can never attribute too much credit for success to the fortune’s wheel. Success can be attributed to being lucky by starting the right business at the right time. However, the owner would not start a business if he/she didn’t believe an opportunity to create something profitable isn’t there. It is common sense. Luck means that a variable is random and the outcome just happens to be positive purely by chance. Successful entrepreneurs aren’t successful because they rolled dice but because they took a lot of careful and calculated decisions, and had enough motivation to take action at a point in time.

They saw opportunity, the chance to be and decided to go for it given they had the skills to make it happen. One is not successful because lady luck smiles on them, one’s business booms because one is opportunistic at the right time. Most failed businesses flop because the owner was opportunistic at the wrong time or in the wrong place. Entrepreneurs write their own destiny by making choices that lead to actions and those who make the right choices at the right time earn their successes. For most entrepreneurs, it’s a combination of working your tail off, being in the right place at the right time, by having the guts to approach highly ranked people in the industry, and/or by taking advantage of available contests and grants.

Most successful entrepreneurs have three things in common. Firstly, spotting a market by either being in the right place at the right time or just by hard work and making sure they are well informed on many different markets and seeing possible trends and opportunities. Secondly, having a risk personality so that they are more likely to seize that opportunity and lastly, having the skills to manage that opportunity with regards to putting in place the finance and marketing. With a strong focus to achieve their goals, they make sure it happens despite any pitfalls along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entrepreneurial thinking is about recognizing opportunities in the marketplace and understanding how and when to capitalize on them. Becoming an entrepreneur is not necessarily an inherent trait. It takes time to train yourself to use your talents and experience to see opportunities where others do not. Entrepreneurial strategy is characterized as strategy involving widespread and more‐or‐less simultaneous change in the pattern of decisions taken by an organization. The concept is distinguished from others which use ‘entrepreneurial’ to characterize a long‐term pattern of strategic behaviour. A business strategy is the means by which it sets out to achieve its desired objectives. It can simply be described as a long-term business planning. Typically a business strategy will cover a period of about 3-5 years or sometimes even longer.

 

b)    What I want to know?

Based on the notes, I have discovered about the majors concern of entrepreneurial thought. There are some points that I am not clear with such as “Identify the ‘Soul Mates’ and Hiring the right person. What does it mean by soul mate? The most eager thing that I want to know is how they planned their business strategy. Is there any secret key or something? How they deal with their business enemy? There are always questions running in my heads but I do not know where to start.

 

c)    What I have learned?

Based on what I have learned in Chapter 4, I know more details about the factor that influence a business. For example, SWOT. Strength, weakness, opportunities and thread are the most crucial factor that needed to set up a business. I also learnt on how to book a hotel and flight. We need a plan to do anything. Other than that, I learnt more on what makes a successful entrepreneur. In this Chapter, there are five points about the successful entrepreneur. First, seeing opportunity where others don’t. Secondly, the innovation that created must have these points which are better, faster, cheaper and easier. Next, Fire in the belly and willingness to take risks. Last but not least, extreme work ethic. Next, I learned about good business idea and three major hurdles to overcome before any good idea can come to fruition. As I read through the notes, I noticed that there are many forms of opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop business ideas. Opportunity is a favourable set of circumstances that create need for product or service. Opportunity have 4 essential qualities which are attractive, durable, timely, creates/ adds value for buyer/ user. As an entrepreneur, recognizing opportunities and generating ideas is the most important thing in business field.  A successful entrepreneur always observing or studying the trends such as, economic factors, social factors, technological advances , political action and regulatory statues.  Other than that, a successful entrepreneur must follow the trends that inspire innovation in social, cultural and technological trends. It will gives a huge impact the way a business operates and provide opportunities for an innovation. I also learn 10 rules of brainstorming. 

·         Set directions

·         Involve Everyone

·         Encourage Cross-Fertilization

·         Don’t Overlook the obvious

·         Suspend Judgement

·         Don’t fear repetition 

·         Don’t stop to discuss

·         Record every idea

·         Focus groups

·         Problem inventory analysis

A good presentation is all about confidence level and  how our eyes meet with the eyes of the audience. Presentation also requires a loud and clear voice and interesting slides that can makes the audience eyes pop out. 

 

b)    What I want  to know?

There are a lots of thing I want to know desperately especially on how to deal with nerves. It turns out I have so much anxiety in me. It is hard for me to stay calm. Other than that, I want to know on how to be good presenter and to write on the presentation.  

 

c)    What I have learned?

In this chapter I learned about how to give a good presentation. First of all, a good presentation is all about having a clear message and the confidence and conviction to communicate that message. A well-planned, well-delivered presentation will help to convince potential clients to choose you over the competition or help to make banks or venture capitalists confident that your business concept is a safe investment. Poor presentations can cost your business dearly. Some of the pitfalls people fall into include,

·         Not doing enough preparation 

·         Being overcome by nerves 

·         Underestimating or overestimating the audience’s knowledge 

·         Relying too much on visual aids 

·         Boring the audience with a speech that has no structure and is delivered without passion

The art of presentation consists of writing your presentation, preparation, dealing with nerves and using audio visual props.

1.    Writing your presentation.

-       We need to emphasize our key message. For example , why buying your product will benefit the client ( in your introduction and summary).

2.    Preparation

-       Always try and set a presentation date well in advance to give yourself plenty of time to prepare.

-       Good planning will give the confidence and also give you more credibility.

-       Know your surroundings, For example, the facilities you will have, the size of the room and the equipment will be available.

-       Practice what you are going to say through tape recording.

-       Keep it simple and know your audience.

3.    Dealing With Nerves.

-       Whatever you do don’t apologise and admit that you’re nervous.

-       Calm your nerves before giving a presentation. 

4.    Using audio visual props

-       It is important to use Power point or hand outs to emphasize key points first.

Body language can betray you because it can expose nerves or give the audience the impression that you don’t want to be there or that you’re not passionate about your subject. 

We need to establish a good rapport with your audience. Make friendly eye contact but don’t lock eyes on any one person for more than 3 seconds. Don’t be shy to use our hands.

The key to give a memorable presentation is based on a few simple rules that everyone can use.

Being able to deliver strong and confident presentations can give you an important competitive edge.

Business plan is about writing a proposal to propose a business, especially when it comes to big business project. There is also a scope in the business plan which are perspectives to be considered in preparing the plan and also depth and detail in the business plan. Business plan depend on SWOT analysis which stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Thread. Entrepreneur prepares a first draft of the business plan from a personal view point.  Appropriate changes are necessary as entrepreneur is aware of the audience. 

 

b)    What I want to know?

In this chapter, I am eager to know how to write a business plan. The components in business plan and who should write the plan?. As I examined the slide one by one, I noticed there is a value of the business plan and it seems pretty much important in this chapter.

 

c)    What I have learned?

In chapter 6, I learned on how to write a business plan. Business plan is a written document describing all relevant in Valuable to the entrepreneur, potential investors, or even new personnel. The value of business is important to these people because,

·         Helps determine viability of the venture in a designated market.

·         Provides guidance to the entrepreneur in organizing his or her planning activities.

·         Serves as an important tool in helping to obtain financing.

Potential investors are very particular about what should be included in the business plan. The thinking process required to complete the plan is a valuable experience for the entrepreneur. If required, the entrepreneur may decide to terminate the business endeavour. 

·         Provides a self-assessment by the entrepreneur. 

·         Forces the entrepreneur to bring objectivity to the idea. 

·         Helps consider obstacles that might prevent the venture from succeeding. 

·         Allows to plan ways to avoid such obstacles.

Most of entrepreneurs may need  an information on location, manufacturing operations, raw materials, equipment, labor skills and space to smoothen the business.

There is also description of venture. It provides complete overview of the product(s), service(s), and operations of new venture. Components of the description are:

·         Mission statement.

·         Important factors that provide a clear description and understanding of the business venture.

·         Product(s) or service(s). 

·         Location and size of the business.

·         Personnel and office equipment needed.

·         Background of the entrepreneur(s).

·         History of the venture.

As I read the slides, I noticed , despite business plan, there are also operation plan, marketing plan,  organizational plan, and financial plan.

These are the factors can be one of many of the following why business plan is fail.

·         Goals set by the entrepreneur are unreasonable.

·         Goals are not measurable.

·         Entrepreneur has not made a total commitment to the business or to the family.

·         Entrepreneur has no experience in the planned business.

·         Entrepreneur has no sense of potential threats or weaknesses to the business.

·         No customer need was established for the proposed product or service.