DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS?
From what you have read about the strengths and weaknesses of a small business, you can see the crucial importance of the role played by the owner-manager – whom we would now better call “entrepreneur.”The entrepreneur is the most important person in the business. He takes the key role in controlling and administering the firm in all its aspects and functions. He is the one who takes most of the risks (as when he loses his shirt and faces scorn) and receives most of the rewards (as when he gets rich and reaps recognition).
Before you decide to be one, you should know what is expected of you, as an entrepreneur.
The Role of an Entrepreneur
The entrepreneur is sometimes described as someone who allocates and manages the factors of production, bears risks, innovates, and makes major decisions.
v
The entrepreneur plans, organizes, and puts
together all the resources required to start a new enterprise and to run and
operate it on a sustained basis. These resources are human (workers,
managers, customers, and suppliers) and non-human (land and building, money,
machines, materials, and methods or processes).
v
The entrepreneur takes risks – not just
in the way gamblers and speculators do – but rather in terms of putting
resources together in order to realize business objectives. It takes
risk-taking to invest money, efforts, and other resources into a new
undertaking whose result is uncertain. He might win or lose, get rich or go
bankrupt – but he takes chances anyway.
v
The entrepreneur innovates. He
continuously creates and develops new products and services based on what he
understands to be the needs of society. He also looks for ways by which these
goods and services can be produced more economically.
v
In the process of starting, running and growing
their business, small entrepreneurs help build the nation. They are
often called the “backbone of the economy,” or “the engine of growth” because –
consciously or unconsciously – entrepreneurs play the following roles in
society:
ü
Bring about employment. When entrepreneurs put up a
business, they often need to hire other people to get things done. This is why
when business slows down, the country’s unemployment increases. On the other
hand, when people are employed, they are able to feed their families, send
their children to school, provide them with decent homes, and contribute to
government revenues through the income taxes that they pay.
ü
Improve the quality of life. Entrepreneurial activities
contribute to the continuous improvement of living standards. The development
of new products and the delivery of needed services make life easier and more
comfortable for society. Cooking, for example, has been revolutionized by
entrepreneurs. Today, we cook with better and faster stoves like micro wave
ovens, turbo broilers, pressure cookers, multi-purpose cookers – thanks largely
to entrepreneurial innovations.
ü
Contribute to a wider distribution of income.
Entrepreneurs
continuously search and develop raw materials they need in order to produce
goods and services. They often find these in the rural areas. And when they
locate in the provinces, they are actually spreading the benefits of
development to these often, neglected communities. This will help slowdown
migration and overcrowding in the metropolis.
ü
Utilize
resources for national productivity.
Economic development is hastened if our natural and other resources are put
into good use. Entrepreneurs are famous for utilizing them. For example,
handicraft entrepreneurs have made use of locally-grown and in abundance, weeds
and reeds like pandan,
rattan, bamboo, anahaw, nipa, buri …
even, would you believe, cogon grass?
Entrepreneurs also make productive use of capital resources such as family or
personal savings, which may otherwise be used in unproductive ways like
gambling or luxury spending.
ü Generate social
benefits through government. With
revenues that the government collects from taxes, duties and licenses paid by
entrepreneurs, the government is able to allocate the money to different social
services in the communities. These services come in the form of infrastructure
like roads and bridges, educational and medical services and facilities, and
maintenance of peace and order.
Are you willing to accept these responsibilities?
If you
answered “Yes” to that, the next question is: Do you have the “it” to be an
entrepreneur? Refer to the personal traits in the next section that are
considered “entrepreneurial.”
You may have
already formed an idea from what you have read so far – that entrepreneurship
is not for the weak-hearted or the shy. Neither is it for those who want to
take things easy. And it isn’t for those who want sure returns on their
investments.
See if you can
identify with the personal qualities and competencies associated with
successful business people.
Click here for the Table of Contents of Your Guide to Starting a Small Enterprise
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The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only. We would like to extend our thanks to DTI and the people behind in realizing this guidebook. There efforts are greatly appreciated. Now we have this information FREE for us to use and eventually be one of the best guide in starting your own small enterprise in the Philippines.
Again, if you would like to receive a soft copy of "Your Guide to Starting a Small Enterprise", please send us a private message on our RICHDADph FACEBOOK page. And we will be glad to answer your queries and request. Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.
Again, if you would like to receive a soft copy of "Your Guide to Starting a Small Enterprise", please send us a private message on our RICHDADph FACEBOOK page. And we will be glad to answer your queries and request. Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.
By — Don Quixote