You may have heard the expression, “entrepreneurs are born, not made”. And if you believe that to be true, it’s probably steered you away from even thinking about going it alone and setting up your own business. But Mauritz Bekker, who has been training would-be entrepreneurs for more than 20 years, says this is view is false. Entrepreneurs can be made, as long as they have a real passion for what they do.
Bekker is the developer of the study material for Moonstone Business School of Excellence’s latest short course, called simply Entrepreneurship.
You can enrol for the eight-week online course at any time during the year.
Click here for more information and to enrol.
Bekker, who has a Master’s degree in Business Leadership, has started and managed several small businesses.
He says the Industrial Revolution saw a relatively small number of large entities create a huge number of jobs. The education system continues “to program” us for an “industrial age” economy – that is, to be job-seekers. Yet, as we know all too well in South Africa, few large companies are creating enough work to meet the demand from job-seekers.
One of the aims of MBSE’s Entrepreneurship course is to shift people from a job-seeking to an opportunity-seeking mindset. A key aspect of this shift involves discovering what you are passionate about doing. People who are passionate about what they do will strive to do it better than anyone else. This enables them to identify solutions that are better than those already out there or solutions no one has yet brought to market, Bekker says.
He says each one of us has a unique set of talents that equips us with the potential to solve someone else’s problems. In a market economy, individuals buy and sell their talents.
“A business opportunity is a problem you can solve better than someone else,” Bekker says.
Bekker says he finds it interesting that people who don’t have an entrepreneurial mindset often say they can’t start a business because all the opportunities have already been taken. Those with an entrepreneurial mindset, on the other hand, say they wish they had more time in the day because they can see so many opportunities.
Essential financial and marketing skills
Frightening statistics about the number of new businesses that fail, even in their first year, is another reason people are wary of becoming entrepreneurs.
Bekker says research by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor shows that the main reason for failure is the lack of financial and marketing skills.
In his view, there’s a third reason – which relates to the “passion factor”. People – perhaps when they suddenly find themselves jobless due to retrenchment – often choose to embark on a business venture somewhat randomly. They might come across an advert for a franchise or do what they see other people doing and think, “I’ll give that a try”. But they haven’t really discovered what they want to do, so they can’t give the venture their undivided attention.
The course will not turn you into an accountant, bookkeeper, or tax practitioner. It will teach you financial skills essential for being an entrepreneur. First, the ability to assess whether your proposed venture will be viable. Second, using a cash-flow projection so you can anticipate potential financial problems before they sink your business.
The module on marketing is tied to the financial skills. Marketing is more than just selling your product or service. The course focuses on the four Ps of marketing: product development (which includes research to assess whether your idea is feasible), pricing, promotion, and placement, or distribution – finding the best way to make it as easy as possible for customers to access what you’re selling.
Become who you were meant to be
Finding your passion is not only a way to earn an income. Bekker says that people who build a career on using their unique talents attain what is called self-actualisation in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, an often-cited theory of motivation.
Self-actualisation, which is the top level of Maslow’s hierarchy, refers to the realisation of a person’s potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. Maslow describes this level as the desire to accomplish everything that one can, to become the most that one can be.
Many people are doing a job they don’t really like. They live from weekend to weekend or can only look forward to the day they retire when they can finally get off the treadmill. They may be earning a good income, but they are unhappy and unfulfilled.
Perhaps you desire to work on something that requires you to use your talents to the full; something that truly drives you? If so, MBSE’s Entrepreneurship course will give you the tools you need to get started.
