Start Up: What is an Entrepreneur?

Start-Up! is weekly column on entrepreneurship, start-ups, technology and innovation, powered by the Adams Hub for Innovation.

Entrepreneur is a word that gets used a lot, but what does it really mean? Most people would say an entrepreneur is someone that starts a business. But, just starting a business does not make someone an entrepreneur.

Anyone can go down to the Secretary of State’s office or visit SilverFlume, Nevada’s Business Licensing website, and start their own company. But entrepreneurship is more than that; it is a culture of innovation and creation; it is having the desire to set out to produce something great and then actually having the drive to follow through with it.

Robert Hisrich, Garvin Professor of Global Entrepreneurship and Director of the Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, defined entrepreneurship as “the process of creating something different with value by devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, psychological, and social risks; and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction.”

Hisrich’s definition can be broken down into four main traits that make up the character of an entrepreneur. These facets hold true to all entrepreneurs regardless of their product or service. The first characteristic is that entrepreneurs are creative. They create something that will have value to someone else. Entrepreneur must be able to analyze what they have created and realize when there is an opportunity they can capitalize on.

The second characteristic of an entrepreneur is dedication. Building a business from scratch, starting with nothing but an idea, is one of the toughest ways to make a living. An entrepreneur has to be willing to work long hours and put in the extra effort to get the idea off the ground. Entrepreneurs have to be masters of time and task management because most, if not all, of the burden of running the business is on them. The all-out commitment is embedded in the entrepreneurial personality.

The third aspect of an entrepreneur’s character is willingness to accept responsibility and take risks. If you think about it, entrepreneurs are putting everything they have on the line to make their dreams a reality. Entrepreneurs don’t get paid if their business doesn’t work out. No one is going to write them a check on payday if their idea doesn’t sell. It takes a certain personality to be willing to risk so much, especially considering how great the chances are for failure. Depending on who you choose to believe, the failure rate of new businesses is between 75% and 80%. Entrepreneurs are willing to look past the odds of failing in order to get their idea out there. That’s not to say entrepreneurs jump in without assessing the risk. Successful entrepreneurs must make calculated decisions based on their assumptions of the situation. They must then hope that their assumptions are correct.

The fourth aspect of Hisrich’s definition is about receiving the rewards from all of the hard work and risk. While this seems pretty self-explanatory, for entrepreneurs it goes a bit deeper—Entrepreneurs have a vision for where they want their ideas to go. They define their vision of their end goal at the very beginning. Then, they work tirelessly to achieve their vision. The reason so many entrepreneurs are willing to risk everything is because they have a vision of the personal satisfaction and wealth independence rewards they can achieve.

Entrepreneurs are a class unto themselves and vary dramatically from the managerial class which dominates businesses. These folks have something special and unique to their approach. Time after time, entrepreneurs have tried and failed, tried and failed and eventually created the “biggest thing since sliced bread.” They have laid the foundations for business and society with their innovations and resulting products and services.

Entrepreneurism is an essential ingredient to our regional success. Nevadans make great entrepreneurs, and our region will continue to down the road to prosperity if we support the development and success of our entrepreneurial culture.

Rob Hooper is Executive Director of the Northern Nevada Development Authority.