Entrepreneurs
What is an Entrepreneur
A person who organizes and manages a self-made business and is willing to take risks to strengthen their business’ chances of success.
Why is creativity an important entrepreneurial skill
Entrepreneurs require creativity because they need to invent/innovate a product or service in a way that is unique to other brands and businesses. Entrepreneurs are also frequently faced with conflicts with their business that may require creative solutions.
Why is goal setting important for entrepreneurs
Defining your goals can help you track your company’s progress.
It helps you visualize your thoughts and ideas more clearly.
It helps you make adjustments as needed.
Why is being a risk-taker important for an entrepreneur
It helps them innovate and explore new business opportunities
Why do companies use market research
It helps companies and entrepreneurs make better business decisions and avoid costly mistakes. It provides them with a better sense of what their customers are looking for.
List 3 reasons on why entrepreneurs fail
They don’t have a business plan
Lack experience
Underestimate money needed
Wrong target market
Poor negotiation skills with suppliers
Lack of commitment
Complacency
Growing too quickly
Pressures from home/personal life
Poor communication between managers and partners
Too egocentric
What can you do to improve your ability to be creative?
Challenge yourself by doing activities that require creativity in short periods of time.
List 3 of the “7 Insights On Successful Goal Setting For Entrepreneurs” article
Strive for clarity - create a statement of your purposes when setting a goal
Review, Review, Repeat (your goals)
Fit the plan to the problem - consider the scope and complexity of the problem when coming up with a plan
Take charge of your time - create a schedule and stick to it
Don’t be afraid of failure
Document your progress - how you expend your time, money and effort
Create your own rewards program - reward yourself for your achievements along the way
What leadership style involves giving complete freedom to employees to make decisions
Laissez-faire
What are the three different types of survey questions that you learned about in this unit?
Multiple choice, scale, open ended questions.
Entrepreneurs require many characteristics, list 3 major characteristics out of the ones we discussed in class
Resilient, Networker, Innovative, Persuasive, Self-motivated, Passionate, Risk-taker, Perceptive, Confident, Flexible/Adaptable
What is the difference between an enterprising person and a non-enterprising person
A person is enterprising when they show initiative and attempt to improve things or situations without being asked.
A non-enterprising person rarely takes risks because of fear and is happy to leave things as they find them. They let others go ahead and solve or fix problems and tends to see only negative consequences and does nothing as a result to avoid these outcomes.
What are 2 things to remember about success?
It is not universal and looks different for everyone
Set your goals to be future oriented to help you achieve success
Which of the 3 leadership styles encourages group decision-making?
Democratic
What is professional communication
A more formal and professional approach to interactions with other businesses and customers. This is particularly important in written communication, e.g. email.
Why must entrepreneurs accept some degree of risk when starting a new business
You need to invest money when you start up a company and there is no guarantee that your business will be successful. There could be external factors like government regulations, changes in the supply chain or shifts in consumer behaviour. Just remember that risk and reward go hand in hand because without taking risks, entrepreneurs miss out on opportunities for growth, innovation and profit.
Why is critical thinking an important skill for entrepreneurs?
It is a critical skill for entrepreneurs because they don’t just solve problems, they solve them in the best way possible. They come up with a bunch of solutions and critically consider all options before deciding on the best one.
What are the the 4 types of lifelong learning?
Curiosity
Purpose
Social Improvement
Self-Learning
Entrepreneurs are described as self-motivated because...
They drive themselves to achieve goals without external pressure
What is “design thinking” and how is it different from other problem solving techniques?
It is a mindset and approach to problem solving and innovation which is grounded in human centered design. This means that it focuses on addressing customer’s needs to create innovative solutions. It is different from other problem solving techniques because it is solution based rather than problem based.
Name one of the Canadian entrepreneurs that we learned about in this unit
Lesley Hampton Designs, Alana Astehtsi’ Otsistóhkwa (Morningstar Designs), Jenn Harper (Cheekbone Beauty), Maddie (Western Sky Designs), Natalie Dusome (Poppy & Peonies), Mark Marsolais-Nahwegahbow, Clairissa Cruz (Bare Body Sugaring)
Define “adversity”. Why do entrepreneurs need to be resilient?
Adversity is misfortune, bad luck, hardship, difficulty, etc.. Entrepreneurs need to be resilient so that they can bounce back or recover from adversity and embrace uncertainty.
What makes leaders different from one another?
Not all leaders will possess the same qualities and characteristics or skills and abilities as a leader.
This results in individual leaders responding differently to similar situations.
What are the three broad categories of leadership styles that we talked about? Define one of them.
Autocratic:
takes full authority and gives orders to their subordinates without consulting them first, does all or most of the delegation, and expectations are clear, uses a system of reprimands, criticisms, and punishment, employees work to avoid punishment rather than to gain rewards.
Laissez-Faire:
leader doesn’t interfere with their team at every step of the process, give minimal direction and allow the group to solve their own problems, believes that each team member will naturally make their best effort without someone looking over their shoulder, also known as a delegative leader
Democratic:
consults their subordinates and requests their subordinates’ participation when it comes to decision making, lead by example and persuasion, not by force, often adopt a moderating role while their teams create strategic plans or visions
Provide definitions for 2 out of the following terms relating to emails: CC, Email signature, Spam, Phishing, Out-of-office replies
- CC Short for carbon copy. It allows you to send a copy to someone who is not the recipient listed in your “to” field.
- Email signature It’s a block of text at the end of an email which includes professional contact details and company branding.
- Spam Unwanted, unsolicited digital communication that gets sent out in bulk. E.g. commercial messages.
- Phishing A digital form of social engineering that uses authentic-looking but bogus emails to request information from users or direct them to a fake website that requests information.
- Out-of-office replies An automatic email reply that is sent to colleagues, customers and clients when you are away from work.