Entrepreneurial DNA: Do You Have it?

[LaughedAt]

In my search for whether entrepreneurship is something you're born with I stumbled upon this wonderful article in Harvard Business Blog that offers a very simple way to evaluate whether you got the Entrepreneurial DNA or not, read it, it's worth your time!

I especially liked this part of the article, that deals with procrastination instead of action, people that claim they want to "work a couple of years there and then pursue their passions" and "build a base of security" before they take the plunge:

Here is an analogy and question I ask people when assessing their potential for entrepreneurship: Are you a bond or an equity? I believe that most people grow up dreaming to be an equity (or at least thought of as equity), but end up working in high-yield bond situations. (The proverbial post-business school career path of: "I'll work here for a few years, and then do my entrepreneurial passion."). If not acted on early enough, these passions often become compromised as the lure of less risky alternatives and the reality of life-stage responsibilities present themselves. It is the guts to go after risk and the perseverance to stick it out that make entrepreneurs more equity-like than bond-like. Business schools are a fascinating places to watch equity people turn into bonds people, or at best to find "equity in the closet" - folks who deep down wish to start something but then decide to take bond-like jobs.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/tjan/2009/04/entrepreneurial-dna-do-you-hav.html


Allow me to re-quote this:
If not acted on early enough, these passions often become compromised as the lure of less risky alternatives and the reality of life-stage responsibilities present themselves.

Read the above sentence as many times as you can and devour it, I think this quote is gonna end up above my head so I can see it everyday!
Enjoy the wonderful read.

Edit: Forgot to add the link lol, thanks dnuge3 for pointing, I repped you!

 

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[dnuge3]

Care to link us? I searched for it on google, I am assuming its the one that is, Blogs Home - HarvardBusiness.org Lemme know. Just want to make sure that's where I can locate it.

 

[dnuge3]

Good article. It's really very true. To be an entrepreneur you have to take risks and action. You learn experience as you go along. There will be failures along the way but those are where you learn and hone. They are also where you find the strength and knowledge to over come your defeats.

"Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win…"
-Muhammad Ali

 

[NoMoneyDown]

I agree wholeheartedly with this quote. People generally get married at some point (many - not all). In many cases this means that some of your "individualism" is sacrficed as part of the union. It further exponentiates itself with each child you bring into the world as responsibility increases while risk decreases. It definitely isn't something that can all-out stop a person from acting on their entrepreneul instincts, but it can certainly inhibit it.

 

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[dnuge3]

No problem, laughedat. Thanks for the rep.

 

[CoMp1eX]

Thanks for posting the article.

I've overcame tons of obstacles that could've easily set me on the path that he's talking about.

I can understand how easily others without it, unknowingly, make the "choices" that put themselves in those positions.