Entrepreneurship and Sustainability

This assignment delves into the relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainability. It examines how entrepreneurial ventures can contribute to sustainable development through innovative practices, eco-friendly products, and responsible business models. The document explores various concepts, theories, and case studies related to this intersection, highlighting the importance of integrating sustainability into entrepreneurial endeavors.

Running head: REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship is the art of commencing a business. It comprises the process of
originating, blueprinting and managing the business operations of a small start-up firm and
thereby transforming it into a thriving and flourishing organization with years of diligence,
hard dedication and professionalism. The persons who are responsible for managing an
organization are termed as entrepreneurs or businesspersons. This journal essay outlines the
fact to attempt a summarized portion and a reflective portion along with a Gibbs reflective
model on the topics of entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurial ecology and entrepreneurial
pathways.

2REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Journal Entry 1- The Entrepreneurial Mindset
The Summary Portion:-
An entrepreneur is a person who commences a business operation. The mindset of an
entrepreneur is a very engaging subject to study. It is the mindset, which makes an
entrepreneur successful in his or her business. Successful entrepreneurs have certain
characteristics, which separates them from the common lot. Those characteristics are
Innovation, determination, versatility, risk forbearance, commitment, intuition, resoluteness
and adaptability (Navale 2013). Entrepreneur must also have the proper psychology to make
the business successful. Usually, the most successful entrepreneurs are regarded to be non-
specialists by nature. They are also reported to be obstinate and sedulous by nature because in
order to be a top performer, entrepreneurs must not follow the herd; they should rather be the
black sheep of the herd. Amidst all the highs of entrepreneurship, there is also not so pleasant
part of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs do not have a proper work-life balance. Some of
them, not all, are constantly chasing financial gains. This further takes a great toll on their
physical and mental health as they gradually develop the feelings of narcissism, cynicism and
cupidity. Entrepreneurs also suffer from occasional bouts of stress and mental pressure.
Entrepreneurship is synonymous with risk forbearance (Baum, Frese and Baron 2014). There
are various types of risks taken by an entrepreneur such as forgoing of a fixed paycheck,
leaning on cash income, working against a crucial time limit and many others. Employees are
bound to take some amount of risks to fight against the losses (Knight 2012.). Entrepreneurs
require a very stimulating ego to excel in business. Entrepreneurs must show ample resolve
and trust in his/her own abilities to execute them in the business operation. Moreover,
entrepreneurs must be effective leaders in their art, since an important part of the
entrepreneur’s job is to lead others in the business plan. As a result, positive ego is directly
associated with the career progress of an entrepreneur.

3REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The Reflective Portion:-
Personally, if I need to assess my entrepreneurship mindset, then I can say that I
possess moderate entrepreneurial mindset qualities. I am quite proficient in the qualities of
innovation, determination and intuition. However, I will falter in the qualities of versatility
and risk forbearance. I do not have much tolerance of risks. I tend to get nervous at times.
Versatility is an area, which requires an individual to perform marvelously in all fields (Hsieh
2012). I am not at all versatile. I am a specialist rather than a generalist. Entrepreneurs are
believed to be the leaders rather than the followers. Similarly, I do not appreciate blindly
adopting other people’s ideas and concepts. I have a notion that I should always contemplate
an innovative solution to a complex plan to upgrade my performance, even if it involves
risking unappreciative conduct from the crowd (Yitshaki 2012). If I talk about the concept of
entrepreneurial stress, than I can say that I have the ability to combat excessive stress. At
pressurizing times, I do not let the impact of stress hamper my work performance. Research
entrepreneurship is a field of entrepreneurship, which has attracted my attention for a long
time because I have the innate ability to learn about new cultures, religions or countries.
Interesting information about any new topic never bores me. Usually, entrepreneurs who
specialize in research are very keen to learn from the experiences of others. Research
entrepreneurs adore to research about a varied segment of topics (Brett et al. 2012). The quest
of learning in them, fuels the desire, to gather more vital information about a business plan.
After this, when they apply the acquired knowledge smartly and orderly in their business
strategy, it guarantees success. This is because effective knowledge about the current market
position, target consumers and the market shares of the rivals constitute the recipe for
brilliance in entrepreneurship.

4REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Gibbs Model:-
First step: Description- I have to assess my entrepreneurial mindset. I have to measure my
proficiency in becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Second step: Feelings- I thought and felt that I possess moderate entrepreneurship skills. The
skills, which I process, would not take me far high in my entrepreneurial career. However
they would provide me with a sufficient paycheck to survive.
Third step: Evaluation- I believe that I am quite expert in the entrepreneurial skills of
innovation, determination and intuition. Additionally, I also believe that I lack in the skills of
versatility and risk forbearance.
Fourth step: Analysis- After the steps of feelings and evaluation, I have learned that I am best
suited to venture into a research entrepreneurship, where I can utilize my hobby of voracious
reading and apply the outcomes to my professional arena.
Fifth step: Conclusion- From all the information I have learned that in order to become a
brilliant entrepreneur personality, one does not have to possess all the skills. Rather one can
amplify his strengths to shadow his weaknesses, and construct a career path accordingly.
Sixth step: Action- I plan to enter into a research entrepreneurship business in future by
modifying my skills of stress control, risk toleration and I would try to inculcate my
generalist skills.

5REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP

6REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Journal Entry 2- Entrepreneurial Ecology
The Summary Portion:-
Entrepreneurial ecology is the new trend in the corporate global scenario. At present,
the environment and the society in which we dwell has become severely distorted by rapid
climatic changes, global warming, over-pollution and harmful depletion of the natural
resources. The inhabitants of the earth must conserve the environment of the earth in its
natural ecological state because the sustainability of the ecology of the earth is very important
for the future human population to survive. In this context, some entrepreneurs all around the
world have come forward as responsible corporate citizens to construct their business strategy
in the most ecological and bionomical way (Egerton 2012). The notion of ecology in
entrepreneurship suggests that entrepreneurs must only do business for earning profits, but
also for returning something valuable back to the environment. The agenda of an ecological
entrepreneur must be to earn revenue as well as to improve the deplorable condition of the
present environment. Entrepreneurial ecology involves making key business decisions as
such that they assist to uphold the integrity and soundness of the environment.
Entrepreneurship ecology helps the entrepreneurs to understand that their business actions
have direct effect upon the state of the environment. whether it is positive or negative (Gawel
2012). Therefore, they must shape their corporate decisions in accordance to the sensitivity of
the environment. In fact, at present, no business entity can afford to ignore the threatening
social and the atmospheric affairs that has become a number one concern for the
environmentalists. Ecological entrepreneurship is recognized to be an award-based
application rather than an extortionate drive (Bonnet, Desjardin and Guijarro 2012).
Therefore, it is believed that ecological entrepreneurship can help to make the earth a more
fulfilling place to survive in the long end. Resultantly, many entrepreneurial start-ups around

7REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
the world have started to embrace the concept of ecological entrepreneurship in their
corporate portfolio.
The Reflective Portion:-
Sustainability is now increasingly being practiced in entrepreneurship. According to
me, I think that the practice of sustainability in entrepreneurship ensures that entrepreneurs
and the business entities must involve environmental, ecological and social issues in their
business approach at the time of founding fresh organizations or inculcating them in the
already existent organizations. I also think that the practice of sustainability in
entrepreneurship also deals with organizing various scientific experiments to take a note
about the turbulent ecological effects on the human society and the atmosphere (Dean 2014).
In addition to this, sustainable entrepreneurs in the recent times have also been trying to
contribute to the minimization of the rising equalities in the society, because severe social
discrepancy leads to extreme devastating effects on the global corporate world and the
consumer society. I also feel that sustainability in entrepreneurship also takes note of the fact
that the entrepreneurs are now realizing that consumers all around the world are becoming
more knowledgeable about the various ecological alterations and their threatening affects.
The changes in our ecology help to create more market beneficial opportunities for the
sustainability-minded entrepreneurs. It also helps the entrepreneurs to earn huge revenue by
launching products that consume low energy and are low polluting by nature. Since,
sustainable or ecologically green products, are the new hype in the modern consumerist
world, therefore customers would flock to the market in huge numbers to buy low energy
consuming products (Weingaertner and Moberg 2014). This would ultimately give an
opportunity to the entrepreneurs to increase their market dominance. Moreover,
entrepreneurs, when they start to practice sustainability, their business profile starts to earn
good publicity points from the media, customers, government and finally from the whole

8REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
business world. Therefore, I think that at present, sustainability is the most sublime corporate
opportunity for the entrepreneurs all around the world.

9REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Gibbs model:-
First Step: Description- I have to reflect on the fact that whether the practice of sustainability
in entrepreneurship is an opportunity or a threat.
Second step: Feelings- I thought and I felt that every global entrepreneur applies
sustainability in their portfolio as it helps to address environmental issues and helps to secure
costly revenues.
Third step: Evaluation- If I have to evaluate the concept of entrepreneurial sustainability, then
I can say it holds the good effects of making the world ecologically green and pollution-free.
In terms of bad effects, it does have any as such.
Fourth step: Analysis- After the steps of Feelings and Evaluation, I have deciphered the fact
that the concept of sustainability is the new instrument of thought of the environmentally
conscious global entrepreneurs and this new façade is here to stay for the coming years due to
the rapid deterioration of the environmental cycle.
Fifth step: Conclusion- I have learnt that sustainability is a very attractive concept, to be,
adopted in entrepreneurship as it helps a firm to earn good points as a responsible and reliable
corporate citizen.
Sixth step: Action- For the future, I have decided that if I venture into entrepreneurship, then
I will apply the philosophy of sustainability in my business and make it ecologically sound.

10REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Journal Entry 3- Walking Entrepreneurial Pathways
The Summary Portion:-
There are many major entrepreneurial pathways for the interesting and dynamic new
age entrepreneurs to venture. Profit producing or upscale entrepreneurships help to raise the
lifestyle of the people by generating more job outlets and wealth producing sources in the
country. Generally, entrepreneurial pathways can be divided into magnitude (microenterprise,
mid size enterprises) and expansion (rapid growth enterprises or slow growth enterprises)
Breugst et al. 2012). In the entrepreneurial world, the concepts of bootstrapping and
minipreneurship have started to be widely recognized as the most swiftest lane to acquire
entrepreneurial experience. This is because bootstrapping and minipreneurship deals with the
fact to achieve more by putting less efforts. Many eminent companies around the world such
as the Domino’s Pizza and the Gallops have become successful by the initiative of the
bootstrapping minded entrepreneurs (Salamzadeh and Kawamorita Kesim 2015).
Micropreneurship is a very innovative entrepreneurial concept where the consumers
themselves do the job of manufacturing good quality products and services instead of just
purchasing them. Micropreneurship helps in organizing the many cumbersome activities of
an organization within much less time and endeavor. Therefore, it simplifies the job of the
entrepreneur. Franchising is a business practice where the franchiser who is also the owner of
a store or a product attains the allocation powers of the same by the help of the franchisees.
The art of franchising has many merits and demerits, such as, franchising do not require any
beforehand experience or warming up sessions with the suppliers. Franchising is very
suitable for small organizations to carve out a niche in the big competitive world as it makes
the acquisition of capital much easy and helps to reduce the chances of business uncertainties
(Nijmeijer, Fabbricotti and Huijsman 2014). On the other hand, franchising business can be

11REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
costly and can suffer from rigidness. It is comparatively difficult to introduce new concepts
and principles in a franchising business than the other entrepreneurial ventures.
The Reflective Portion:-
Personally, I am very fond of the practice of bootstrapping. Bootstrapping is a new
concept in entrepreneurship. Though bootstrapping may not be eye catching and alluring all
the time, but it would definitely make me a superior entrepreneur with a lively organization.
There are many supporting reasons for my preference of adopting the bootstrapping style in
my hopeful entrepreneurial venture. They are freedom in inventing and incorporating novel
concepts in the introductory business projects, the opportunity to deliver surpassing quality
products and services (Molina-Azorín et al. 2012). In addition to this, bootstrapping would
enable me to enjoy the ability to earn the highest share of revenue because I will only be the
sole shareholder of my organization and finally bootstrapping would enable me to implement
clever business decisions in my organization, which will make my organization prosper. In
the 21st century, an entrepreneur needs to have the skills of quick wit, smart thinking, long
vision, risk forbearance and social networking in order to survive and flourish in the
competitive global market. The concept of bootstrapping would help me to acquire all of the
above skills in my business venture. Since I do not have much experience in the art of
entrepreneurship, I think bootstrapping would be the most safest entrepreneurial venture
option (Kotler and Kotler 2012). As a person, I like to take my own business decisions.
Therefore, when I would venture into entrepreneurship, bootstrapping will be favorable for
me since the bootstrapping entrepreneur can have the discretion to decide the decorum and
the organizational structure of his or her organization. The magnificent success of many
companies around the world such as the Dell Computers, Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and the
Hewlett-Packard can be attributed to the merits and advisability of the bootstrapping art (Eva

12REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
2015). This has further instilled in me the confidence and the drive to follow the
bootstrapping style of entrepreneurship pathway.

13REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Gibbs model:-
First step: Description- I have to decide an entrepreneurial pathway by which I would venture
into entrepreneurship.
Second step: Feelings- I thought and I felt that the art of Bootstrapping would be a perfect
entrepreneurial pathway for me. Bootstrapping is the cause behind the appreciable success of
companies like Apple and Facebook.
Third step: Evaluation- If I have to evaluate the concept of Bootstrapping, then I can say
bootstrapping helps entrepreneurs to enjoy the opportunities of absolute freedom in deciding
the decorum, organizational structure and the design of products and services. In terms of
demerits, then I can say that bootstrapping might induce the entrepreneurs to make hasty
decisions by falling prey to money-grubbing.
Fourth step: Analysis- After the steps of Feelings and Evaluation, I have comprehended the
fact that Bootstrapping is the most promising entrepreneurial pathway for novice
entrepreneurs as it helps to provide them good introductory business lessons, which might
prove highly beneficial in the long run.
Fifth step: Conclusion- I have learnt that bootstrapping helps an entrepreneur to acquire all
the skills of quick wit, smart thinking, long vision, risk forbearance and social networking in
order to survive and flourish in the competitive global market.
Sixth step: Action- For the future, I have decided to follow the bootstrapping pathway for
entrepreneurship because it would help me to acquire all of the corporate skills in my
business venture, as I do not have much experience in the art of entrepreneurship.

14REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
In the conclusion, it can be said that the concepts of entrepreneurial mindset,
entrepreneurial ecology and entrepreneurial pathways are inter-related and interconnected
with each other as all of them are seemingly connected with the art of entrepreneurship. An
entrepreneur in the 21st century must have his business mindset linked with the concept of
ecology and sustainability among many other things as well as exercise them in the
entrepreneurial pathways. In the completion of this reflective entrepreneurial essay, I have
come to know about my entrepreneurial strengths and weaknesses. The Gibbs model of
reflection has also sufficiently aided me to ponder roundly about all the stages of the journal
entries. Keeping in mind of my business inclinations, I have come to realize that I am suited
for the research entrepreneurship style combined with a bootstrapping entrepreneurial venture
involving environmentally sustainable practices.

15REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
References
Baum, J.R., Frese, M. and Baron, R.A. eds., 2014. The psychology of entrepreneurship.
Psychology Press.
Bonnet, J., Desjardin, M. and Guijarro, A.M. eds., 2012. The shift to the entrepreneurial
society: a built economy in education, sustainability and regulation. Edward Elgar
Publishing.
Brett, V., Mullally, M., O'Gorman, B. and Fuller-Love, N., 2012. The role of action research
in the development of learning networks for entrepreneurs. Action Learning: Research and
Practice, 9(2), pp.125-143.
Breugst, N., Domurath, A., Patzelt, H. and Klaukien, A., 2012. Perceptions of entrepreneurial
passion and employees' commitment to entrepreneurial ventures. Entrepreneurship Theory
and Practice, 36(1), pp.171-192.
Dean, T.J., 2014. Sustainability and Entrepreneurship. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management.
Egerton, F.N., 2012. Roots of ecology: antiquity to Haeckel. Univ of California Press.
Éva, T.M., 2015. Bootstrap Financing: Case Studies of Ten Technology-Based Innovative
Ventures, Tales From The Best.
Gawel, A., 2012. Entrepreneurship and sustainability: do they have anything in
common?. The Poznan University of Economics Review, 12(1), p.5.
Hsieh, C., 2012, January. Risk, balanced skills and entrepreneurship. In Academy of
Management Proceedings (Vol. 2012, No. 1, pp. 1-1). Academy of Management.

16REFLECTION ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Knight, F.H., 2012. Risk, uncertainty and profit. Courier Corporation.
Kotler, P. and Kotler, M., 2012. Market your way to growth: 8 ways to win. John Wiley &
Sons.
Molina-Azorín, J.F., López-Gamero, M.D., Pereira-Moliner, J. and Pertusa-Ortega, E.M.,
2012. Mixed methods studies in entrepreneurship research: Applications and
contributions. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 24(5-6), pp.425-456.
Navale, A.B., 2013. Developing entrepreneur skills for corporate work. Research
Directions, 1(4).
Nijmeijer, K.J., Fabbricotti, I.N. and Huijsman, R., 2014. Making franchising work: A
framework based on a systematic review. International Journal of Management
Reviews, 16(1), pp.62-83.
Salamzadeh, A. and Kawamorita Kesim, H., 2015. Startup Companies: Life Cycle and
Challenges.
Weingaertner, C. and Moberg, Å., 2014. Exploring social sustainability: learning from
perspectives on urban development and companies and products. Sustainable
Development, 22(2), pp.122-133.
Yitshaki, R., 2012. How do entrepreneurs’ emotional intelligence and transformational
leadership orientation impact new ventures’ growth?. Journal of Small Business &
Entrepreneurship, 25(3), pp.357-374.