Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management: Key Traits and Skills

This essay delves into the characteristics and skills that distinguish successful entrepreneurs from business managers. It examines the risk-taking abilities and clear goals of entrepreneurs, contrasting them with the management skills of business managers. The essay uses the examples of James Dyson and Peter Jones to illustrate these differences. Furthermore, it explores how entrepreneurial personality traits, as defined by the OCEAN model (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism), reflect entrepreneurial motivation and mindset. The essay also investigates how background and experience can either foster or hinder entrepreneurship, using the examples of Peter Jones, James Dyson, and Jane Wurwand to demonstrate the diverse paths to entrepreneurial success and the impact of their experiences. The conclusion emphasizes the varied backgrounds and experiences that shape entrepreneurs and their businesses, highlighting the essential traits and skills that contribute to their success.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AND SMALL BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT

Characteristic traits and skills of
successful entrepreneurs
Characteristics traits and skill traits of a successful entrepreneur are completely
different from business managers. These characteristic traits and personality of
entrepreneurs and their difference from business managers will be explained with the help
of examples of two entrepreneurs: James Dyson and Peter Jones.
 Characteristics traits:
 Entrepreneurs have an ability to take risk and are ready to take any kinds of risk in order to
expand their business whereas business managers do not have such skills.
 Ability of James Dyson to take risk helped him to grow his business till such an extent.
Entrepreneurs have clear goals and mission which helps them to start their own business.
 Whereas, managers only follow defined goals, never create them. Both James Dyson and
Peter Jones had developed clear vision and mission which further helped them to successfully
start and run their own business.

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 Skills:
 Entrepreneurs have leadership skills which helps them to run a business successfully whereas
managers only have management skills.
 Both James and Peter had leadership skills which further helped them in running a successful
business.
 Not only this, their leadership skills also helped him making their employees their followers
and focused so that desired objectives can be achieved.

Ways in which aspects of the entrepreneurial personality
reflect entrepreneurial motivation and mindset
Entrepreneurs personality reflects their motivation and mindset in
many different ways. this can be explained with the help of personality traits of OCEAN
models.
 Openness:
 This trait helps in reflecting creativity, ideas, curiosity and variety of experience of an
individual. This type of individuals has independent and imaginative personality.
 An entrepreneur who have this kind of personality has an open mindset and focuses upon
using their creativity, curiosity and ideas development of their own business.
 Entrepreneurs who have this trait within their personality are self- motivated and has their
mindset fixed upon using their creative ideas within development of their own business.

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 Conscientiousness:
 Individuals who have this personality are dependable, organized and are dutiful. Such type of
individuals focuses or aim upon achieving desired goals and objectives.
 These types of entrepreneurs are quite stubborn when it comes to achievement of their desired
goals and objectives and this, suborn nature motivates them to achieve their target and
nothing else which further helps in setting their mindset to achieve their goals with complete
determination.
 Extroversion:
 Individuals who have this type of personality are quite talkative, assertive and energetic.
 This energetic nature of such type of entrepreneurs encourage them and motivate them, set
their mindset to achieve desired goals and objectives.

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 Agreeableness:
 People with this personality are helpful, compassionate and cooperative in nature. These types
of people are always assertive and focus upon motivating others.
 They are more trustworthy and helpful in nature. Entrepreneurs with this personality trait
always focus upon motivating their subordinates and employees.
 Neuroticism:
 Individuals with this personality traits experience emotions such as depression, anger and
many more.
 Such type of individuals does not have high motivational level and do not have a stable
mindset. So, there are less number of individuals with this personality trait.

Ways in which background and experience
can hinder or foster entrepreneurship
Overall experience and background of people can either foster or work as a
hindrance within their entrepreneurship. Here are some examples that can helps in explaining
ways in which entrepreneurship experience of entrepreneurs can be affected with the help of
three examples: one local entrepreneur, one global entrepreneur and one social enterprise.
 Peter Jones:
 He is one of those entrepreneurs who earned money from his two passions that are tennis and
business. Initially for few years he started giving tennis lessons to others and he himself was a
very good player.
 Then he started manufacturing PC’s in his mid- twenties but neither tennis was a success, not his
business was a success.
 Then in his late 20’s he started working in a Computer business and after few years he founded
his own telecom business which was a success. So here his experience helped him in becoming
and entrepreneur.

Conclusion…
 James Dyson:
 He was always interested in art, designing, in fact he had done one year of interior designing
before moving to engineering.
 He used in engineering and interior designing knowledge focused upon innovating something
new. In 1970 he created a vacuum cleaner that picked up dirt.
 He tried to sell his invention to major manufactures but they rejected his invention. Then he
started his own manufacturing company and distributed his products in UK and started his
own business.
 Jane Wurwand:
 She had not studies business studies and only went to take a degree from beauty school.
 She established a dermal clinic and she used this experience to establish her successful
business.

Conclusion
 From the above assignment it has been summarized that there are different types of
entrepreneurs and each of them have their own experience and background which
motivate them in starting or running their own business.
 Background and experience of each entrepreneur either works as a hindrance or foster
them to start their own business.
 It has been concluded that each entrepreneur has some characters, traits and skills
which helps them to successfully run their own business and differentiate them from
others.

THANK YOU