I asked Rosenkopf my poem through some of the aspects it gets essential to start and build a business venture.
Below are quotes from our conversation, edited for length and clarity.
Kerry Hannon: It's not just 20-somethings launching startups these days. Many people who have lost jobs or retired early are eyeing to be their own boss. What does it need to succeed as an entrepreneur?
Rosenkopf truck: An entrepreneur is anyone who creates value through innovation. It is a broad definition and allows us all to see that we are already doing things that are innovative and create value. May not be of monetary value. It may be social or emotional value, but we all do things in new ways.
Whether it's new ideas for products, services, processes, business models, a little change in our home order – all of these allow us to see that we have the ability to be entrepreneurial.
Obviously the founder who is disturbing industry is quite celebrated as an entrepreneur stereotype. But some entrepreneurs acquire and accumulate small companies. Some are “intrapreneurs,” which do entrepreneurial things within the organization that employs them.
What is the quality of the most important mentality for an entrepreneur?
Resilience. When you do something new, you are going to get hard feedback, negative feedback that you need to respond to. There will be all sorts of challenges. So this is the ability to take all these and be able to adapt and find a new way to solve the problem that can make the difference as to whether you are succeeding or not.
There are other qualities as a reason, knowing your motivation – or 'why' – behind setting up a business. Another is your ability to build relationships with those who provide guidance, support, financial support, and presentations to key people and markets.
You write that some people are really passionate about the idea of building a business, not the product itself or the service itself necessarily. Can you explain?
Many entrepreneurs are looking for ways to solve a big problem. But about half of the people say, “I want to be an entrepreneur only.” These are the ones who, as children, went in trouble reselling their Halloween candy. These are the ones the best paper boy or girl on their path. They are the people looking to find the place they are going to have a chance to make it happen. Both of those approaches work and that's what gives us so much space to do something entrepreneurial.
We often think of entrepreneurship as a business startup that could turn out to be the next Apple or Uber, but in fact, these are often microbuses or side buses. Can you elaborate?
Most enterprises are just ownership. These are a side bustle or a self -employed person. Many enterprises start very small and many remain small. When you talk about Apple and Uber, these big disruptive types of businesses are a very small percentage. The image of the disruptive business is the one who captivates our interest, but makes a real incompetence because those are so little and far between them.
Over 80% of initial businesses are started and do not take any equity funding, or for that matter, debt. People build their businesses on the basis of selling their own time or finding a way to make small funding for their efforts from their own resources.
You write about the importance of thinking roughly about our strengths. Why is that so critical?
The most interesting and successful innovative ideas are those that mix and match things that we already know with something a little unique and different. The small amount of newness can really make a difference. And so it is for all of us to weigh up our experiences over time.
We've had a whole bunch of different jobs. If you have been in the workforce for a while you may have lived in different locations, maybe even different countries. You may follow a hobby that feels a little different. Those resources and experiences tend to be the places where people can find a unique mix and think about something and see an opportunity that others don't do.
For younger people, don't break cookies. In undergraduate education, everyone follows the same route to get the same finance or consultation post. Take that history class or that cinema study class. Take an underage child at one of the University's other schools, spend the summer abroad and study a foreign culture and language. That's going to give you so much more feed to find an idea to launch your own business one day.
“Many entrepreneurs are looking for ways to solve a big problem. But about half of the people say,” I want to be an entrepreneur only, “according to the author Rosenkopf truck. (Photo courtesy of Rosenkopf) ·Piccasa
What does the entrepreneurial scene look like in mid -life, sometimes called senior entrepreneurs?
Studies have shown that the cream of crop performers tend to be companies founded by people over 40 and often in their 50s and 60s. That stereotype we celebrate from leaving the college that becomes a successful founder is very rare. We're going to see even more of that because there has been so much job displacement recently. There are many people in that 50 plus demographic that moves towards self -employment and said, “I still have things to do. I don't want to go back to the standard corporate workforce. I'd like to be able to sell some of my time and expertise, or I point out a problem where I think I have good solutions I would like to come to the market.”
Why is self -awareness so important to entrepreneurs?
Learning what you are good against against where you are right is something that entrepreneurs need to recognize. Some people call it a genius zone. Some call it power. The point is that successful entrepreneurs know that there are some things they are great – and the more they can spend their time on those things, the more effective they are.
They may also say, “I could do it but that doesn't give me joy.” And so entrepreneurship can be a very lonely persecution unless you get people and other talent and not operate in a bubble.
Older entrepreneurs, in particular, can bring more of their relationships to the party for advice and mentoring for things they are not very good at.
What is the biggest takeaway of the book?
Anyone can be an entrepreneur. Anyone can be more entrepreneurial. Anyone can develop an entrepreneurial mindset. You often see the question: Are entrepreneurs born or made?
I think they are made in most cases. That's what I do work with student entrepreneurs and former students at Penn and Wharton, and the book is about offering role models because role models are important. Research shows that women who were exposed to female entrepreneurial role models are beginning to think of more ideas and feel more confident they will be able to do. So I offer a variety of role models, a variety of trails that can really push anyone to say, “I'm already being innovative. I can take the next step and the step after that.”
How can someone feel like an entrepreneur within their current role if they are not fully prepared to pull out the jump?
You can be an entrepreneur by following a new business idea in your company. It's intrapreneurship and sometimes it's better than going out on your own because it gives you access to company resources. You are not personal on the hook in the same way as if you were to take on investors. You can exercise some new skills, and the good news is, people taking this route report more job satisfaction.
