Anyone can be an entrepreneur. Not everyone will be a successful entrepreneur.
Let’s face facts. It’s common for a business to fail in the first year – nearly 70% never see year 10.
Given those odds, and the sheer amount of time, effort and investment starting and restarting new ventures requires, it’s no wonder that many small business owners, CEOs and Visionaries are the type of people who embrace change.
How Instincts Impact Your Entrepreneurial Journey
If you’re familiar with Kolbe, you know that we all possess a combination of natural strengths across each of the four Kolbe Action Modes®. We get asked all the time what mix of these conative strengths (and Kolbe A™ index results) makes for a good entrepreneur.
The answer? It depends.
But we can say for certain that the natural way we deal with risk and uncertainty, as well as our instinctive need to improvise, plays a big role in entrepreneurship. Some people naturally use their strengths in this area first when problem solving. They instinctively brainstorm possibilities, initiate change, and experiment with varying ideas.
Not only are these strengths valuable in the face of the risky and uncertain venture of starting a business, but those instincts are also helpful in addressing the day-to-day needs of an entrepreneur’s job.
That’s not to say that if your strengths lie in other areas, you can’t be an entrepreneur. But it is to say you should be equipped with a solid understanding of the ways you naturally take action, as well as the strengths of those involved in your pursuits.
Why It’s Essential to Understand Your Strengths Right Now
“Business owners learn a lot about themselves throughout the process of building or acquiring a business,” explains Amy Bruske, President of Kolbe Corp. “But not enough aspiring entrepreneurs take the critical step of learning about themselves before they begin that process. The best path is to know who you are first, and then build a business around your strengths.”
Not all entrepreneurship looks the same. Business owners are found on a continuum that includes everything from founding Visionaries (like Kathy Kolbe or Gino Wickman of EOS Worldwide) who create and implement something that never existed before to strictly following an established model. The type of instinctive strengths needed to thrive in these different roles long-term vary as well.
Before joining Kolbe Corp, Bruske worked at Jenny Craig corporate and saw many excited franchisees have to sell their franchises back after discovering the instincts that drove them to take the risk did not often align with the strengths needed to follow and implement structured corporate guidelines.
“Imagine possessing the instinctive strength to adapt, and a natural need to create shortcuts, maintain flexibility, and cut through bureaucracy,” Bruske explains. “Now imagine running a corporate franchise. You could do it. But over time, it would be exhausting.”
The Path to Success for YOU
Ultimately, the possibilities are endless, and your journey as an entrepreneur is up to you. But whether you’re interested in running several small businesses or just investing money in one or two, it’s essential to understand your natural strengths and build from there.
After all, not everyone will be a successful entrepreneur. You need all the advantages you can get.
The best way to gain that advantage today? Take the Kolbe A™ Index and learn more about your instinctive strengths and the ways you naturally take action.