While the word comes from “entreprendre” which in French means “to begin something”, for me an entrepreneur doesn’t just start something (a business), he also takes it off the ground. Whether it becomes profitable or not, it thrives or not, it has 1 person or 1000, that’s for another post. 

Here I want to go through some of the aspects which I believe are essential to start with an idea and transform it into a business. 

We are not taught in school what being an entrepreneur is all about. Even business schools struggle to teach their students how to become entrepreneurs or be better at it. It’s a tough thing to define, I confess that.

If I were to attempt a definition I would definitely say that an entrepreneur enjoys working with uncertainty and ambiguity. An entrepreneur also has the grit and self-awareness needed to keep on track believing in his idea and working relentlessly on the long term to make an idea become reality. Of course, while dealing with all the uncertainty and ambiguity. 

She also needs confidence and trust that things will work out; taking risks, a structured and analytical mind, and people skills will also help.

Perhaps it helps to outline what an entrepreneur is NOT. 

To me having a business idea is not being an entrepreneur. While ideas are great and not everyone has them (yours truly not long ago), being an entrepreneur is what happens after you have the idea, it’s the 99% that you need to follow through with to make that idea become a tangible business. And just to clarify what a business is...something that has clients paying for goods or services. 

I’d love your own thoughts, questions and arguments about this.

PS: The business I built and run is Beyond Dracula, a bespoke travel agency in Romania.

PPS: For an interesting read on Top 10 mistakes women entrepreneurs make, go here. And below sign-up to get my useful (and at times hilarious) bits of information about entrepreneurship and coaching.