All About Entrepreneurship
When we hear the term, entrepreneurship, we typically think of it as an individual venture, the accumulation and development of value in exchange for financial resources from an external source. By extension, then, we might also view entrepreneurship as the production or extraction of value from something external. With that definition in mind, entrepreneurship is thus seen as transformation, usually involving significant risk beyond what’s normally associated with starting an enterprise, which might include other personal values other than purely economic ones. This risk, as well as its effects, are usually what characterizing entrepreneurship, since no entity is entirely safe from risk. Entrepreneurs, therefore, face the challenge of how to balance the benefit of external growth with the risks entailed in getting the resources from external sources.
Entrepreneurs need to address many issues before they can fully reap the benefits of entrepreneurship. For one, they should look at how the dynamics of fairness play into entrepreneurship. Just because something is done in an unfair way by one group does not necessarily mean that it will be done in a fair way by everyone. This means that some groups might steal from others simply because they have an interest in doing so. Furthermore, just because something is done unfairly does not mean that it was wrong in the first place; in many cases, individuals might be advantaged when certain unfair market practices are curbed.
In order for entrepreneurship to work effectively, there must be new products or services to be introduced. Additionally, there should be sufficient demand for these new products or services so that the entrepreneur will profit. Moreover, there should be enough competition among those who wish to offer the new products or services so that prices can be driven down. The creation of market niches is what helps entrepreneurship gain traction in any economy.
An emerging idea or concept is usually backed up by a feasible business plan. A number of entrepreneurs choose to launch their ventures without any business models because they assume that any existing product or service can be turned into a venture, and that there is no need to come up with a new model. However, this is often not the case. In order for entrepreneurship to really work well, a good business model is required.
Because some companies and ventures fail over time, there are measures that can be taken in order to ensure that Canadian entrepreneurs make it big. These measures can include creating more entrepreneurial ecosystems where similar companies can share resources and market opportunities. Another important consideration involves training for potential venture-makers. There should be a lot of hands-on training available so that aspiring entrepreneurs understand why a venture is being formed, how it works, and what they will need to do in order to take it to the next level.
Entrepreneurship in Canada is considered a positive factor in terms of overall economic development because entrepreneurs create jobs, establish new companies, and participate in economic diversification efforts by creating new employment sectors. For some venture-makers, self-employment is not the most viable option because of the time and money required to get started. As well, self-employment does require a lot of start-up capital and can prove to be very difficult to obtain. On the other hand, entrepreneurship provides a relatively low cost of entry for newcomers who lack access to venture capital or other funding sources.
Because entrepreneurialism is not something that can be learned overnight, Canadian entrepreneurs should be prepared to spend time on building business plans. This includes understanding the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, business plans, financial projections, management strategies, business operations, and target markets. If these basics are understood, entrepreneurs can then take their time to develop additional skills or to expand their businesses in new directions. They may have to conduct self interviews to find out what their true interests are in pursuing entrepreneurship and what characteristics they need to possess in order to succeed.
While entrepreneurship is all about risk and taking a leap of faith, Canadians who want to do business in other countries need to be prepared to accept risks as well. Canadian small businesses are able to tap into global markets because our multicultural society is a country with an open economy. In fact, immigrants have been instrumental in the growth of many of Canada’s dynamic businesses including BlackBerry, Astral, Nortel and Sunwing Airlines. Starting a venture is a big step, and businesses need to consider all of their options before choosing a direction for their expansion strategy.
