What about you? Are you thinking of becoming an entrepreneur?

If you have the “never say die attitude”, don’t like to quit and can stomach failures and crisis, then you may have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

The entrepreneurs and businessmen and women who make it to the top and became successful are not familiar with fear of failure. In a Forbes study of 50 of the top entrepreneurs and business leaders some years ago, it was found out that almost all of them said that if their business had gone under, they would have started another.

To become a successful entrepreneur, you need to have the following qualities:

1 . Self driven and confident, and have the ability to inspire confidence in others.

2. Persistent, patient, and wanting to keep on trying, despite failures.

3. Flexible, able to keep on trying, and believe in the adage that “try and try until you succeed.”

4. Daring, not afraid to take a risk.

5. Independent, getting more satisfaction and fulfillment from being responsible to yourself than from getting the praises of superiors.

6. Visionary, knowing where you want your business to go and how it should get there.

So, do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

     We are caught in the midst of global financial meltdown, affecting across countries, companies, businesses, industries and, most of all, people.

     Among countries, the United States, the world’s biggest economy, is in recession, which has affected countries in Europe, Asia, and  the American continents. 

     In the business world, countless corporations and businesses in several countries producing diverse products and services, from cars to cellular phones, from banks to financial services, from appliances to restaurants and department stores, just to name a few, have suffered severe losses while others have already closed shop.  These businesses were once thought to be very stable, strong, and profitable.

     Even giant and admired corporations once considered institutions and leaders in industry were not spared.

     Who would ever think that the venerable General Motors Corporation (GM), which for many decades since the 1930s the world’s largest industrial corporation presently employing 244,000 people with subsidiaries and plants in 34 countries and sells vehicles in some 140 countries, is now heading into bankruptcy?

     Because of the current global recession, millions of people in Asia, Europe and the Americas have suddenly found themselves out of jobs and have joined the ranks of the unemployed. Many are discouraged, dismayed, demoralized.

     What shall we do to survive in these turbulent times, in these times of change and of rapidly changing environments?

     History will tell us that in the 1990s, there was also a recession, and people had survived.  For survival and growth are just a question of how we manage ourselves, our families, our businesses, our priorities and finances.  And how do we do it?

     Peter F. Drucker, the guru of management and considered the most influential management thinker ever, had an apt advice in his book titled “Managing In Turbulent Times” for the people in the 1990s and which is still very relevant to us today.

     In turbulent times, says Drucker, the first task of management, which is also our first task, is to make sure of our capacity for survival, to make sure of our structural strength and soundness, of our capacity to survive a blow, to adapt to sudden change and to avail for us of new opportunities in the midst of these changes.

     This means knowing our internal strengths and weaknesses, and of using our strengths to minimize our weaknesses. This means building up on our competitive advantage and resources to cope with the threats in our external environment, while at the same time taking advantage of the opportunities. 

     So, it is up to us as managers, business owners and entrepreneurs to ensure that we use the tools of management – planning, organizing, leading and controlling, to survive in these challenging times. This way, when recovery comes, we are still around to make our business grow and become profitable. And survive we will.

     But as long as there is life, hope springs eternal. In fact, as the Chinese would say, the other side of crisis is opportunity.

     Many successful businessmen and big name entrepreneurs, past and present, made their wealth and fortune during hard times, by taking advantage of the opportunities brought about by the crisis. They made the crisis the turning point of their lives, of their decision to launch their businesses. They started their businesses in times of crisis-in times like these.

     History is replete with many examples of people who were able to turn the crisis into opportunities, and even made a mark in the business annals of the world. Joseph P. Kennedy, the patriarch of America’s most famous family political dynasty, built his vast financial fortune during the Great Depression of 1929-1930s era, by investing most of his money in real estate, when other landowners were facing problems and while many people were discouraged.

     And was it not a fact that during the Great Depression, John J. Raskob built the Empire State Building in New York, a 102-story skyscraper that became the world’s tallest building for more than forty years?  It was the world’s tallest since 1931 when it was finished until the World Trade Center was built in 1972.

     Opportunity is really the other side of crisis. Behind the dark clouds the sun is still shining, as the optimists would want us to believe.

     What are the reasons why people go into business?

     The reasons are many, as there are many businessmen and women.

     Based on my random interviews with businessmen and entrepreneurs who are my friends and clients, they told me the reasons why they went into business are:

1. Independence.

2. To be the boss and call the shots, instead of remaining as employees.

3. Achievement.

4. To fulfill a childhood ambition of being the owner of a business.

5. To make money or lots of it.

     Indeed, most businessmen said making money is one of the important reasons for their starting their own business. Making money to be financially independent, to be free from financial worries, to provide for a decent living for the family, to travel to other countries, to help other people by providing them jobs, are some of their motivating factors.

     The late famous American businessman and billionaire  J. Paul Getty  once said:

     “Almost without exception, there is only one way to make a great deal of money, and that is to own your own business. You’ll never do it working for someone else.”

     So, to turn the present crisis into opportunities and make money, start your own business!