Introduction to entrepreneurship/IENT101/Entrepreneur/Are you

Suggest deleting this page. See problems listed on discussion page. Also there are two online self-assessments on the Start page for the learning challenge, so this is repetitive anyway.

Entrepreneur Assessment Survey

For each question, please respond "yes," "undecided," or "no." Keep a running list; you will compare your answers to a rubric at the bottom of the page. Please be sure to go with the answer that is your first choice if and when you are in doubt of how to respond.

1. Do you have an issue that is a major driving force behind your professional goals in life?
2. Would you describe yourself as the type of person who gives up easily when faced with adversity?
3. Do people who have known you since childhood describe you as the type of person who gives up easily when faced with adversity?
4. Have you been successful in the past convincing others to help you to accomplish your goals?
5. Do you have a desire to make the world a better place that is a stronger goal for you then your desire to earn money?
6. Have you considered becoming an entrepreneur?
7. Have you spent a substantial amount of time in your life considering what type of legacy you would like to leave?
8. When trying to raise support for an idea, do you ever start by identifying people to form alliances with who may be sympathetic to your goal?
9. If you were busy with a deadline for work and or school would you miss completing this deadline on time because you gave your own new venture/start up/new product idea a higher priority?
10. Will you use your score on this test to ultimately help determine if you should become an entrepreneur?

Now, please tally the number of each response: "yes," "undecided," and "no." Numbers 1-10 below correspond with the ten questions above. Keep a tally of your points!

1. 10 points for "yes," and 0 points for "undecided" and "no." One of the first steps toward creating a new company is to have a major reason or issue for your new venture's mission or goal.
2. 10 points for "no," and 0 points for "undecided" and "yes." You have to be able to continue through all the setbacks to be successful and ultimately enjoy being a social entrepreneur.
3. 10 points for "no," and 0 points for "undecided" and "yes." It typically takes a track record in life of dealing successfully with adversity to build up the confidence and credibility that comes with a No answer for this question.
4. 10 points for "yes," and 0 points for "undecided" and "no." New ventures do not have the funding to afford the staff to get work accomplished. Resourcefulness is the key to succeeding and one must possess the ability to attract and retain volunteers and non-paid experienced help at first to get the tasks completed.
5. 10 points for "yes," and 0 points for "undecided" and "no." Entrepreneurs are driven by their need to create societal wealth vs self-wealth. This desire takes precedent and priority over other goals. This does not mean that someday you might not derive a financial bonanza for the work you have been doing associated with the start up. It just means that is not what drives you today.
6. 10 points for "yes," and 0 points for "undecided" and "no." Even if it was a subconscious or passing thought, usually you have to have some propensity or interest toward becoming an entrepreneur for it to be your destiny.
7. 10 points for "yes," and 0 points for "undecided" and "no." Perhaps your legacy is something to be considered in later years. With that said it is never too soon to begin considering what type of footprint you may want to leave. If you have considered trying to leave a legacy of making the world a better place then you may a hero’s journey as your entrepreneurial path for future.
8. 10 points for "yes," and 0 points for "undecided" and "no." One of the best ways to increase your chances of being a successful entrepreneur is to enhance your credibility by forging strategic alliances and partnerships with others.
9. 10 points for "no," and 0 points for "undecided" and "yes." This may appear to be a trick question. A values-centered leader would not sacrifice one important commitment for another even if it was to help a social enterprise. Part of starting a new company is demonstrating ethical and honest business leadership.
10. 10 points for "no," and 0 points for "undecided" and "yes." The truth of the matter is that if you are really meant to be an entrepreneur you do not need a test and or survey to tell you this. In fact; a true entrepreneur does not depend on others to make their decisions. Only you know your destiny; do not let anyone tell you what you can and can’t accomplish in life because statistically speaking they would not really know.

Entrepreneurial Mindset Characteristics

How many of the entrepreneurial mindset characteristics do you possess? If you feel like the sentence on the right describes you, you will accumulate additional points. Give yourself 1 point for each of the characteristics you possess from the list below. Add these points to your previous tally!

1. Humanitarian: Organizing movements that can take many forms including campaigns, drives, grassroots or net roots movements, lobbying, and/or crusades for the express purpose of providing altruistic or charitable support.
2. Visionary: Possessing the ability to potentially define the future by making bold unsubstantiated predictions for new enterprises while utilizing a great deal of imagination and foresight in the process.
3. Values-centered: Demonstrating worthwhile qualities of leadership that are lawful, ethical, considerate, and honest in nature and intent.
4. Change-oriented: Adopting a leadership style that attempts to transform the status quo by creating a new method, process or invention for accomplishing tasks.
5. Self-reliant: Depending on yourself to develop solutions for the problem or challenge at hand.
6. Persuasive: Able to convince others that the new organization's mission and goals are viable and should be adopted and supported.
7. Hyper-focused: Maintaining uninterrupted attention and concentration directed at implementing the enterprise’s mission.
8. Passion: Having a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and excitement over the mission and goals of the new organization.
9. Energetic: Demonstrating an infinite amount of drive and an enterprising nature toward accomplishing an organization’s objectives.
   When starting a new organization especially when starting a social enterprise, it requires a great deal of energy and drive to accomplish all the objectives especially given that social enterprises usually require volunteer staff and unpaid staff for resourcefulness that goes far beyond the standard needs of a traditional, long-established company.

Ask someone who has known you since you were a child how many of the entrepreneurial mindset characteristics they think you possess? Give yourself one additional point for each of the characteristics they feel you possess.

The goal is once again to score a ten for this question. If it turns out that you have a very different score for your self-assessment of this question in comparison to what someone who has known you all your life then you need to come to an understanding why others perceive you differently then you perceive your own interests. Perhaps you are repressing or camouflaging your true interests or maybe you have changed. The reason for the difference isn’t as important as making sure you are aware of your own interests.

Scoring

A score of 120-110 may mean that you know that you want to become an entrepreneur and you should begin working out a strategic plan to make your goals a reality and to begin your own hero’s journey.

A score of 109-90 may mean that you most likely want to become an entrepreneur and you should begin thinking of this possibility to give yourself a further self-assessment of your interests.

A score of 89 or lower may mean that you probably are not going to be an entrepreneur but as mentioned before; do not let this assessment be the final or even partial determination; the choice is clearly your own to make.

This survey proudly reused from Saylor "BUS305: Small Business Management" licensed under CC-BY 3.0

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