Nancy White recently set me a link to this post on 25 Skills and Classes Necessary to Become a Great Entrepreneur. I was interested in these statistics. A Vanderbilt University study a few year sago found that currently, the largest age group of entrepreneurs is in the 45 to 60 year old segment of the population and this group was expected to grow by 15 million by 2006. This growth compares to an expected four million decline in entrepreneurs aged 25 to 44. I wonder about people like me who are over 60. Now I was under 60 when they did the study so I guess I fall in the larger group.
The post goes on to cover the 25 skills for entrepreneurs in great detail. One of the less obvious ones, that still makes sense, is the fact that they recognize that they don’t know what they don’t know and they don’t try to do what they don’t know (they hire someone else to do it).
At the same the post concludes with observation that an entrepreneur, while a specialist, must still be very well rounded in his or her education in order be able to see all sides of the issues in front of them. Successful entrepreneurs are able to effectively wear multiple hats and shift from role to role as necessary. They surely won’t be an expert in everything, but they know enough to surround themselves with great talent and know how to evaluate that talent. This goes back to the point above.
I would add that an entrepreneur must like to work with people and have good social skills. While you can be enterprise of one as a consultant or writer, you cannot be an entrepreneur in an enterprise of one.
There are links to degree programs from a number of colleges that address the different skills.
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