Entrepreneur development is a consistent process of improving an existing skillset and knowledge of entrepreneurship, which is done through special training designed to enhance business acumen. In other words, this term can be defined as a sequence of actions aimed at increasing the entrepreneur’s capacity to grow, manage and organize a business venture.
Now that you understand the definition of entrepreneur development, let’s consider the stages and elements of this process.
Entrepreneurial Development Stages
Entrepreneur growth is inextricably associated with the business development process, which includes the following stages:
Innovation
At this stage, a business person generates an innovative idea, develops a concept, identifies marketing opportunities, conducts information research, screens intentions for feasibility, and recognizes where to extract value.
Triggering event
This is where an entrepreneur feels motivated to start a venture and makes the decision to proceed. Business planning, risk assessment, resource identification, and acquisition take place at this stage.
Implementation
This phase is all about setting up and launching a business, developing and implementing a strategy, running and managing a start-up.
Talk with our consultants, take our Business Readiness Checklist and test if you’re ready to launch a new company or a new project.
Growth
This is the endpoint of entrepreneur development, which means that one can maximize business profits, harvest the rewards and keep growing, expanding revenue opportunities.
It’s important to note that these stages may overlap and interact with each other. The evolution process is not linear when it comes to running a business. Besides, it depends on the skills of the enterprise owner.
Consider joining communities such as GrowthHackers to receive and share frequent insights on this topic and keep updated on what is going on.
Essential skills for entrepreneur development
As mentioned above, entrepreneur development means acquiring particular skills that foster business growth. Below, you can check the skill set needed for success in each entrepreneurial process stage.
Innovation stage
At this point, entrepreneurs need to have decent technical skills as they help to identify opportunities based on existing competence. Besides, it’s essential to be able to interact with individuals from various backgrounds. Also, good interpersonal skills that include persuasive communication and active listening are required to ensure success in opportunity identification, which is typical for the innovation stage.
Apart from that, entrepreneurs should develop the following skills crucial for the first phase:
- financial management skills to accurately forecast financial estimates
- human resources skills to evaluate how the business idea fits with team capabilities
- marketing skills to identify niche markets and analyze competitors
- networking skills to access new opportunities
- research and development skills to gather and share valuable information
- time-management and planning skills to formulate strategies.
Triggering stage
To complete the triggering stage successfully, an entrepreneur needs to improve his skills to do the activities outlined at the beginning. It’s essential to be good at problem-solving to overcome numerous challenges in the start-up stage. Also, one has to work on communication skills to convince funders and employees to be part of the venture. Additionally, adaptability to change is needed to tolerate ambiguity continuously and make appropriate adjustments to the business concept and plan as the venture grows.
Together with business development, entrepreneur skills and functions also evolve. Let’s see what else is vital for the second stage and why:
- decision-making skills are needed to make fast but accurate decisions
- financial management skills to accurately estimate resource needs
- human resources skills to organize a team and match employees with operational needs
- risk-taking skills to avoid the cognitive bias of underestimating the amount of risk.
Implementation stage
To reach successful business performance in this phase, an entrepreneur must have achievement motivation and be fully committed. It’s also important to be an efficient manager who takes advice from experts and quickly learns from mistakes. Creativity and innovation are some other traits necessary for entrepreneur evolution since they help to thrive in a competitive and fast-changing environment.
The following skills must be present to manage the venture in the third stage:
- operational skills to deal with day-to-day business operations and build a competitive company (including quality assurance, performance monitoring, and capacity management skills)
- ability to gauge the risk associated with various strategies and to take calculated risks
- business systems management skills to have an understanding of how the company works and to rapidly assess the business processes of competitors and partners
- marketing skills to sell the product
- networking skills to discuss solutions to common problems and to access complementary skills.
Growth stage
Similar to other stages, the most important factor in pursuing business growth is whether an entrepreneur has the required abilities. In general, the skill set necessary for this stage includes all the previously mentioned points. However, there are some other key skills needed for this phase, such as:
- flexibility, which is needed to manage changes in technologies, markets, personnel, and competitors
- learning abilities allowing for quick adaption to changing opportunities
- general management skills to plan, lead and control the staff
- opportunity recognition skills to find and implement more ways for growth.
By developing all the skills listed above, the entrepreneurial process can be significantly improved. However, the question is, “What are the signs of this improvement?”. The answer is given below.
Steps to create a personal development plan
Entrepreneur development can be more efficient if one sticks to a personal plan. To build it, check the step-by-step guide below.
Make a list of characteristics and values reflecting your professional goals
You can start by brainstorming and writing down your goals or values. When identifying them, don’t obsess over what successful business people do. Remember that it’s impossible to tackle every element of your professional and personal life. After creating a list, pick a few points that you find most important.
Consult with an expert to objectively assess yourself
Consider speaking with a professional if you have trouble identifying what needs to be changed. Having a conversation with a mentor, advisor, or coach can be highly beneficial for you as they are able to see things from a more objective standpoint. What’s more, they can leverage their rich experience and deep knowledge to guide you on your development plan. In general, an external perspective can help you go in the right direction.
Create the first draft of your development plan
As an entrepreneur, create a plan with the same approach as making a traditional business plan. You should include both short-term and end goals within a realistic timeline. It would be great to add a purpose, desired outcomes, set of resources, tactics, and SWOT analysis for each of your objectives. All this must also be based on your schedule and responsibilities.
Motivate yourself and start executing each goal
Writing down the purpose and benefits of each goal can make you feel more inspired to achieve it. If you treat your growth as an exciting journey, you’ll probably be more motivated to execute your plan. Entrepreneur development should be seen as an opportunity to have fun rather than to work.
Review your plan every three months
Get back to the list of your values, goals and achievements on a quarterly basis since it’s enough time to notice changes. Analyze how you and your business have changed over this time and identify the areas of improvement. You can also note your findings for further reflection.
Wrapping up
Entrepreneur development is a lifelong process that involves both personal and professional growth. In fact, improving your personality and using TechRivo tools and services are keys to boosting your venture’s success. Remember that trying to reach your full potential is worth big investments since it can become a defining advantage over competitors.