Friday 16 December 2011

The 4 Parts of an Entrepreneur (Part 1)

Most entrepreneurs find themselves walking through stages in their business as they build it to success. In each of those stages, a certain mindset is needed. The temptation is to completely change your mindset once your business moves into the next stage. Instead, it is important to keep each mindset active as you build your business to success.

I look at my inner entrepreneur as 4 parts. They are the artist, the analyst, the manager and the motivator. (Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I actually have a character built up for each one, that I can see in my mind as I consult with them.) Perfection is to have all of them active in any decision, working together as a team.

 Today I want to introduce you to two of them; the artist and the analyst.  Here is what they do:

The Artist
This is the part of you that is present right from the start. He is probably the one who came up with your business idea, then ran with it. The artist is the one that got you all excited and pointed out all of the possibilities to you; some realistic, some maybe out of reach (for now). The artist may not always be the most practical but he is always full of imagination and creativity. Unfortunately, after the initial excitement dies down, the artist often gets pushed aside by the next character, but don't let it. Keep the artist alive and strong at all times.

Who is that next character?

The Analyst
When the analyst steps in he takes everything the artist has dreamed up and says, "Ok, this won't work, that will, this is great,... What on earth were you thinking here?...This part is genius, that part isn't...". Basically, the analyst puts the artists work up against the present reality. Of course, that is a necessary part of bringing your dream to life. Unfortunately it is where many potential entrepreneurs give up. If they see too many objections from the analyst, they completely forget about the artist and forget their dream.

Instead, you must embrace both of these two and get them to work together. The artist creates ideas, the analyst tests them. The analyst identifies challenges and gives it back to the artist. The artist then creates solutions to hand back to the analyst. This cycle continues until a clear and reasonable path to success is found.

If you build this wonderful relationship between your artist and your analyst, you will find that decision making and problem solving become much easier and more fruitful. You will see challenges as things that can be solved or maybe even used to your advantage. Your dream and vision for your idea will stay clear in front of you with a defined path toward it.

In my "Discovering the Entrepreneur Within" workshops, I teach people to first identify and accept their artist and analyst. We learn strategies to draw out the power of each one. Then we explore how to make them work together to make your business a success. We also look at how the other two characters, the manager and the motivator, must be brought into this picture. I will write about those two in another blog article soon.

Until then, work with your artist and analyst. Make them see how they need to work in unison to bring your vision of a successful business to life.

On to Part 2

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