Your Entrepreneurial Self-Awareness
This is a good time to synthesize what you know about yourself and what you may have learned about yourself in sessions 1 through 12.
1. Write down your motivations by reviewing your answers, any coaching emails you’ve received and then thinking through:
What are your motivations for being an entrepreneur?
Going beyond that:
What are you most fundamental desires and fears?
What makes you feel good?
What makes you so angry that you lose control?
Understand that these fundamental desires and fears and the intrinsic drive to feel good may conflict with what you need to do to achieve your entrepreneurial ambitions. We are not therapists, and we don’t expect to get this perfectly right, but we want you to think about these things and perhaps ask others about how you answer these questions. Nothing is wrong with having conflicting motivations, it is just important to realize this, and realize these conflicting motivations are an entrepreneurial weakness.
2. Write down your traits that you identified in session 8.
For each trait, write down how it could help you towards achieving your entrepreneurial ambition.
For each trait write down how it could make it more difficult to achieve your entrepreneurial ambition.
It is good to realize that every trait has strengths and weaknesses.
3. You need to inventory the skills required
Assess your skills needed to create, lead and administrate an enterprise that delivers your product or service ideas to all the customers that desire it.
We helped you create a partial list in session 8, but we introduced you to four other skill sets you need in sessions 9 – 12.
What are all the critical skills required within the enterprise you will create to make it a success?
What are the critical skills you expect to contribute towards making the enterprise a success in Stages 1 and 2?
If applicable, what are the critical skills you expect your co-founder(s) to contribute towards making the enterprise a success in Stages 1 and 2?
What critical skills sets will you be required to hire or contract others to provide?
Break these lists into two sets.
On the left of a page list all those motivations and traits that help you towards achieving your entrepreneurial objectives. On that left side also list the skills you and your founder(s) will be contributing.
On the right side, list those things you are motivated to do and feel that direct you to do things not related to achieving your entrepreneurial ambitions. Add the weaknesses associated with your traits and list all those skills you are missing and need to find and attract to your enterprise.
Now describe who you are as an entrepreneur by summarizing the few strengths that will distinguish your enterprise and the product or service it delivers from all the alternatives customers can choose from. Also, describe the one or two weaknesses that could cause you to fail. Keep this summary to just one paragraph.
In the next blog post, “Making a Personal Leadership Strategy” we will lead you through a process on how to figure out how to leverage these strengths you have and not let your weaknesses get in your way.