Entrepreneurship / Have You Always Had The Chops?

I have often wondered if being an entrepreneur is something you can develop into or a set of chops you are born with. What chops are we talking about? Your run of the mill Google, Grok, ChatGPT search will yield a list that looks like this:

Vision…see opportunities others don’t and set clear, ambitious goals (Elon Musk)

Resilience...Ability to bounce back from failures (John Wooden)

Adaptability...Pivoting in response to market changes (Clayton Kershaw)

Self-Discipline…Staying focused, tightly managing your effort, following through (Tom Brady)

Risk-Tolerance…Taking calculated risks (The Wright Brothers)

Leadership…Inspiring and motivating others (General Patton)

Curiosity…Always learning (Henry Ford)

Networking…Building strong and varied relationships

Financial Know-How…Getting the math (Warren Buffet)

Passion…LOVING what you are doing. (Howard Schulz)

There may be other attributes but, if you check off most of the above, you can probably be a decent entrepreneur. But are you born with these? I am leaning toward “born with.” Not that the skillset above can’t be latent and need developed. I am sure that happens. Can you learn these skills if you don’t have them in your bones? I am not so sure about that.

I recently started teaching in the Entrepreneurship Program at Franciscan University and also started Full Sail. So, I am thinking and reflecting about what it means to be an entrepreneur a lot these days. And wouldn’t you know, in my first class this semester, something happened that just opened up a flood of personal memories that I had totally forgotten---it’s kind of a drag being 68 in some ways.

We were doing introductions and I asked the group, “Why are you taking ENT 302?” (An Entrepreneurship Lab.)

The first student I called on said she wanted to run her own business. Makes sense. An answer I expected from all the kids. I followed-up by asking if she had done anything entrepreneurial before. “As a matter of fact,” she replied, “when I was ten or so, I made friendship bracelets that I sold on Etsy.” Cool. “What did you sell them for?” I continued. Turns out, she sold them for $1 per and knew what they retailed for and what her cost to make them was. Karilyn went on to describe other “business” things she did as a kid, like help her mother with invoices for HER business. Now there is a set of blossoming chops.

And then the floodgates opened and I remembered many of the things I did as a kid, and I mean a kid, like under ten, that were similarly entrepreneurial to what Karilyn had done.

In addition to the proverbial lemonade stand, me and my friends published a newspaper for the neighborhood that we sold door-to-door. The comic section was the best. We had a fair, modeled after our parish fair, although no Ferris wheel, where the neighborhood kids played games and won stuff. (Our old junk we didn’t want. One man’s treasure…) Best part was that the tool shed was turned into a haunted house and our friends and neighbors walked through with trepidation and some fright. And, finally, being the Beatles era, we donned our mother’s wigs---all the Sixties moms had them in the day--grabbed brooms, put on “Love Me Do” and charged kids a buck to watch us lip-sync. I would note that Donna Borsolino, who put up a rival show with her sisters, blew us away. They had the hair already, were better looking, had a better sound system, had a pool deck that could act as a stage and a had much better sound system. First lessons on being a fast first, not a slow second. And of the need to be better. Ok. We were the Kinks.

But those simple endeavors were entrepreneurial for our age and, looking back, taught me a lot about taking risks, competition, analyzing customer needs, salesmanship, etc. and many of the skills described above like leadership, resilience, and the others. Not that I understood that these were “things” an entrepreneur should know. Certainly not. I was more interested in buying another pack of baseball cards with the money I made, hoping to get a Mickey Mantle. But my guess is those concepts percolated in there, undetected. It was a toe in the water. A start.

You can look at the youthful exploits of many of the great entrepreneurs and see similar experiences. Warren Buffet sold Coke in the neighborhood during the summer to take advantage of increased demand. Looks like vision and risk taking to me. Steve Jobs cold-called Bill Hewlett, of HP fame, and asked for some parts. That’s chutzpah!!! Which probably should be a trait!!!!! Henry Ford, who grew up on a farm was more interested in fixing things than doing chores and, by 12, was taking apart and reassembling watches with tools he made himself. Curiosity indeed.

So, born with chops? Or not born with chops? That is the question. One thing for sure. If you got ‘em, you can develop them. If not, then I’m not so sure.

Hey, all the young dudes, what do you think? And why not share your kid business stories? You have the chops?

Show A Little Faith.