I was lucky enough to land an internship in a local small business the summer before my last year of my MBA. This business was almost 10 years in the making but still very much had the startup characteristics as they were looking to go national. It was a goldmine for a little MBA graduate like me. Almost 4 years later, and I am here to tell you that it has been the most rewarding but also challenging experience.
This post is dedicated to what I learned and believe are the top characteristics of entrepreneurship.
Grit
We'll just go ahead and get the most obvious characteristic, but still often overlooked in the glamour of entrepreneurship: GRIT. I went back and forth on whether to use perseverance or endurance but grit truly captures what I'm trying to convey. This work is not for the faint of heart, making grit one of the most vital characteristic of entrepreneurship. There is so much unknown and there is so much to figure out as you go. If there is no process or policy for X,Y,Z, you'll be the one writing it, often without a template to follow. And you are not writing it to check a box; you're creating something that needs to work today, tomorrow and long after. It has to consider everyone it impacts, not only in your own department but across the organization. I've had to change up many processes after learning what works for me and my department, doesn't necessarily work for everyone else. Considering this on the forefront of when you are building a process or policy, will save you lots of work down the road.
There are many days where you are doing the job of 5 people. And it's exhausting. But you have to push through. My recommendation for those trying to have grit - you have to look back every once in a while. Now and then you have to pause and reflect on how far you have come as it is so rewarding and it's the little boost and reminder you need to keep going on.
Creativity
I have been challenged in several different ways to be more creative. You have to be creative with the challenges you will face as they are likely new challenges that no one will have the answer for. You have to be creative with processes that don't exist. You have to be creative on top of all of that with the strategy of tomorrow. Creativity is 100% without a doubt an essential characteristic of entrepreneurship. Most people think creativity only happens in the beginning to start up the business. No - it happens every day to get to where you want and the business needs to go.
I'll share a few examples of creativity I had to use in this organization (examples not to brag, but to show the realities of entrepreneurship and startups).
- Creating inventory management so there were no production delays and to save money
- How to reduce waste on production line (wasn't being tracked)
- Analyzing and reviewing the customer throughput and identifying gaps
The list goes on. If I had any advice that really helped clean up processes and it was the first thing I did when hired, it is to flowchart, flowchart, flowchart. I am a visual person and I need to see things written or drawn out. I used (and use to this day) LucidChart as it is so easy to use and is like $7.99 a month. Anything I was trying to understand, I flowcharted the process. I did this for customer service/sales, manufacturing, sales -> manufacturing, etc. This helped me identify any gaps in the system and anything I can do to trim out and save time. It also really helped me understand what was going on as often people had different perspectives and ideas of what the process was. I had each person in the department review it until I had all the information I needed to start getting creative.
Humility
It is honestly one of the things I fear the most working at this company. Holding onto processes that we have outgrown and refusing to let go. I combat that with (1) being open to feedback (to the best of my ability - I am human), (2) constantly reviewing my processes to make sure they still make sense, and (3) never being satisfied of where I am at by always keep tomorrow on the forefront of where I want my department to be. For number 3 I don't mean never being proud of what you accomplished. Those moments are so important for momentum. I mean not getting too comfortable and to always keep growing.
My last little tidbit on humility - and this goes for all areas of life not just entrepreneurship - you have to be able to admit when you are wrong. You have to. Or you will never grow. There are so many people that have come through this company that I work at - and their downfall was they couldn't do it. They couldn't admit when they were wrong or when they needed help. There is so much more grace for an attitude of trying than an attitude of pride. When something goes wrong or you are drowning in work - don't dig a whole or live in denial - have some self awareness and seek help.
Flexible
This one sounds nice, but is so easy. I feel like being flexible goes hand in hand with patience. A classic characteristic of entrepreneurship is the rolling with the punches, in the middle of a hailstorm, while the house is on fire. Because of this, you have to redirection and you don't always get to go with plan A.
It's very easy to get frustrated with this. You have to always keep the bigger picture in mind and ask yourself what is in the best interest of this company today and long term. Keeping the bigger picture in the forefront of our minds will help us get out of the weeds and be flexible.
There are countless examples that come to mind when I think of when I had to be flexible. Probably 5-10 in just this past week. This might look like taking on extra work because we had to let someone go who wasn't a fit for the company. This might look like driving all over the state of Texas to get what we need to put on a fantastic tradeshow. This might look like switching up onsite teams to utilize strengths to get the job done. Whatever it is, if it aligns with the company's mission and it's going to help take that next step of growth - we must be flexible.
You have to like it (it's not for everyone - and that's okay!)
