ShareThisBy BRUCE FREEMAN
Dear Professor Bruce: I am considering taking some entrepreneurial studies courses at a local university. My long-term goal is to go into business for myself, but people tell me that either you have it or you don't and that taking courses won't make you an entrepreneur. What do you think?
A: That question _ "are entrepreneurs born or are they made?" _ is at the top of the list when people talk about the idea of going into business for themselves. The good news is that many entrepreneurs say that all you need is the determination to succeed. The bad news is that it is not a straight path. Entrepreneurship is a contact sport requiring discipline.
A true entrepreneur is someone who creates an innovative organization under conditions of risks and uncertainly. A wise man, and successful entrepreneur I might add, once told me that life is like a journey on a train, and the same thing applies to being an entrepreneur. As we ride, at in certain stops, there are accidents, there are surprises, both good and bad, but at the end the ability to drive the locomotive into uncharted territories into the land of discovery makes it all worthwhile.
However, this does not mean you shouldn't have a plan, including acquiring a business education.
Entrepreneurial studies programs across the county are growing at a rapid pace. David Desplaces, director of entrepreneurial studies at the Barney School of Business at the University of Hartford, explains the trend is primarily due "to people's desires to follow their dreams and model themselves after Bill Gates (Microsoft), Stemberg (Staples), and Ben and Jerry (the ice cream guys)." Although Bill Gates has became one of the most well known entrepreneurs, his decision to step away from his job at Microsoft to devote his energy to running the Gates Foundation, which is dedicated to education and skills development, is quite telling.
Desplaces also notes that "you should select an entrepreneurship program based on the course of study it offers." You want to seek a broad breath of study (courses in Finance, Accounting, Management, Marketing, and Small Business Management) at schools that offer students the opportunities to test their ideas in business plan competitions judged by successful entrepreneurs.
(Bruce Freeman is president of ProLine Communications in Livingston, N.J., and an adjunct professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at Kean University. Submit questions for publication to bruce(at)smallbusinessprof.com.)
