Cooperative Entrepreneur-The Benefits of Collaboration

By now you already know how entrepreneurship is important. Small and medium enterprises are the key contributors to the growth of economy. These enterprises are mostly owned by entrepreneurs. When an entrepreneur starts working on a business idea he is already optimistic that his discovery of the business idea or opportunity will succeed. This is because he has carried out a detailed investigation regarding the idea and therefore he is certain of its profitability. By the way, will you venture alone as an entrepreneur or will you collaborate with another entrepreneur? There are people who will not have the guts to become entrepreneurs. Some of the reasons according to them are as below: 1.) Entrepreneurship is not a lifetime career. 2.) A person is always bothered with fears of failure. 3.) A person is always living on the edge due to low profits or losses that occur. 4.) Entrepreneurship is not a sure thing. Due to changes in technology, a business idea or opportunity may become outdated. An example of this is Kodak films replaced by digital cameras. Before you decide to become an entrepreneur you should be psychologically prepared to face all mind disturbing worries brought about by disappointments. These disappointments just happen any time. They do not happen because you're negligent or not working hard and smart but they're brought about by internal and exte al factors. Some of these factors especially the exte al ones are beyond human control. If you're prepared psychologically, you'll know how you'll keep on going without doing something stupid. Being psychologically prepared includes knowing that not all people will welcome your business idea. You prepare yourself that you may end up with a wrong impression of being a loser and lacking direction in life. It is a fact that it is more easy to attract many people in your life when you're successful than when you fail, perhaps it is human nature and the law of attraction playing its role. This article is not going to discuss about exte al and internal factors but it discusses about two or more entrepreneurs collaborating. There are many types of entrepreneurs, namely: 1.) Social entrepreneur. 2.) Serial Entrepreneur. 3.) Lifestyle Entrepreneur. 4.) Cooperative Entrepreneur. It is not always that it is a single entrepreneur who can venture in a business opportunity. Two or more entrepreneurs can come together to work as team in order to make a business idea successful. This especially occurs when an entrepreneur has a new idea or starts a business that is of cooperative in nature and requires variety of skills or a substantial amount of capital. A single entrepreneur will not be able to provide all the skills required or the substantial amount of capital required in running and financing the whole new business idea/project thus he has to team up with other entrepreneurs. Before you decide to collaborate with another entrepreneur you should be careful because if you collaborate with a wrong entrepreneur(s), you'll end up regretting. The business idea may be stuck when it comes to its progress of growing or its growth may be very slow. Things to Consider Before Collaborating With Another Entrepreneur 1.) Willingness to take risks. 2.) Creativity and skills required to run the business idea/opportunity. 3.) Ability to contribute the amount of capital required. How profits, losses and responsibilities/work should be shared. 4.) Able to work hard and ability of organization. 5.) Is patient, consistent, persistence and able to overcome setbacks. 6.) Self-disciplined and encourages team work. 7.) Ability to make decisions quickly. 8.) Self motivated and is able to motivate others. 9.) Always focused and able to work with minimum supervision. 10.) Confident and able to remain firm in decisions made. 11.) There should be guidelines to take care of issues such as death of an entrepreneur etc. Benefits of Collaborating With Another Entrepreneur 1.) Risks are shared. 2.) Presence of new skills. Each entrepreneur possesses different skills which are essential for the growth of the business. 3.) The required capital is raised easily. 4.) There is the advantage of creativity from each entrepreneur. 5.) There is mutual support and sharing of information. 6.) Work is shared. Each entrepreneur is responsible for what he does. 7.) Achievement of goals is fast. Although cooperative entrepreneurship has got many advantages, there is the downside of it. The downside is brought about by collaborating with an entrepreneur who is not suitable or compatible.