Module 7 – ENTREPRENEURIAL GOALS AND ASPIRATIONS

Overview:
- Most entrepreneurship researches measure the success if firms by observing firm’s history, such as
survival, exit, and growth of the firm
- Different entrepreneurs have different goals and aspirations when creating and operating their business
- This review will correspond to the literature on personality
- Rather probable that the personality traits of entrepreneurs differ significantly by the goals and aspirations
that entrepreneurs bring to the business
- And future research can gain by bringing tighter alignment of these two literature strands
Objectives:
At the end of the module, students should be able to:
 Know and understand the varying goals and understand goals and aspirations of entrepreneur;
 Explain the stylized facts about entrepreneurship pertaining to economic growth;
 Evaluate empirical findings pertaining entrepreneurial reasons for the creation of business enterprise; and
 Explain how size/ scale of business enterprise relates with entrepreneurial goals and aspirations.

Reasons for Deciding to Start a Business:

- One key source of longitudinal data on entrepreneurial motivations is the Panel Survey of Entrepreneurial
Dynamics (PSED)
- The Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) research program is designed to
enhance the scientific understanding of how people start businesses. The projects provide
valid and reliable data on the process of business formation based on nationally-
representative samples of nascent entrepreneurs, those active in business creation. PSED I
began with screening in 1998-2000 to select a cohort of 830 with three follow-up interviews. A
control group of those not involved in firm creation is available for comparisons. PSED II began
with screening in 2005-2006, followed by six yearly interviews. The information obtained
includes data on the nature of those active as nascent entrepreneurs, the activities
undertaken during the start-up process, and the characteristics of start-up efforts that
become new firms.
- Motivations:
1. Non-monetary reasons (the most frequent factor in the creation of a new business)
2. To generate income
3. To realize a good business idea
4. Lack of options
5. Others: extrinsic rewards, independence/autonomy, intrinsic rewards, family security

Entrepreneurial Goals:
- Goals are an important element when making decisions for a business or measuring progress. They are
especially important for entrepreneurs who are starting a business from the beginning. If you're an
entrepreneur, you may be looking for some ideas for the types of goals to set yourself.
- Entrepreneurship goals are goals set by someone who has started a business. These goals are either for
the business or for the entrepreneur. They give the entrepreneur something to work toward, which helps
them make decisions while they are creating their business. Specific goals also help an entrepreneur track
their progress.
- Entrepreneurs are driven by pecuniary (monetary) versus non-pecuniary benefits
- Hurst and Pugsley (2011), found that most entrepreneurs, being ridden by non-pecuniary benefits, have
little intention to innovate or expand their market share
- Bhide (2000), describe case studies of fast-growing firms that connect the actions and behaviors of
founders to their firm growth, some shifts in motivation with time and experience
- Hamilton (2000), found that entrepreneurs have both lower initial earnings and lower earnings growth
than in paid employment
- These influential studies underlie the conventional idea that entrepreneurs sacrifice their income to
become entrepreneurs, showing that non-monetary incentives need to be present as well
-
14 Goals of Entrepreneurship To Set for Yourself and Business
1. Develop a business plan
A business plan helps an entrepreneur focus their actions and gives them a goal to work toward.
Business plans detail things such as:
  Your business's mission statement
 Your products or services
 Financial information
 Employee information
 Plans for growth
Business plans help entrepreneurs plan out their business before they get started. This makes it a
good first goal for entrepreneurs.
2. Launch your first product
Launching your first product is a major milestone for any entrepreneur. It often takes many hours
of preparation and work to create that first product. It is your first product that will begin to bring
in revenue, an essential element for any new business. Decide what you want your first product to
be, how much you plan to sell it for and how you're going to sell it.
3. Create an online presence
Regardless of the type of business you're starting, an online presence allows you to reach more
people. An online presence typically includes elements such as a website, an email contact
address and social media activity. A common goal for entrepreneurs is to establish an online
presence early so that they can begin to attract a wider audience. You can start by creating a
website for your new business.
4. Achieve financial stability
Financial stability occurs when a new business is bringing in enough revenue to support itself.
Many entrepreneurs fund their ventures primarily through savings. Therefore, an ideal goal is to
be able to run your business off of the revenue it is generating rather than using your savings.
This is the first step before your business begins to generate a profit.
5. Hire the right people
Many entrepreneurs have the goal of growing to the point where they need to hire additional
help. This is seen as a sign of strong growth and allows the entrepreneur to delegate some of
their responsibilities. If you're setting goals for your new business, consider making one of them
hiring the right people. This means you're not only hiring new people for your business, but you're
hiring people that will continue to help the business grow. New hires can also bring their own
positive attributes to the business.
6. Delegate effectively
It's important to not only hire the right people but also delegate your responsibilities to them
effectively. Many entrepreneurs take on too much responsibility. By delegating key tasks,
entrepreneurs can improve the efficiency of their business and their enjoyment from working for
the company.
To delegate effectively, entrepreneurs need to go through each of their current responsibilities
and decide which ones are more suitable for someone else on their team. They can determine this
by analyzing the strengths of their team members and looking at their past work experience
before choosing how to reassign important tasks.
7. Work with ideal clients
One of the great things about working as an entrepreneur is that you often get to pick who you
work with. However, when you're first starting out, you may be less judicious about your clients in
order to generate more revenue. A worthy goal for entrepreneurs is to get to the point where they
can work only with their ideal clients. For example, they can choose to work on projects that
interest them the most or with companies that have similar values. Working with your ideal clients
often makes work more enjoyable and rewarding.
8. Connect with like-minded individuals
Some entrepreneurs who primarily work alone often seek out connections to other entrepreneurs.
Developing a network with like-minded individuals provides entrepreneurs with a few benefits.
First, it gives you people to communicate with who also have a passion for building their own
business. Second, you can receive feedback and advice from this network and use it to improve
your new business. It's for this reason that some entrepreneurs make it a goal to meet new
people who also have an interest in entrepreneurship.
9. Establish a brand identity
A brand identity is the visible elements of your business that provide a specific feeling or
impression in an audience's mind. Establishing a specific brand identity allows a new business to
differentiate itself from other businesses in the same market. Entrepreneurs first identify the
visible elements of their business that they want to control, such as its color scheme, logo and
tone of voice. Then they modify these elements to better represent the desired brand image and
continue to do so until their brand's identity is firmly established within their audience.
10. Implement a marketing strategy
A strong marketing strategy helps a business grow its reach and sell its products. Every new
business uses a marketing strategy in order to grow. The design and implementation of a
marketing strategy, therefore, becomes an early goal common for entrepreneurs. The launching
of an email marketing campaign or social media advertising campaign is a significant milestone
for a young company.
11. Find a healthy work-life balance
Another important milestone for entrepreneurs is when they are able to have a healthy balance
between the amount of time they spend on work and free time. When first starting out, many
entrepreneurs lack free time because they are spending most of it working on their business.
Once they are able to grow their business to a point where it doesn't need as much attention, the
entrepreneur can take more time to relax.
12. Maintain steady business growth
Entrepreneurs like it when they can predict how much their business will grow over a certain
amount of time. This makes it easier to make decisions for the business, such as how much they
can afford to invest in different areas. It's for this reason that entrepreneurs will aim to have
steady business growth, rather than large fluctuations from month to month. To do this, they may
implement strategies within the business designed to reduce variations such as standardizing
project management techniques.
13. Focus on personal growth
Besides focusing on the growth of the business, some entrepreneurs also make it a goal to focus
on personal growth. For example, they may want to learn a new skill or obtain a new professional
certification. Sometimes these skills can directly benefit the business, such as learning new
software, and other times are just for personal enjoyment, like learning a new language.
14. Research new tools and methods
If an entrepreneur learns of a tool or method that could benefit their business, they may make it a
goal to research it. For example, there may be a new project management tool for sale or a better
way to handle customer service requests. The entrepreneur researches this new tool or method
and determines whether it would improve their business.

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/goals-of-entrepreneurship