How To Become a Successful Entrepreneur

Learn how to become a successful entrepreneur and prepare for your future entrepreneurial journey. Earn your BS in Entrepreneurial Studies from GCU!

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Read time 4 minutes

Tim Kelley

Published On Jun 1, 2023

Entrepreneurship is the process of starting, managing and growing a business venture with the aim of making a profit. It involves taking risks and being innovative to create something new and valuable. When you are new to the entrepreneurship field, you may be overwhelmed by all the potential you have before you. However, there are certain steps to understand when contemplating how to become a successful entrepreneur.

What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur?

When wondering how to become a successful entrepreneur, you may wonder what exactly it means to be successful. Although there are many definitions of “success” as an entrepreneur, specific skills and characteristics emerge when analyzing what makes great entrepreneurs. Some of these include:

Flexibility
Openness to feedback
Taking risks
Setting goals
Creativity
Planning
Problem-solving
Networking
Building a support system
Understanding finances
Knowing your consumer base
Organization

Along with developing, building and identifying the above skills and characteristics, there are certain steps that budding entrepreneurs can take to help develop a plan, get their project off the ground and solidify their place in the industry.

Establish a Feasible Entrepreneurial Financial Plan

One of the first steps to becoming an entrepreneur is establishing a feasible financial plan and creating a secure financial future for your business. This can involve steps such as creating a monthly budget, investing, avoiding personal debts and keeping tight financial records. If you’re able to, try to fund your business venture using your own financial resources. This can help avoid taking out large unnecessary loans and going into debt.

It can also prove helpful to speak with a business mentor or accountant. These professionals can help you discover ways to fund your venture or establish a financial plan. They can also make sure you understand your tax liability as an entrepreneur and help you plan out your expenses.

Build a Foundation for Creating Innovative Businesses

As a budding entrepreneur, you will want to identify new opportunities for business and create innovative solutions that solve problems and disrupt existing industries. Learning how to become an entrepreneur includes creating a foundation for your business. There are several aspects of a business that you should consider establishing when starting out, such as:

Setting a clear vision of what you want to achieve
Establishing your target market and niche
Conducting industry research
Continuing to gain experience
Continuously proposing innovative solutions

This foundation can help you plan for where to focus your energy, as well as create a vision of what you want to see your business evolve into. This may also make it easier to revisit your goals as a business later down the line and measure your success as an entrepreneur.

Prepare for the Future of Work as an Entrepreneur

Of the many steps to becoming an entrepreneur, this one may be more relevant to the future of your business. As technology continues to advance, many jobs are at risk of becoming automated. Entrepreneurship requires skills that are more difficult for machines to replicate, such as creativity, problem solving, critical thinking and effective communication.¹ When studying entrepreneurship, you can prepare yourself for a career that is less likely to be impacted by automation.

To help prepare yourself and your business for the future of the workforce, keep in mind the ways to keep your business relevant while staying up to date with, and engaging in, new technological advances. Consider revisiting your business strategies and practices regularly to ensure that they are keeping up with recent changes and developments in the business technology world.

Indulge Your Creativity and Innovation in Your Business

Unique, creative ideas may heavily contribute to what makes a successful business and a great entrepreneur. When diving into the entrepreneurship field, you will be taught how to identify new opportunities. You will think outside the box and develop solutions that involve hands-on expertise. Don’t be afraid to put yourself or your ideas into action. Keep creating new, innovative ideas for your customer base. This can not only help you stay relevant but may also help you stay competitive with other businesses.

Steps to Becoming an Entrepreneur: Begin Your Entrepreneurial Studies

Studying entrepreneurship can help you develop a mindset of innovation and creativity. You will be taught how to identify new business opportunities, think outside the box and develop solutions that acquire practical knowledge. These skills may be applicable not only to starting a business, but also to various career or life situations.

Entrepreneurship programs are designed to equip you with a broad knowledge base in topics such as operations management, marketing, finance, accounting, communication and ethical leadership. In your program, you will also be taught the skills that give you the capability to launch your own business in order to work toward success as an entrepreneur.

Consider Studying Entrepreneurship and Exponential Technology

When learning the steps for how to succeed as an entrepreneur, you will discover the importance of focusing on a specific market — such as exponential technology. Exponential technology refers to the rapid advancement of technology in various fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology and nanotechnology. Many of the fastest-growing industries today are powered by exponential technology. Combining these two fields can lead to some exciting opportunities for those who are interested in creating new businesses or working in innovative fields.

College students who are interested in creating something new and innovative and being in control of their own work may be interested in entrepreneurship. With the right education, mindset and understanding of what makes a successful entrepreneur, you can position yourself for a career in entrepreneurship. Get started in this exciting field by enrolling in the Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurial Studies degree program at Grand Canyon University. Fill out the form on this page to learn more and get started.

¹ Kosslyn, S.M. (2019, September 25). Are You Developing Skills That Won’t Be Automated? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved on April 28, 2023.

Approved by the director of academic operations from the Colangelo College of Business on May 30, 2023.