Page 114 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

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What Makes a

Successful Entrepreneur?

Thomas S. Lyons, Gregg A. Lichtenstein,
and Nailya Kutzhanova

This chapter argues that success in entrepreneurship is contingent on the
mastery of a skill set, and it discusses why and how entrepreneurship skills
can be developed. In doing so, the myth that entrepreneurs are “born” to
success is debunked, and we question the ability of other theories to fully
explain why entrepreneurs fail or succeed. Then, the skills necessary for suc-
cessful entrepreneurship are identified, how these skills can be measured
and their development tracked is examined, and the transformational
process of entrepreneurship skills development is explored.

THE MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF
ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUCCESS

In order to understand how one approaches helping entrepreneurs become
more successful, what is meant by “success” in entrepreneurship must be
defined. A successful entrepreneur is one who is able to generate individual
and community wealth by developing a business asset, and can do this re-
peatedly under a variety of circumstances. This requires that an entrepre-
neur consistently overcome the obstacles faced in obtaining and using the
resources required to start, grow, and sustain a business (Lichtenstein and
Lyons 1996). Doing so entails acquisition of a set of skills.
The importance of entrepreneurship to local and regional economies is
well-established elsewhere in this book, but what about the importance of
an entrepreneur’s ability to develop a business asset? It is widely acknowl-
edged that assets are the building blocks of wealth creation (Sherraden
1991). Assets come in a variety of forms—homeownership, stock and bond

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