A Critical Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

A Critical Reflection - Essay Example I realized that I could make some money if I sold some branded wristbands to my friends at margin. Although the venture collapsed shortly thereafter due to lack of sufficient resources, it played a critical role in shaping my life towards always looking for opportunities to satisfy unmet business needs. I believe that success does not come only from working hard but also by seizing opportunities at the right time. Essentially, entrepreneurship requires one to have a knack of identifying the unmet needs, assessing the business potential of an idea and then finally committing to implement the idea. Since my first experience in business at the age of ten, I have made significant efforts to improve my personal organization skills in order to be effective. One of the key areas that greatly influence entrepreneurial success is time management. Planning and productive use of time is essential in helping one to achieve his or her goals (Bird and West 2007). In order to manage my time effecti vely, I always plan my work well in advance and try to follow the schedule accordingly. However, sometimes I do get distracted by other responsibilities such as family issues and deviate from my set plans. Also, private engagements and having fun consume a significant portion of my time which would otherwise be utilized in a more productive manner. Entrepreneurship often involves the pursuit of new and innovative ideas. Thus, an entrepreneur inherently works in a highly stressful and challenging work environment. I have managed to internalize and apply this skill in my life by exercising self awareness of my personal strengths and limitations as I pursue business goals. According to Rae, interpersonal interaction is a core component of entrepreneurship capabilities (Blenker et al 2012). Business inevitably involves interactions with people of various backgrounds. For instance, a businessman has to interact with customers, competitors, suppliers, government authorities and other stak eholders. In my daily endeavors, I always aim at growing my network of social and industry contacts. I have learnt that it is through interactions with people that I am able to find out what is important to them and understand the situation from their perspectives. This is fundamentally important for an entrepreneur as it helps one to gain comprehensive understanding of the customer and lays the foundations for creating a product that perfectly addresses the needs of the clients. Teamwork is essential in entrepreneurship since the tasks involved are often enormous and difficult for a single individual to handle (Clarke and Robin 2010). Working in teams requires the leader to rally individuals to towards the attainment of a common goal. Negotiations are also critical as part of interpersonal interactions since an entrepreneur has to bargain for the best deals possible. From the entrepreneurship module, I have that negotiations require proper planning, clear goals and patience (Robson 2010). These components are important since they help one to get the best results from any negotiation and reach a favorable agreement. Teece (2010) noted that an idea remains simply an idea unless it is rigorously assessed to ascertain its potential value. Imperatively, it is foolhardy to rush into executing a business a idea before investigating its viability. The first step of entrepreneurship is coming up with new or better ideas to solve challenges in the society. It is evident from the learning in this module that once an opportunity has been identified, the entrepreneur should investigate and develop options for exploiting the opportunity. It is also necessary for one to entrepreneur to identify how the available resources