Entrepreneurs turn their dreams and ideas into businesses. Being successful requires having self-confidence tempered by the ability to recognize that it is
impossible to know everything. Entrepreneurs are risk takers. But, unlike many other risk takers, entrepreneurs take the time to research and understand the risks they’re facing.
The phrase “serial entrepreneur” describes many entrepreneurs who become business owners. It is difficult for some people who have spent their lives
focusing on ideas to devote all of their attention to the day-to-day operations and management of a business. A serial entrepreneur is
someone who lives to see the dream realized and then cannot wait to move on to pursue the next dream or idea.
Serial entrepreneurs usually have their hands in two or more business ventures at the same time and, frequently, in different industries. By operating in
diverse industries, a serial entrepreneur must have the capacity to evaluate and understand the methods used in each industry to conduct business. A more
traditional business owner might consider the concept of working in two or more diverse industries too difficult and prone to failure. However, serial
entrepreneurs view such an undertaking as nothing more than another challenge fueled by the opportunity to turn an idea into a money-making business.
Most business owners, and even many entrepreneurs, are driven by the desire to see their businesses grow over the long-term. Serial entrepreneurs live for
the excitement of developing their idea from concept through financing and onward to fruition with the opening of a business. It is at that point that
serial entrepreneurs grow restless and begin looking for the next new idea or untapped opportunity.
A serial entrepreneur succeeds by
being more afraid of not pursuing an opportunity than of failing at it. One trait common in most serial entrepreneurs is that they are driven by the
challenge of making money, but they see failure as an opportunity to learn instead of evidence of money lost.
It is difficult for some people in business to objectively evaluate a project and make the decision to end it. As devoted as a serial entrepreneur might be
to a business, the purpose of entrepreneurship is to make money. A serial entrepreneur must possess the ability to objectively evaluate a business to
decide if it will ever be profitable. Unlike some traditional business owners who find it difficult to let go of a failing or marginally profitable
business, successful serial entrepreneurs have the capacity to evaluate their business and, if necessary, to walk away from it. Walking away is not
perceived as a failure if the lessons to be learned from that venture are used to develop the next project.
A study of serial entrepreneurs by the Harvard University Business School concluded that they were more likely to be successful than other entrepreneurs.
This is due, according to the study, because of their persistence and eagerness to start a new venture if the timing appears to be right.