Entrepreneur – recognise your own strengths!

Working life is becoming more and more entrepreneurial in spirit, and some of us will find ourselves as entrepreneurs in the future, either on a full-time basis or in addition to a salaried job. A new entrepreneur may wonder what strengths are needed to make their entrepreneurial dream come true.

For those who are concerned, there is certainly no one specific personality type whose qualities are particularly well suited to being an entrepreneur. However, with the uncertainty inherent in entrepreneurship, certain characteristics, such as initiative and the ability to change, are an advantage.

– I think being an entrepreneur inherently encourages you to be flexible to change, says Päivi Pärkkä, development manager of work ability services at Elo.

Successful entrepreneurs are often passionate about their work, and they feel that they are doing something meaningful.

– After all, it’s cool that you can do something you love and make a living out of it. This experience of the meaningfulness and draw of work also alleviates many work-related strain factors, Pärkkä continues.

Make the most out of your strengths

In entrepreneurship, you can and should make use of your strengths. If you are unsure of your own strengths, you can explore them, for example, within your network.

– You should also ask for feedback from customers, says Pärkkä. – Feedback fuels those characteristics that help an entrepreneur push forward.

A good way to develop your own expertise and special skills is to apply for mentoring. For example, a year of mentoring is enough time for you to exchange and sound out a large number of ideas.

– Anyone who wants to move forward and develop should have someone to bounce their ideas off. In addition to various mentoring programmes, feel free to ask for help from inspirational figures, Pärkkä advises.

Turn weaknesses into strengths

Examining your own strengths typically also leads to finding areas for development. Weaknesses are not an obstacle to entrepreneurship. You can work on your weak spots to turn them into strengths.

While professional competence can be maintained and developed through education, other skills needed in entrepreneurship can be improved through systematic practice.

– One good motivator for improvement is necessity, says Pärkkä. – If, for example, you are not a very organised person, you just need to learn it, at the latest in a crisis. Many new things arise from necessity.

Sometimes, to make progress, it is also important to stop and look back. This gives you time to take in the things you have learned thus far.

– If, in retrospect, something seems even a little embarrassing, you can at least be happy now that there has been development since, says Pärkkä, laughing.

Success based on an entrepreneur’s resources and network

The key to success is enhancing your entrepreneurial skills and taking care of your personal resources.

– Creativity and recovery suffer under strain, says Pärkkä. – The bureaucracy related to entrepreneurship can also be stressful.

Enterprise agencies, banks and insurance companies share a huge amount of information and practical tips on how to deal with the bureaucracy. Pärkkä encourages entrepreneurs to take advantage of all of these.

Entrepreneurial networks are particularly important for an entrepreneur’s well-being at work. The professional community reinforces their expertise, while entrepreneur colleagues, and friends and family push them on in their daily lives.

– Being an entrepreneur can be very lonely, especially in the early days. When starting out as an entrepreneur, you should get out there and meet other entrepreneurs, says Pärkkä.

What does Pärkkä think about the famous spark of entrepreneurship? Is it a requirement to become an entrepreneur?

– Often, being an entrepreneur in itself gives you more of that spark, she replies. She also knows from experience that many good things happen when you can influence your own work.

This is shown, too, by the Menesty yrittäjänä (‘Successful Entrepreneurship’) survey commissioned by the Elo pension insurance company and Suomen Yrittäjät (‘Federation of Finnish Enterprises’) in late 2020. Although the stress levels of entrepreneurs have risen during the coronavirus pandemic, as many as 80 per cent of entrepreneurs are enthusiastic about their own work daily.

As Pärkkä says: – Even if things are sometimes difficult, the positive drive of work carries you.

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