Top 5: You Might Be an Entrepreneur If…

“Our focus is now on entrepreneurship and innovation as opposed to
industry attraction in the old-line sectors,” said Jeff Kaczmarek,
president of the Economic Development Corporation in an interview with the New York Times. “In times of economic distress, it’s small business and entrepreneurs who lead the way out of these recessionary periods.”

As we discussed with our business and cultural trends, crisis equals opportunity.
The paradigm is shifting and the call for innovative entrepreneurs to
usher in a new era of change is here and now. As the unemployment rate
increases and job postings shore-up, a new legion of entrepreneurs are
emerging with a new way of thinking that stretches beyond the status
quo.  For this week’s Top 5, we’ve compiled key characteristics that
embody many of today’s entrepreneurs as they embark on the journey as
small business leaders.

1. You Are a Forward Thinker
As Obama calls on the innovation of entrepreneurs to dig our way out of
the current economic crisis, it is the most forward yet practical
thinkers that will emerge on top. The old ways of doing business has
since past and we are in a transitional period that will usher in a new
era of entrepreneurship—one that relies on new technologies and
progressive thinking.

It doesn’t hurt to go against the grain either. When Sergey Brin and
Larry Page were puttering around in their spare time to figure out how
to create a scalable search engine, they didn’t look to the convention
at the time—that being Yahoo!, which relied on man power. They thought,
what if there were too many queries and humans could not facilitate
them all? Thus, the legendary algorithm was born. Brin and Page were
forward thinking enough to know search power couldn’t rely on human
effort forever. The algorithm was the next evolutionary step.
Scalability was possible and the rest is for the history books.

2. You Don’t Have a Job
Starting a business when you’re struggling to find a job might
not be the sanest idea. However, it’s a way to occupy your time, and
motivate your passions to create something new and interesting.
Typically, the most opportunistic time to start a small business is
when you’re employed and have extra money to spend. Therefore, the
unemployed have to stretch their budgets and set their sights on
realistic goals. Low overhead is critical to stay afloat with a
shoestring budget. Start simple...

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