Тhis is the third article of this series of articles about factors that make an entrepreneur to be successful entrepreneurs. First we conducted an analysis of the factors that make a successful entrepreneur, and later we present the results of the analysis in a hierarchical pyramidal structure of most important factors – Entrepreneurial Success Factors.

In one of the previous posts, I have covered the first layer of the hierarchical pyramidal structure – Willingness to take action. If you’re willing to take actions it is necessary to upgrade that willingness with the second layer on the road to success, and that is knowledge and creativity.

What is Knowledge for an Entrepreneur?

I have knowledge about this. I have knowledge of that. They have knowledge of something else. Everywhere around us is some knowledge. Each person has a specific knowledge. I think that there is not a person without some knowledge. Our knowledge starts from our birth. Each new day of our lives is the acquisition of certain knowledge. We acquire knowledge, home from our parents, from a kinder garden, and later in school, university, everyday life.

So knowledge is composed of two major elements:

• Experience. Everything that we experience our knowledge. It is our personal assets or personal assets of an entrepreneur.
• Education. Everything that we acquire through a mandatory  educational system is poured off in our own knowledge. Besides the educational system as school, faculty and courses, also reading a book, acquiring information from the Internet and anything that will educate you as an entrepreneur will increase current knowledge about something.

What is a Creativity for an Entrepreneur?

About creativity in Wikipedia, we can find that:

Creativity is a mental and social process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts.

So creativity is directly related to the discovery of new ideas or concepts or modification of existing ideas and concepts.

Being creative is not easy. To acquire knowledge is much easier than to be creative. Creativity cannot be taught, but it simply shows up and is performed by the entrepreneur himself.

Combination of Knowledge and Creativity

Therefore, the second layer of the entrepreneurial path to success is a simple mix between knowledge and creativity.

First, you must have knowledge in excessive amounts, but without the creative application of that knowledge into everyday practice, there is no guarantee that you will be a successful entrepreneur.

On the other hand, I think that knowledge is the only factor that can increase the creativity of an entrepreneur. Is it possible for an  entrepreneur to be creative without knowledge? Probably, not unless you expect a divine gift to be creative.

Precisely here lies the concept of a mix between knowledge and creativity that will only increase the likelihood of success of entrepreneurs. As you enlarge the knowledge about a certain subject, you will increase the potential of your own creativity.

A second factor that affects increasing creativity is the entrepreneur. This refers to what you call something inherent in man. It is believed that the most creative are artists because they have talent in some branches of art, and because they simply create their own art with an open mind. I already wrote about 6 tips to increase creativity.

With all this stated above, I feel free to express creativity as a mathematical function of knowledge and entrepreneurs:

Creativity = f (knowledge + entrepreneur)

How to be a Better Entrepreneur Through Knowledge and Creativity?

And finally the most important question is: How to be a better entrepreneur through knowledge and creativity?

I’ll give you few tips for your own personal improvement as an entrepreneur, which certainly will have a direct impact on better performance of your business:

Increasing Knowledge

Because I previously explained why knowledge without creativity and vice versa is not complete, we should  start with an increase of entrepreneurial knowledge. This can be achieved in two ways:

• Always learn new skills. Today there is a tremendous opportunity for learning. It is necessary only to establish a system that will continually increase your knowledge as an entrepreneur. Begin with the areas where you are weakest, and your business requires these areas. Read professional literature, magazines and newspapers from those areas and implement what you have learned in everyday work.
• Learn from mistakes – experiential learning. By learning new skills and their application in everyday work constantly improve these skills through their own experience. Even mistakes will make you increase your own knowledge and will make you be a better entrepreneur.

Act as an Entrepreneur

Yes, entrepreneur means to be creative, so use the creative methods and techniques that will come to your mind to increase your own creativity and knowledge. I will accent one more time 6 tips of entrepreneurial creativity:

1. Always use a notebook with you (e.g. It can be pocket notebook)
2. Change the routines in your life.
3. Look around You, observe.
4. Use social media.
5. Reinvent things around you.
6. Use locations that increase creativity.

Why the willingness to take action is the most important characteristics of an entrepreneur? The most important is because without action then there will not exist the business and also entrepreneur.

In the previous post about Entrepreneurial Success Factors among the most important and foundation of the hierarchical structure of important factors for successful entrepreneurs is the willingness to take an action. Because of that I start this serial of post about most important factors with the action.

What is the Entrepreneurial Action?

Simply, an action is something that a person can do and make that happen. Take a decision to walk, talk, eat, drink… An also walk, talk, eat, drink…

On the other hand, entrepreneurial actions are applying some entrepreneurial activity. For example, to start a business, to invest, to expand the business, to improve the business, to market the business …

Taking action is composed from two processes:

• Making decision to take an action.
• Implementation of the decision for action.

Making Decision about Entrepreneurial Action

If you as an entrepreneur decide about action you’re on half way of full action implementation.

This is the most important element in the action taking process. Most important because if an entrepreneur not decides to take action, the action won’t happen.

How much faster is the process of decision making the faster will be the process of overall action taking.

How much better is the process of making decision, the better will be implementation of that action.

However, the speed of decision making affecting the quality of the decision. Because of that you must to optimize the process, if you would like to receive the best results for each action.

Ordinarily, decision making process can be done in the following steps:

• Find the problem.
• Collect information about the problem.
• Prepare alternative solutions.
• Analysis and evaluation of alternative solutions.
• Choosing the optimum solution – which will be action.

Decision Implementation about Entrepreneurial Action

When you already know what needs to be implemented, you already know the necessary steps for that entrepreneurial action.

However, this sub-process – implementation, can also affect the failure of the whole action taking process. If you don’t implement the decision, there won’t be action.

Once you made a decision to take any type of action, you must implement that decision without additional thinking’s. Thinking’s are finished in the process of decision making.

What have Influence on Entrepreneurial Actions Taking?

There are several elements that can affect an entrepreneur to take action. Some of these elements are reflected in our key factors of successful entrepreneurs (self-confidence, experience, knowledge and risk).

1. Self-Confidence

If self-confidence about action is greater, then will be more possibilities that an entrepreneur will take action. Adversely, when self-confidence is low the entrepreneur will not take action.

Tip: Decision making process should infuse enough self-confidence to implement that decision.

2. Knowledge

Self-Confidence is based on knowledge. From another side, if the knowledge about the problem is greater, the solution for entrepreneurs will be easier.

Tip: Increase the knowledge through appropriate study of the problem in the decision making process.

3. Experience

If you have experience in the action related area the more possible will be that you’ll be able to take this action. Adversely, when you don’t have enough experience you’ll have been feeling as unprepared for that type of actions.

Tip: The decision making process must eliminate the lack of experience to implement the decision.

4. Fear of Failure and Mistakes Consequences

The possibility of mistakes always existed and will always will exist. So, it’s normal to have a fear of making a mistake. However, sometimes the biggest mistake can be if you don’t take anything as an action.

Tip: If in the process of decision making, decision is supported by quality information, then the possibilities of mistakes will be much smaller.

5. Risk

For each decision and any action, there is a risk. The risk actually occurs when you exit the comfort dynamic balance in the status quo situation. And each decision and action hit directly in the comfortable position for you as an entrepreneur. Because of that the risk is ingredient part of the whole process.

Tip: If in the decision making process, the decision was supported by quality information, you will keep the risks to a minimal level.