Entrepreneurship

We are all born with

an ‘inner entrepreneur’

What is entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship involves identifying a social or

environmental problem that needs to be solved and creating
a business from the solution. We all possess skills such as
creativity, problem solving and empathy which can help us
to become successful entrepreneurs. An entrepreneurial
mindset helps us navigate our careers, achieve academic
success and solve everyday challenges.
Why is entrepreneurship We can build, stretch
for me? and strengthen our
entrepreneurial muscle
Entrepreneurial skills are essential ingredients
when plotting your future path. Alongside the
creation of a business venture, an entrepreneurial While the path into entrepreneurship may
mindset can provide us with employment look different for everyone, what each budding
opportunities and career progression. entrepreneur has in common is the desire to
solve problems and the commitment to building,
f D
► id you know employers are actively looking strengthening and developing entrepreneurial
for entrepreneurial workers who are equipped skills, mindset and strategy.
with skills such as creativity, critical thinking
and complex problem solving? One in three
employers polled in the United States said
that they prefer hiring candidates with at Building entrepreneurial muscle:
least some entrepreneurial experience1. EY Young Entrepreneur
f D
► id you know gaining profit is only
It is safe to assume that Ben Francis,
one reasons why people want to become
EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year
entrepreneurs? Alongside making money,
knows a thing or two about building
other key motivators include, flexibility of
entrepreneurial muscle. Starting his
being your own boss, control over decision
entrepreneurial training at nineteen
making, selecting the team you want and
years of age in a garage, Ben balanced
leaving a positive footprint2.
university studies, pizza deliveries and
f Did you know now is an ideal time to making gym garments. Strengthening
begin your entrepreneurial journey? entrepreneurial muscles of persistence
History has shown us that unprecedented and innovative thinking on a social media
events such as COVID-19 act as catalysts arena, Ben has gone from creating
for entrepreneurship. These challenges garments to approaching a £100 million
have stimulated entrepreneurial solutions turnover at twenty-six of his global
that have advanced healthcare, technology sportswear brand Gym Shark.
and customer experience3.

1. A Ramp to Opportunity, NFTE

2. What you Should Know, Entrepreneur
3. Crisis a Catalyst for Entrepreneurship, The Conversation
Do you want to measure your
entrepreneurial mindset?

Measure the mindset

We can all develop our entrepreneurial skills, but
did you know we can measure our entrepreneurial
mindsets? The National Foundation for Teaching
Entrepreneurship, with support from EY, have
developed an Entrepreneurial Mindset Calculator,
to measure mastery in eight core domains critical
to entrepreneurial thinking. You can measure
your mindset here!

Four approaches to build your entrepreneurial muscle

There are four things we can do to develop and strengthen our entrepreneurial muscle.
We can use this process as a guide to ensure we set up our business for success and create
solutions that benefit people and the planet. These steps include:

1 Reframing innovation as
a process, not an event 2 Moving from caution
to calculated daring 3 Persisting
through purpose 4 Adapting and pivoting
Regardless of where you’re going
in your career, there is no straight
Entrepreneurs are people While risk taking is uncomfortable Whether you are asking your
line to get there. Adapting
who solve problems profitably. and daunting, an entrepreneurial boss for resources, asking an
and pivoting means having the
To do this, they must first be mindset requires moving from investor for funds, or asking
flexibility and the drive to adjust
able to define the problem and caution to calculated daring. your first potential customers
your product, service or strategy
find a solution. But both actions Understanding your relationships to buy your offering, the word
based on feedback, insights and
require innovative thinking, which with risk allows you to move ‘no’ will be likely be the default
shifting market trends. This is key
does not ‘just happen’; it must be from misplaced caution, which response. To overcome rejection,
to the success of a new business,
worked on and developed. Here, may keep you from incredible you need to be able to persist,
as well as to the maintained
innovation must be reframed as opportunities, to calculated and persistence starts with your
relevance and growth of
a process, not a one-time event. daring, allowing you to make purpose. Finding your ‘why’ and
an existing one.
more informed decisions. aligning your business idea with
it will allow you to persist and
continually seek to overcome
the obstacles that exist
alongside refusal.
Let’s activate our
inner entrepreneur

Start activating your inner

entrepreneur through these bite-
sized resources and tools that will
help you activate and strengthen
your first entrepreneurial muscle.

Innovation is a process, Moving from caution Persisting through purpose

not an event to calculated daring Check out these resources to strengthen
your persistence by locating your purpose.
Check out these interactive tools to activate and Check out these resources to reframe
strengthen your innovative thinking and doing. your relationship with risk to make more 5 P’s of entrepreneurship | Forbes
informed decisions.
Brainstorm cards Check out this Forbes articles to gain
Change your relationship with risk | Forbes insights into how you can use persistence,
52 prompt cards that act as triggers to help
purpose, patience, people, profit to fuel
you generate smarter, unique and fresh ideas. Check out this Forbes articles to gain insights
a business venture.
into how you can adopt and apply a risk-positive
Opposite thinking tool approach to grow your business venture. 1
► 5 Day purpose challenge
This tool helps you challenge your assumptions
A
► better way to think about risk | HBR Take this 15 day challenge to discover
about problems and possible solutions in order
or rediscover your purpose!
to generate and identify non-obvious ideas. This article reminds you that risk assessment
can be a dangerous double-edged sword and
Analogy tool suggests three ways for you to reframe how
The analogy tool helps you pinpoint and copy you approach it.
the best features from existing solutions and
apply them to your own.

Tech and trend matrix

This matrix allows you to identify and use
Adapting and pivoting
examples of new technologies and trends Check out these resources to strengthen your Pivot in a pandemic | HBR
to spark innovative ideas. ability to adapt, pivot and grow your idea. Check out this Harvard Business Review article
Design For Delight Playbook | NFTE to gain insights into how entrepreneurial
ventures successfully pivoted in a pandemic.
Got a creative idea that you are itching
to explore? This Design For Delight Playbook, P
► ivot in a low touch economy
has resources, activities and challenges to
build, test and innovate your idea. Check out these bite-size ways businesses
across the globe have adapted and pivoted
in a low touch economy.

Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make

toast | TED Talk
In this TED talk, Tom Wujec reveals unexpected
hints to how we can solve our biggest and most
complicated problems! How? By drawing toast!
Learn how to run the exercise yourself to better
understand your problem and ideas.
Want to know more? EY | Building a better working world
EY exists to build a better working world, helping to create
long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust
in the capital markets.
Our Latest Thinking | EY
Check out insights, interviews and Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over
inspiring stories with past and present
150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients
EY Entrepreneur of Year finalists.
Access EY’s latest thinking in the grow, transform and operate.
entrepreneurial field across areas of
adaption, navigating risk and creating Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and
business solutions to current and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers
emerging social, environmental for the complex issues facing our world today.
and human needs.

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This material has been prepared for general informational purposes only
and is not intended to be relied upon as accounting, tax, legal or other
professional advice. Please refer to your advisors for specific advice.

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