A popular on-line dictionary defines an entrepreneur as follows: 'a person who creates, organizes, and manages a business, involving considerable initiative and risk.' It is eminently possible to define the entrepreneurial spirit. It is quite literally that spiritual wherewithal which lies behind this act of creation and management that being an entrepreneur entails.

And what is this wherewithal? Any act of creation requires, before all else, the capacity to visualize, to see yourself providing a service or product, and to 'believe' in that vision unequivocally. Only such a powerful belief can impel the business creator to overcome the innumerable obstacles that beset any act of creation.

So, an entrepreneur is essentially a business creator. The spirit that informs creation, beyond visualization and belief (a kind of 'faith'), is having a burning desire to be of service to one's fellow man. There is almost a kind of secular 'missionary' element in this, strange as that sounds - aspiring to make a contribution that improves the lives of your customers.

The fact that the vehicle of the entrepreneurial spirit is, of course, a 'business' masks this element of selfless service, and of losing oneself in 'creating'.

Perhaps this is why entrepreneurs, like artists, cannot be trained and accredited into their profession. Anyone who possesses this spirit will, inevitably, create a business that may or may not succeed. Anyone who lacks this spirit can't imagine why any sane person would take such a risk.

Entrepreneurship, and the entrepreneurial spirit that animates it, is the beating heart of a dynamic, leading-edge economy.

Learn more about this author, Stephen Carter.
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