ENTREPRENEURIAL

n d
MINDSET
OPPORTUNITY
a
RECOGNITION
ENTREPRENEURIAL MIND
“ I stand upon my desk to remind myself that
we must constantly look at things in a
different way”
-John Keating lead Character in the 1989 Film
"Dead Poets Society”
 For several decades now there
has been a constant debate whether
entrepreneurs are self-made or they
possess unique gifts. Entrepreneurial
mindset makes possible innovations and
taking risks and the ability to accept
failures. Thus, entrepreneurial mindset is
important for business.
Mindset: Its Characteristics And Essentials
A mindset is a belief that qualities like intelligence and talent
are fixed or changeable traits. The word mindset was coined by Carol
Dweck in her book "Mindset“. It was based from her research about
personalities of successful people. She found out that successful
people have different mindsets which are a fixed versus growth
mindset.
In reality, there are numerous mindsets, but fixed and growth
mindsets are her important discoveries for people living in today's fast
changing and very complex world.
 FIXED MINDSET
People with a Fixed Mindset
perceive that their talents and abilities are
set. They personally take positive
criticisms of their capabilities. A fixed
mindset sees the world in an "either/or"
perspective. They always want to avoid
challenge, failure and tell themselves
they do not have expertise.
 GROWTH MINDSET
People with a Growth Mindset trusts that
traits can be changed developed and
strengthened by working on them. These people
are certain that their abilities could be developed
by commitment, determination and obviously
hard work. People with growth mindset see
failure as an opportunity to enhance their
performance and take mistakes as lessons.
 Characteristics of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Entrepreneurship is a challenging and

rewarding path. Based on research there is no
distinct set of traits signifying success. Although,
there are several characteristics often common to
successful entrepreneurs.
 Characteristics of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

1. Curiosity - leads to questions, and questions lead to

answers. This trait strengthens the ability to
understand things with a new standpoint. Nobody
really knows everything, and curious people are
conscious of this. Being humble and open-minded
lead to greater knowledge, and greater knowledge
allows more detailed reflection.
 Characteristics of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

2. Commitment - This is continuing to keep going and

persist amidst problems. Rejection and disappointments
are essential elements of an entrepreneur's life which
needs to be endured. Lessons must be taken from
rejection and should not affect the confidence of an
entrepreneur.
 Characteristics of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

3. Optimism - Tough attitude towards challenges

makes unsuccessful entrepreneurs. Every time a
situation happens, the entrepreneur should be hopeful
in exploring its many learning opportunities. For a
successful entrepreneur, there is always a solution to
every problem.
 Characteristics of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

4. Flexibility - Entrepreneurship is a challenging field

with its unpredicted demands and continuous
problems. It helps to be supple to deal with a series of
difficult situations, solve problems easily and make
progress from obstacles. A successful entrepreneur
usually makes a journal and timeline to overcome this
difficulty.
 Characteristics of an Entrepreneurial Mindset
5. Ownership - Successful entrepreneurs always trust
that their success comes from their own ability. Simply
they have high internal locus of control. Whatever life
throws at them, they will be able to make or break them
through their own actions, decisions and responses. It
has always been their attitude to be responsible for the
things that they do. They are very confident that they
can always fulfill their dreams.
 Characteristics of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

6. Leadership - A successful entrepreneur always

guides, motivates and empowers his team. It is usual
for him to share his vision with his team to inspire these
people. Through convincing communication and
involving his team, an effective entrepreneur is able to
attain his visions. He is able to create his own vision by
constantly being the model of his team.
 Characteristics of an Entrepreneurial Mindset

7. Connection - In entrepreneurship creating a network

is very important. Entrepreneurs must choose those
people that would form his collective links so that he
could breed his idea. There should be both emotional
and financial bonds. Investment is terms of relationship
so that later this bond could be used for support when
needed.
8. Self-respect-In business - it is also vital to take care
of both the body, mind and spirit. Taking care of oneself
daily through rest, exercise and diet is essential. Always
have ample rest and sleep for renewing ones' energy.
Take time to exercise and do whatever one enjoys.
Eating healthy choices and a few treats to nourish the
body is basic too. The world is very different on how
entrepreneurs see it. These traits must be developed in
order to be successful in going forward.
Essentials of the Entrepreneurial Mindset

Although living with entrepreneurial mindsets is really

transformative, knowing them is amazing. Entrepreneurial
mindsets appear to be like common sense, yet they are not
common practice. There are essential things in order to really
employ and initiate successful mindsets.
1. Passion first - Real entrepreneurs look for what
really are important to them, what they truly wanted
to, and then bring together their business around
those things. Most of the times a company has so
many problems.

2. Everything is possible-This mindset is about

believing that entrepreneurs are capable of
accomplishing unexpected results. They trust that an
idea could be possible to turn into reality.
3. 100% accountable -In life it is easier to blame
others especially when things became out of hand.
Entrepreneurs always believe that they have the power
to choose their responses to any circumstance
because they have this 100% Accountable mindset.

4. We are connected- Entrepreneurs believe they can

achieve their dreams not by being alone though they
love to be independent. They wanted to lead by
helping other people to do their tasks and fulfill their
dreams without seeking anything in return.
5. Live life to give - Most people now especially
business people wanted to offer their time and resources
for a valuable cause. As people in business profit more,
they tend to give more. This is known today as corporate
social responsibility.
6. Attitude of gratefulness - Most people also focus much
of their thoughts on what they do not possess. Seldom do
people give their attention to their accomplishments and
their present experiences except for entrepreneurs. This
mindset provides the recognition of all positives in every
experience and be thankful for these.
7. The time is now - This mindset for entrepreneurs
refers to recognizing that all their powers exist in the
moment. Entrepreneurs believe that they cannot change
history and the future is uncertain. Hence, the important
thing is to take action now.
Entrepreneurship as a Habit
A habit is an unconscious behavior done often
and regularly. Good habits can be acquired using "habit
loop". This habit loop is a process wherein the brain
makes decision whether to store or repeat such
behavior. Rewarded behavior is most likely repeated.
There are three habits that required most to be nurtured
and be practiced for entrepreneurial mindset.
 The Self-Leadership Habit
The book of authors Bryant and Kazan entitled
"Self-Leadership - How to Become a More Effective, and
Efficient Leader from the Inside Out" contains the
definition of self-leadership. Self-leadership from this
book is the practice of and controlling ones' behavior,
actions, thinking and feeling. Self-leadership is related to
optimism, happiness, consciousness and emotional
intelligence among others purposely influencing.
 Self-leadership needs the implementation
of three important strategies, namely:

1. Behavior-focused- This strategy concerns enhancing

self-awareness to manage behaviors especially when
dealing with essential but not-so-good tasks. Here are
the ways to accomplish this strategy:
a. Self-Observation. This increases the consciousness
of how, when and why entrepreneurs behave the
way they do in some situations. Most of the times
entrepreneurs evaluate themselves on their
accomplishments, on what they have not
accomplished, the situations at hand and their
feelings about these situations.
b. Self-goal. Setting This concerns the process of
planning goals of entrepreneurs.
c. Self-Reward. This is about paying oneself after
accomplishing the set goals with either tangible or
intangible rewards.
d. Self-Punishment. This is allowing entrepreneurs to
evaluate their behaviors in order to reform them.
Entrepreneurs though make mistakes must make effort
not t repeat these things again.

e. Self-Cuing. This is making lists and notes or writing

motivational posters as reminders of the planned goals.
2. Natural Reward- This is about making every tasks
enjoyable by emphasizing the positive aspects of each
task and its importance.
3. Constructive-Thought- This means creating positive
and productive means of thinking that are
advantageous to the performance of entrepreneurs.
Identifying negative beliefs and assumptions and
reforming these are still part of constructive thought.
The Creativity Habit
Creativity is the capacity of turning fresh ideas,
insights, inventions, products or artistic objects that are
considered to be unique, useful and of value to others
into reality. It is the ability to observe the world in
different and novel ways, to discover unseen patterns,
to make associations between apparently unconnected
phenomena, and to produce solutions. Creative people
are open to experiments and do not fear to commit
mistakes.
Simply, creativity is the ability of imagination. In business,
imagination is known as "thinking outside the box“.
However, there are certain problems in the practice of creativity
which are:
1. Fear
2. No craving for disorder
3. Fondness for judging over making ideas
4. Distaste for nurturing ideas
5. Perceived shortage of challenge
6. Failure to differentiate reality from fantasy
 The Improvisation Habit
Improvisation is the unstructured way of creating
something in the absence of planning. It is the rational
ability to promptly sense, and change direction quickly.
Improvisation helps entrepreneurs outperform their
competitors who do not possess this habit. People with
improvisation habit are always prepared to face failures.
Self-doubt is the common barrier to improvisation. Fear is
part of self-doubt which comes from being unprepared.
Opportunity Recognition Using Mindset

An opportunity is a means to generate profits by

creating unique, innovative and desirable products or
services which are not being found in the market yet. In
order for an opportunity to be feasible, the idea should be
able to create value.
 The most common form of value is economic or the
ability to make profit. However, nowadays it is also vital to
consider social value and environmental value.

• Social value addresses a social need

or provides benefits to the society.
• Environmental value is the
opportunity to preserve the natural
surroundings.
How to Start with Ideas

There are several approaches in forming ideas

from the not-so-formal to a more formal way of
creating ideas. Here are some structured strategies of
forming ideas:
1. Analytical - This is about
breaking a problem into details
or looking at a problem in a
common way to produce ideas
on improving or innovating
products or services. Only
when thought analytically that
correlation of problems is
seen.
2. Search - This involves linking
personal experiences that are
significant to the existing problem.
This also illustrates the ability to
be resourceful in looking for
connections between objects that
appears to have no obvious
relationship at first
3. Imagination - Based This is
interrupting doubts and dropping
restrictions to produce fantasies
or make believe situations.
Sometimes, entrepreneurs need
to be playful in their minds so
that they can think of ways that
are impossible.
4. Habit-Breaking - Sometimes, the
human mind needs to depart from
usual patterns to stimulate creative
insights. In order to explore a new
perspective, entrepreneurs should
think of the opposite of something.
The ideas of a person not part of a
situation could also be taken
particularly those admirable
personalities.
5. Relationship – Seeking - This
is establishing a link between
concepts that are not usually
connected. The intention here is to
fuel the mind into making
connectivity that seems to be
unnoticed.
6. Development - This employs
the modification of existing
concepts to make improved
choices and new potentials. One
way to do this is to brainstorm.
7. Interpersonal - This needs
interaction with a group to
generate ideas. Brainstorming
is also commonly used to
highlight creativity towards
new opportunities
Four Pathways to
Opportunity Identification

The following are some of the

pathways towards the identification
of opportunity:
Find Pathway
This pathway assumes that opportunities
exist independent of entrepreneurs and are waiting
to be found. Generally, an opportunity is found when
the entrepreneur sees a clear problem and develops
a solution. The problem is known to most, but the
entrepreneur is "the one who acts on the potential
solution".
Search Pathway
This is used when entrepreneurs are not quite
definite what type of business they want to jump in. Hence,
they engage in an active search to discover new
opportunities. Everyone has certain information sets or
knowledge bases. Through actively searching these sets,
entrepreneurs are able to access a wealth of information
and discover new opportunities. Usually, entrepreneurs find
an area that they are interested in and then start searching
for business opportunities.
Effectuate Pathway
This is a pathway that uses the entrepreneur's
skills, knowledge and abilities to unearth an
opportunity that suits him. Such opportunity comes
from the experiences, abilities, networks and
entrepreneur's confidence to make action especially
during times of uncertainty. Effectuate pathway is not
simply discovering opportunity but really creating it
using "what you know", "whom you know" and "who
you are" as an entrepreneur.
Design Pathway
This is the most difficult yet the most-value
creating pathway. By focusing on the unsatisfied need of
the market particularly the latent ones, the entrepreneur
is able to discover valuable opportunities. Latent needs
are those needs that customers do have but do not
know they have. This pathway is considered most
difficult because this needs practice and creative
thinking before discovering real unsatisfied needs.
Alertness, Prior Knowledge and
Pattern Recognition

Right information is essential in

opportunity identification. However, this
information should be rightfully used to
create impact.
Alertness

Refers to the ability to easily pinpoint

opportunity in the environment. In fact this
entrepreneurs need not really search for
information around their environment
methodically.
Mr. Jonathan Jay Aldeguer
Like many travelers Mr. Jonathan Jay Aldeguer has
a natural impulse to purchase souvenirs. With his
entrepreneurial eye, he spotted the universality and huge
potential for a new business with souvenirs. He
showcased his products as a unique experience of a
locality that highlighted his jump-off concept and his
dynamic personality, hence Island Souvenirs was born.
Today he has more than 110 branches in the country
 Prior Knowledge
Is the information gathered from the
combined life and work experience. Studies
shown that entrepreneurs that have knowledge
about the industry and market in combination
with broad network are able to recognize better
opportunity.
Dra. Victoria Belo
Was a victim of bullying in her childhood years.
She was usually pestered for being ugly and fat. This
experience made her all the more fascinated in the field
of beauty and she imagined her self becoming
somebody who could make people feel gorgeous, and
that’s led her to be a medical profession, particularly in
the filled of dermatology. She obtained a diploma in
Bangkok Thailand in 1990, that leads her to stablished a
clinic located at medical tower Makati city.
 Pattern Recognition

Refers to identifying relationships between

seemingly isolated things or occasions and create
opportunities. Often when ”connecting dots” there
are constraints that block the way. Real
entrepreneurs ignore these things and try to find
ways to look beyond constraints.
 Aisa
Mijeno
Is a Filipina scientist, an example of an Entrepreneurs
that knows pattern recognition. After resigning from her job in
the IT industry and volunteered with Greenpeace, and she was
exposed to “off-grid” living conditions. With restriction to
electricity on day to day living. Hence, she decided to find a
way to figure out how to produced a light source that did not
depend on electricity, batteries or fuel to work

c
 In partnership with the
Philippines incubator, Ideaspace
Foundation, she was able to design
and create sustainable alternative
lighting known as SALt.
SALt Lamp
Is an environment-friendly and viable
alternative light source that makes use of
saltwater, making it appropriate to those residing
in coastline areas. It can also function in far-flung
barrios. Using only two table spoons of salt and
one glass of tap water, this ecologically lamp can
light up to eight hours.
From Idea Generation to
Opportunity Recognition
In order for an idea to be feasible, it must
be fresh or inimitable or at least a twist from an
existing concept that will be acceptable and
adoptable in the market. The concepts should
be something of value to consumers, a desire
useful and has the capacity to earn Profit. not all
ideas could be an opportunity.
 IDEATE
Method is an ideation process
empirically proven to help budding
entrepreneurs recognize problems,
cultivate innovative solution, and choose
the best creative entrepreneurial idea.
IDENTIFY
Identifying problems that customers are
trying to solve, are spending money to solve,
but still unsolved to satisfaction of customers.
This is also about identifying solutions to this
problem.
Discover
Actively searching for ideas in problem-
rich environment where there is social and
demographics change, technological change,
political and regulatory change and/or change
in industry structure.
Enhance
Taking the ideas and expanding to
new applications or adding innovative
twists. Or simply enhancing existing
ideas
Anticipate
Studying change and analyzing
future scenarios as they relate to social,
technological, and other global changes
and trends
Target
Defining and understanding a
particular target market, invalidating
new ideas with early adopters.
THANK
YOU.