Introduction
Entrepreneurs exist due to consumers wanting something new and relevant, which will also make an impact in the market place. Entrepreneurship is about individuals recognizing a need for a commercial application and being able to innovate their ideas to meet the needs of the consumer (Baron & Shane, 2008). On average, there are over 1400 billionaires in the world, and of those 960 are entrepreneurs who were successful, while the rest were fortunate to inherit their wealth (Vital, 2013). If we focus on the 960 and how they made their fortune we find out they became billionaires from either a single or multiple business ventures. The majority of the 960, which equates to 830, owned more than one business, and remaining 130 managed only one company. Therefore, the most top earning entrepreneurs in the world are most likely to be serial entrepreneurs, and being very successful innovating ideas that consumers like (Vital, 2013). Entrepreneurship is essential for the global economy and the success of future growth in small and large business as they exploit the need for new services and products. The growth within entrepreneurship will also drive employment growth and hopefully stabilize the global economy by increasing wealth in the middle class.
Entrepreneur’s Characteristics
Entrepreneurs are different from the ordinary person, and their skills, abilities, motives and experiences all factor into what a serious entrepreneur would be. A central part that ensures entrepreneurs become successful is the way they think, and a crucial aspect of their success is their decision making process. In addition, another item that is relevant and necessary for entrepreneurs to consider in their success is how they perceive evaluating risk (Baron & Shane, 2008). Risk is a significant issue for people in general and how they make decisions, but especially for entrepreneurs, and making risky decisions can be the make or break of their new venture. There is a distinct difference between entrepreneurs who are successful and ones who are not. The successful ones seem to have a better cognitive ability, and this skill helps serial entrepreneurs to identify further opportunities (Baron & Shane, 2008).
Smith, a serial entrepreneur who was responsible for Tazo Tea, overtime built and sold many businesses before selling Tazo Tea to Starbucks for $9 million dollars (Schoenfeld, 2012). Smith was approached forty years ago to work a deal with some Oregon farmers to buy their mint leaves as peppermint oil was on the decline, and he eventually sold them to Celestial Seasoning and Lipton. His vision of opportunity and foresight turned around a failing $800 month peppermint oil supplier into a multi million-dollar brand, which led to the building of the Tazo tea company (Schoenfeld, 2012).
Serial entrepreneurs are unique by owning the vision and tenacity of turning opportunities, like Smith did with Tazo, into a profitable going concern, selling it to another company....
