This week's reading assignment was Chapter 1 of "Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice" by Dr. Donald Kuratko. A few things surprised me a little. The first is the distinction between small business owners and entrepreneurs. I have always thought of those two titles as interchangeable. While that is true in some cases, there are some very important distinctions. A small business owner is a job title, while "entrepreneur" is a mindset. Dr. Kuratko explained that being an entrepreneur means going further than just creating a business; it means that they adopt a lifestyle and way of thinking differently. Small business owners see failure as just that: failure. Entrepreneurs see failure as an opportunity to grow and change. Part of the reading assignment is identifying areas of confusion and disagreement with the author. There was one section that covers both of those areas for me. It was under the "Myths of Entrepreneurship" section. The author claimed that the notion that most entrepreneurial initiatives fail was false. He then said that the "statistics of entrepreneurial failure rates have been misleading over the years." After that claim, he only was able to quote one researcher claimed that the high failure rates might be misleading. I don't think that is enough evidence to say "myth busted" in this case. I felt like he could have presented a stronger case to back up that claim. If I were able to ask Dr. Kuratko two questions, they would be regarding the "myth" I addressed earlier. If that really is a myth, I would love to see what other kind of research he has on the topic. I would be intrigued to see evidence that wasn't older than me (as was the case here). I would also ask him about his own experiences with failure. I would love to know what hardships he faced, and how he overcame them and learned.
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