Entrepreneur Scan Reflection

The E-Scan is supposed to provide insight into one’s strengths and weaknesses as an entrepreneur. I did not have any problems doing the test in itself. However, some questions I did not necessarily like since they were too broad in my opinion. One of these would be “Are you dominant?”. I know that you have to answer such a question with a broader view on yourself, but at the same time I try to think of different scenarios in which I either would have been dominant or not. And through that I came across various scenarios in which I was both. This makes it a little difficult for me to answer such questions because in my mind I keep thinking about that fact that it depends on the situation I am in. Additionally, I also was not really able to answer some other questions related to the topic of knowing one’s customers or the market. I understand that this test is supposed to look at one’s entrepreneurial skills, but it also makes it a little difficult and questionable since I do not have any customers nor am I operating in some market. Thus, I also start to doubt some of the results I got from the scan. Overall, I think that the E-Scan is a good tool to measure someone’s abilities especially for entrepreneurs. Moreover, the resulting report provides a lot of helpful and detailed information from which one can understand what the test is trying to measure and say, as well as that one can learn from it and try to maybe change or improve certain skills.

My entrepreneurial profile

The test revealed that my strongest area is financial management. This is followed by planning as being another strong aspect. In the reasonably strong area were creativity and flexibility. Therefore, in the last category, which is the weak area, are need for achievement, need for autonomy, need for power, social orientation, self-belief, endurance, risk taking, market awareness, and leadership.

The outcome of the scan was a surprise to me since I did not expect that financial management would be my strongest area. I felt like this because I had some problems with the accounting classes and exam. Additionally, I also feel like I do not really understand the whole concept of money. I believe that this might be due to me not ever really having to worry about not having enough money and my parents always supporting me if I was ever in need of money. I think I can deal quite well with my personal funds and I always check my bank account, before I make a purchase, to ensure that I still have enough money after that purchase was made.

I kind of expected to score a bit higher for planning than the other skills because I like to have projects and tasks planned out before I start working on them. I also like the structure that comes with such plans. I am quite happy to see that planning is a strong area since it confirms my expectations. Moreover, I also feel like planning gives me some sort of stability which goes in hand with risk taking being a weak aspect. Taking risks is related to uncertainty and this is taken away by having a well set up plan to which one can stick. Maybe this also has an effect on self-belief. I know that I do not really believe in myself and my abilities which can negatively influence my view on other parts of my life.

In addition to that, it is somewhat a relief to see creativity and flexibility as being in the reasonably strong category. I think when for example planning is a strongly pronounced ability/habit, other abilities such as flexibility and creativity can suffer and not be developed and made use of to their full potential. I still remember that when I first came to the Netherlands, I was not really flexible in terms of for example when a group agreed to meet at 3 pm, and it was cancelled short notice I was a little thrown off since it mixed up my plans and it would take me some time to change my plan of that day and to adjust.

Need for achievement

According to the entrepreneur scan I am the type of person who doesn’t need to have a clear goal in mind to get started. I set my priorities, with only the highest one being my immediate goal. I can also perform without having to work towards a clear plan. Additionally, I set high aims for myself and I keep trying to improve. Lastly, I am accepting that there are individuals who are better and more successful than me.

From my personal view point I would have to say that I am not so sure about not needing a precise plan to get started on something. I think I can get started of some sorts, but without having a concrete plan, I never really know what I should focus on or which aspect should be the first one to start with and put focus on. Moreover, I think it is quite true that I prioritize things over others which definitely helps with getting everything organized. Through creating a list and grading the items on said list with their level of priority, I start working on the one with the highest priority since it should most likely be the one thing that needs to be completed/done first. I have experienced it too often that I set aims for myself that are very high and most often too high to reach, and if those have not the expected outcome it takes a toll on my mental health. This also goes in line with me knowing and accepting that there will always be people who are better than me in certain field, but I also know that not every individual is exactly the same and therefore I might be better at something than someone else without having to be the best in that particular thing.

Need for autonomy

The outcome of the scan mentions that I do not have the deep urge to be autonomous. Which in turn means that I rather need support from others to make progress due to me having difficulties to trust my own judgement. This also leads to me asking others to make my decisions for me.

I do not completely agree with these statements but I can definitely see that I sometimes, if not quite frequently have a tendency to ask others for help/need encouragement to make progress. This also includes that on some occasions I rather not make decisions and let others take that role. However, it also depends on the situation. For example, during survival training, when training with a stranger I tend to let them make the decisions on which area to train as well as which obstacles. When I am working in a group and I notice that there won’t be any progress because no one is making any decisions or simply taking too much time to complete their work, I will for sure take action to bring the team back on the right track.

Need for power

Apparently, I am more the type that prefers to be modest and who gives others as much room as possible. This also includes not liking to draw the kind of attention towards myself related to exercising power and control over others in my environment. Additionally, I seem to believe that everyone should be able to decide what they should do as well as I expect others to do the same too.

I agree with these outcomes somewhat. I truly believe that individuals should in the first place be able to make their own decisions and that they should not entirely rely on other people to make every single decision for them. This does not only include the work life but also ones own day-to-day personal life. It should be possible for everyone to make simple decisions, which I know can be difficult in some cultures and countries. I also do not like to constantly monitor people in my environment and give them as much space as they need. I like to focus more on my own things and to execute those with quality outcomes, than being on top of other people’s stuff.

Social orientation

In comparison to the general score of other people (8) I score relatively low between 1 and 2. I seem to be a reserved type of person who makes sure that I keep a safe distance from other people especially if they are new to me. I also tend to do what I think is the best option although might appear strange to other people.

I can totally agree with these statements. I do keep my distance from people that are new to me, as well as people that I know. It takes me a long time to open up to others and be comfortable around them. This also leads to me having a rather small circle of friends (it’s rather a triangle). Even when I feel comfortable around someone and warm up with them, I usually do not share really personal stuff with anyone because I believe that my problems are mine and no one else should deal with them. This also leads to me having certain thought processes which could lead to me taking steps that others might not understand and which seem strange to them.

Self-belief

According to the entrepreneur scan I often doubt whether I will achieve my goals. From my viewpoint it mainly depends on the circumstances; consequently, I believe that I can’t exert little influence on them. I convince myself that things sometimes go your way and other times they don’t. Additionally, since I have doubts about myself, it can occasionally be an obstacle of how I interact with others because I am not strong enough to argue for the benefit of my visions.

From personal experience I have to say that it is true that I do not believe in myself, at least very little. I also am aware of the fact that I create certain obstacles that usually would not be there and that I am making the whole process unnecessarily more difficult for myself and therefore also for others. However, this awareness alone does not help with eliminating the issue. I believe that since I quite often am under the impression that I will not achieve my goals, I make even more use of my “planning skills” to plan the whole process out and prioritize specific things so I know exactly what needs to be done by when and from that point, I am able to tick things off of the list and see that I am making progress towards the goal which also helps somewhat. In some situations, my low self-belief lets me think that others might think the same which also hinders me bringing across my vision to others.

Endurance

The e-scan showed the result that I find it difficult to persevere for long-term goals. When the going gets tough, and I have gone through several setbacks, I incline to give up more quickly than I would like to. In such cases, I believe that I can not achieve my goals.

These aspects mentioned appear in my day-to-day actions. I believe that because my attention span is often waning in the first place, I tend to start new projects and then eventually end up forgetting what I originally had to do. Which in turn also leads to postponing the important tasks to other days. This can be really frustrating and annoying since this creates even more obstacles that should not be there. Furthermore, I think that my “planning skills” help me to some extent with these issues as well.

Risk taking

The outcomes state that I am rather cautious; I look at new situations with particular suspicion. I first want to know what the risks are that I have to take and what can eventually go wrong. I am reluctant to try something new. This applies to my own ideas as well. Something new must prove itself before I am willing to test it.

Over a longer period of time, I was able to notice that in the past I was even more averse to taking risks than I am now. It has gotten better and I am more willing to take risks, however in general I am still quite cautious. One example would be starting with survival training. I know that I have a tendency to be very anxious and that I start panicking quite easily. Additionally, these characteristics could quickly lead to me getting injured. However, I also know that I need physical exercise in order to not worsen the state of my mental health. In the beginning it was really difficult and I only started to make progress after about 3 weeks. These three weeks were very tough and also risky because I had to learn a lot of new things which take practice to execute them properly. Also, it is easy to fall off of a beam or rope when you do not really know what you are doing. However, once I started to notice that I am making positive progress and that I am getting better and learning new things, it makes me feel like the risk was worth taking and now I am more willing to take the risk during survival training.

Market awareness

I believe that the outcomes of this aspect are not correct and could only be once I enter the job world and retake the questions related to this field.

Creativity

According to the scan, I am not always the person who comes up with original ideas or new solutions nor do I fantasize a lot. For that to happen, I need to try and visualize new ideas independently of others. However, I usually need others to get my creative thinking process started. I am open to my environment and what’s happening in it. I see many things that I would do differently. In my urge for new opportunities, I search for all sorts of possibilities that I like to try out.

To the most part I agree with the outcomes presented. For example, I notice that I do need others to get creative and to start off the whole process of creativity in itself. This is portrayed in painting. I am really interested in art and I try to analyze the work of some famous artists to understand how they were able to create the different dimensions as well as shade and light differences. When I want to work on my own art, I always look at the work of others to get an idea of what I want to do and I often use it as an outline, to which I try to make some adaptations to develop my own style but sometimes this seems to be either too difficult or I can not come up with my own ideas which more or less leads to copying someone else’s work. One outcome I do not agree with is that I do not fantasize a lot. I actually have rather often the feeling that I fantasize way too much about certain things.

Flexibility

In general, I seem to have no problem changing things that have already been set and decided. However, only if they have been tried and tested well will I feel comfortable enough to changing circumstances.

To be honest, I am not so sure whether this statement is accurate. If something has been set and agreed on, I usually tend to be hesitant towards making changes to that since I prepared myself mentally and maybe even physically for hat exact thing that has been agreed upon. For me having to change everything makes me think that I have wasted my time on preparing for basically the wrong thing and it was unnecessary. Therefore, I mostly see these types of changes as a kind of setback. However, there can also be some situations where I do not mind making adjustments to what has been decided, but if for sure depends on the circumstances.

Planning

According to the outcomes of the entrepreneur scan, I can plan well. I can meticulously structure, allocate, and complete my tasks and work. And I probably also make sure to set aside enough time for unforeseen events.

Quote: “People are not planning to fail, but fail to plan:” Unknown.

As I have mentioned multiple times already in other parts of this reflection, I take planning very seriously. To me it is something very important that gives my day-to-day life as well as my work-related life structure. When I plan something out, whether it is a report or my day, I usually tend to make a list to create an overview of all of the things that I have to include/have to be done. Once this list was created, I start organizing them in their respective order in which they should be in. From that point, I color coordinate them according to their urgency/importance. This helps me with keeping track of the various tasks that I have to accomplish in a set time period. During times where I do not make such lists, I can feel that I get confused with everything that has to be done. This is often due to my focus wandering off to other things. It could even be during simple tasks such as when I came back to the Netherlands and I had to unpack my luggage, 2 bags, and my backpack. I know what is in which bag. Therefore, I first stood in my room and looked around trying to figure out what the best strategy would be to make this an efficient process and to not create a huge mess. I ended up making a plan in my head for which bag I would start with unpacking and in which order I would continue. Since this plan was only in my head and I did not write it down, I ended up more or less forgetting about it and I had three things that I started when I realized that I started multiple things but never finished one of them and I was just about to start a fourth task. This reminded me of my plan to which I then tried to get back to. I think it is really interesting to see that I tend to make plans for a lot of different things for which others might never think about making a plan for.

Financial Management

The results state that I would like to know exactly where I stand financially. I keep my finances strictly under control and, in doing so, adjust the financial planning as accurately as possible so that I do not exceed the forecast budget. The question is, however, whether that type of rigid control allows room for new ideas and opportunities.

I believe that this statement is quite true to some extent. I know that I am looking after my finances every time I am about to spend money as well as every time I just spent some money, even if it was just for groceries. I like to have an overview of how much money I have available and that also counts for knowing that I would not be in debt anytime soon. I do not have a lot of money to just randomly spend on things that I just want because I impulsively had that thought that it would be nice to have. I realized that quite often now that I really wanted something for maybe one or two weeks. I finally made that decision to buy the item, which in some cases was quite expensive, and I am for sure happy with the purchase at that moment and I am also making good use of the item, however, after some time that I had said item and that I used it, I tend to lose interest in it and it becomes somewhat boring to me. This always makes me a little mad because I know that I wanted it but then in the end I would have been perfectly fine not having had bought it because I just had that impulsive feeling that I really wanted to have it. These situations have led to me waiting a much longer time before purchasing something that is a bit more expensive, or even if it is just 150€. I know that in the business world you sometimes need to follow your impulses in order to achieve something great, but I am a little worried that my stance towards money, especially spending money, can hinder the whole process.

Leadership

According to the test, I am not a real leader, and I probably do not want to be one either. I find it difficult to delegate and my authority is not always taken for granted. And even when a conflict situation arises, I would rather not intervene. Maybe I think people are responsible for their own conflicts?

I have to say that to some degree I certainly do not want my main role to be a leader. I also do have the mentality that when someone is having a conflict, and it does not involve me, it is their problem and they are responsible for resolving it. I think this might be due to me having my own issues that I do not want anyone else to interfere with, so I might believe that I should treat others the way I want to be treated. However, when a conflict involves me directly, I most likely will intervene and get involved since I in some situations like when people make decisions that do not work with what I stand for or are completely against my opinion/views.