Measure your entrepreneurial readiness: with an entrepreneur test

What is an entrepreneur test like? How do you measure if you are ready to start your own business? With the number of idled or displaced workers in today’s economy, many are wondering if it’s time to invest in starting their own business.

Those are just two of the questions online business opportunity seekers ask themselves as they search for answers in the categories of home-based businesses and alternative or part-time careers.

If your current career or employment situation has been affected by the work slowdown, you may be seriously considering making the leap into an entrepreneurial venture of your own. For many, especially if you need something with low start-up costs, the most popular and affordable business models are:

affiliate marketing

marketing online

Freelancing/independent contracting

The Internet offers the online entrepreneur a wide range of profitable niches to focus on. Most of the successful home business marketers that I have personally observed often combine different streams of income in a blended approach to diversify their sources of income. That often means layering any or all of the 3 home-based business models listed above.

Those who have depended on steady employment working for another person or company often have to consider whether they are truly ready to start their own business. That’s where a career assessment test or entrepreneur test can help. An alternative or parallel career option is enjoying unprecedented popularity today because the Internet has lowered or eliminated traditional barriers to entry to an entrepreneur’s career.

I recently took a free online entrepreneur trial to see what it entails. I can tell you this. Research reveals that there are 16 dimensions or characteristics that are important to starting a business. These entrepreneurial traits fall into three general categories: personality, skills, and motivation. As an example, you are asked to self-assess your…

Personality:

• Action oriented: Your ability to achieve. Your tendency to “do” rather than sit and think.

• Persistence: Your determination to achieve your goals.

• Risk tolerance: your willingness to expose yourself to potential losses. Your attraction or comfort level with risk.

Skills:

• Leadership: Your ability to guide and inspire others to work toward a common goal.

• Networking: how well you build and maintain relationships.

• Persuasion: Your ability to influence others.

Motivation:

• Ambition: Your desire to succeed.

• Autonomy: Your desire to make your own decisions and control your own destiny.

• Financial motivation: how important money and financial freedom are to you.

After completing this particular free online entrepreneur test quiz I took, I was confronted with the rating system they use to determine my business acumen, based on my answers. I happened to be rated as a pretty average “silver”. That means I fell below the gold and platinum levels. That translates to being in the 25th to 50th percentile of strongly possessing (or not) the proven character traits that successful entrepreneurs exhibit.

Well, considering I’m already putting the online entrepreneur/seller lifestyle to the test, it remains to be seen how long I’ll have to keep going over those top 3 business owner skills.

What’s fun and really revealing is that based on your individual test results, you’ll identify your 5 biggest strengths and your 5 most obvious weaknesses. The program states that it is helpful to consider your strengths, the tools and talents you already have that will serve you well in your quest to start your own business.

The test scores come with helpful tips for making the most of your individual personality traits so you can use those strengths to your best advantage.

Likewise, it goes on to suggest ways you can improve those areas where you received a low or below average rating with recommended advice. Of course, as you would expect from anything offered “for free” on the Internet, it always comes: “And now a word from our sponsors.” Therefore, there is ample opportunity to subscribe to advertised and featured educational resources that appear multiple times as you progress through the trial program.

The advertising in the entrepreneur test I took is “opt-in” only and at no time exceeded the boundaries or limits of proper internet etiquette that we would expect. You just have to watch carefully where to click to continue the trial without interruption, if that is your choice.

So, was it worth the time to take this entrepreneur test? Yes. For me, he actually identified areas that I already suspected needed improvement. I think it’s helpful to be able to recognize and maybe remember character traits that might still need further development that you can now focus on.

If you dream of being your own boss and are wondering if the entrepreneurial lifestyle is right for you, measuring your strengths/challenges in the areas of personality, motivation, and skills can be a helpful start. When you see that an online business career “jump” is really something that can be organized into a series of small incremental steps, it might be enough to push you over the edge.