Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in English Being your own boss sounds dreamy, but it takes a certain moxie to launch a successful business. Lori Rosenkopf, vice dean of entrepreneurship at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, leans into the touchstones in her new book, “Unstoppable Entrepreneurs: 7 Paths for Unleashing Successful Startups and Creating Value through Innovation.” I asked Rosenkopf to walk me through some of the facets she finds critical to starting and building a business venture. Below are excerpts of our conversation, edited for length and clarity. Kerry Hannon: It’s not just 20-somethings launching startups these days. Lots of folks who have lost jobs or taken an early retirement are eyeing the allure of being their own boss. What does it take to succeed as an entrepreneur? Lori Rosenkopf: An entrepreneur is anybody who is creating value by innovating. It’s a broad definition and allows all of us to see that we’re already doing things that are innovative and are creating value. It might not be of financial value. It might be social value or emotional value, but all of us are doing things in new ways. Whether it’s new ideas for products, services, processes, business models, a little tweak in our home routine — these all allow us to see we have the capacity to be entrepreneurial. Obviously the founder who disrupts an industry is quite celebrated as the stereotype of an entrepreneur. But some entrepreneurs acquire small companies and build them up. Some are “intrapreneurs,” who are doing entrepreneurial things within the organization that employs them. What’s the most important mindset quality for an entrepreneur? Resilience. When you’re doing something new, you’re going to get hard feedback, negative feedback that you need to respond to. There are going to be all sorts of challenges. So it’s the ability to take all of these and be able to adapt and find a new way to solve the problem that can make the difference in whether you succeed or not. There are other qualities such as reason, knowing your motivation — or ‘why’— behind the founding of a business. Another one is your ability to build relationships with those who provide guidance, support, financial backing, and introductions to key people and markets. You write that some people are really passionate about the idea of building a business, not necessarily the product itself or the service itself. Can you explain? Many entrepreneurs are looking for ways to solve a big problem. But about half of the people say, “I just want to be an entrepreneur.” These are the ones who, as kids, got in trouble for reselling their Halloween candy. These are the ones who were the best paper boy or girl on their route. They’re the people who look to find the space in which they’re going to have an opportunity to make it happen. Both of those approaches work and that’s what gives all of us so much room to do something entrepreneurial. We often think of entrepreneurship as starting a business that may turn out to be the next Apple or Uber, but really, these are often microbusinesses or side hustles. Can you elaborate? Most ventures are sole proprietorships. These are side hustles or a person who’s self-employed. Many enterprises start very small and many remain small. When you talk about Apple and Uber, these big disruptive sorts of businesses are a tiny percentage. The image of the disruptive business is the one that captivates our interest, but it does a real disservice because those are so few and far between. Over 80% of start-up businesses are bootstrapped and don’t take any equity financing, or for that matter, debt. People are building their businesses based on selling their own time or finding a way to do small funding for their efforts from their own resources. You write about the importance of thinking broadly about our strengths. Why is that so critical? The most interesting and successful innovative ideas are the ones that mix and match things that we already know with something a little bit unique and different. That little bit of novelty can really make a difference. And so it’s up to all of us to take stock of our experiences over time. We’ve had a whole bunch of different jobs. If you’ve been in the workforce for a while you may have lived in different locations, perhaps even different countries. You may pursue a hobby that feels a little bit different. Those resources and experiences tend to be the places where people can discover a unique mix and come up with something and see an opportunity that others don’t. For younger people, please don’t be cookie-cutter. In undergraduate education, everybody follows the same path to get the same finance or consulting job. Take that history class or that cinema studies class. Take a minor in one of the other schools of the university, spend the summer abroad and study a foreign culture and language. That’s going to give you so much more fodder to find an idea to launch your own business one day. “Many entrepreneurs are looking for ways to solve a big problem. But about half of the people say, “I just want to be an entrepreneur,” according to author Lori Rosenkopf. (Photo courtesy of Rosenkopf) · Picasa What does the entrepreneurial scene look like for people in midlife, sometimes called senior entrepreneurs? Studies have shown that the cream of the crop performers tend to be companies founded by people over 40 and often in their 50s and 60s. That stereotype that we celebrate of the college dropout who becomes a successful founder is very rare. We’re going to see even more of that because there has been so much job dislocation recently. There are a lot of people in that 50-plus demographic who are moving toward self-employment and saying, “I’ve still got things to do. I don’t want to go back into the standard corporate workforce. I’d like to be able to sell some of my time and expertise, or I’m identifying a problem where I think I have some good solutions that I’d like to bring to market.” Why is self-awareness so important for entrepreneurs? Learning what you are good at versus where you are just okay is something entrepreneurs need to recognize. Some people call it the zone of genius. Some call it the superpower. The point is that successful entrepreneurs know that there are some things that they’re fantastic at — and the more that they can spend their time on those things, the more effective they are. They might also say, “I could do that but that doesn’t give me joy.” And so entrepreneurship can be a very lonely pursuit unless you access other people and talent and not operate in a bubble. Older entrepreneurs, in particular, can bring more of their relationships to the party to gain advice and mentoring for things they’re not very good at yet. What is the biggest takeaway from the book? Anyone can be an entrepreneur. Anyone can be more entrepreneurial. Anyone can develop an entrepreneurial mindset. You frequently see the question: Are entrepreneurs born or made? I believe that they are made in most cases. That’s what I do working with student and alumni entrepreneurs at Penn and at Wharton, and the book is about offering role models because role models matter. Research shows that women who were exposed to female entrepreneurial role models start thinking of more ideas and feel more confident that they’re going to be successful in doing it. So I offer a variety of role models, a variety of paths that can really push anyone to say, “I’m already being innovative. I can take the next step and the step after that.” Have a question about retirement? Personal finances? Anything career-related? Click here to drop Kerry Hannon a note. How can someone feel like an entrepreneur within their current role if they aren’t quite ready to take the leap out? You can be an entrepreneur by pursuing a new business idea in your company. It’s intrapreneurship and it’s sometimes better than going out on your own because it gives you access to company resources. You’re not personally on the hook in the same way as if you were taking on investors. You’re able to exercise some new skills, and the good news is, people who take this path report more job satisfaction. Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including the forthcoming “Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future,” “In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work” and “Never Too Old to Get Rich.” Follow her on Bluesky. 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