The 4×4 Entrepreneur Assessment

Understand how psychology affects your success as a start-up founder

 

Have you ever wondered why some people naturally thrive as entrepreneurs? 

While others run into weird obstacles? Or how some business owners make decisions that seem good, but end up blowing up their companies?  

Usually, it’s not about their product. It’s also not about their market. 

These things matter, but sometimes not as much as the hidden aspects most people don’t pay attention to. 

I’m talking about personality —how you are wired, and the instinctive mindset that you have. 

Because who you are affects how you think, act and run your business. 

All else being equal, your fundamental psychology is the difference between your success and failure as an entrepreneur. 

Introducing The 4×4 Entrepreneur Assessment

I am currently writing a new book, titled The 4×4 Entrepreneur Assessment. 

It is based on a series of tests I’ve developed over the years, that have helped me to determine whether a start-up founder will have an easier or harder time running his company. 

I have used this Entrepreneur Assessment to help young entrepreneurs find their strengths and weaknesses. I have also tested seasoned successful entrepreneurs, in order to refine my skills as a business advisor.

My conclusion is that you cannot easily learn how to become an entrepreneur. As in many other aspects of life, being successful as an entrepreneur is difficult. But while I do not think that each and everyone can learn to be a successful entrepreneur, I do know that many carry the seed for entrepreneurship within themselves.

One of my early public talks about this subject can be found here: https://ip-lawyer-tools.com/the-entrepreneurial-mindset/

In my talk I am outlining the various personality tests that are described in detail in my book.

Understanding the “Entrepreneurial Mindset”

In this book, I will show you: 

• how entrepreneurship should function within a company, and why entrepreneurs are different from other roles 
• what is the psychology of entrepreneurs, and why they are fundamentally different from ‘normal’ people 
• how to identify whether you have an entrepreneurial mindset or not, through a series of self-assessments 

For a taste of what will be in the book, here is an early outline from a talk I gave back in 2018 (click here). It guides you through the various tests, with an emphasis on Subclinical Psychopathy.

What else does this book cover? 

In addition to the above, the book will also include: 

• strategies for success, reasons for failure, and other general business advice 
• the basics of intellectual property (IP) and what you need to know to protect your product 
• case studies and real life stories of entrepreneurial success and failure 
• how psychology and mindset integrates with a model for innovation strategy (as seen in my other book The 4×4 Innovation Strategy)
• how to get help from other innovators and how to support them properly (as seen in my other book The 4×4 Patent Tactics), in order to better effectuate innovation in your company

What this book does NOT cover

My book does not equally apply well to all forms of organizations.

My book is about leadership as an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs set up companies and they exercise innovation. “Business” is only a part of the job of an entrepreneur. There is more to it, for example: creativity, responsibility to your team, and responsibility to a successor that even might still be unknown.

In business, there is one performance standard that dominates companies: profit or loss.  Can you already see where this goes? My book is NOT about leadership as an employee because one would not expect creativity and responsibility from an employee, at least not to the same extent as from an entrepreneur.

My book is also NOT about leadership in nonprofit organizations, military organizations, service organizations, and any organization that:
– does NOT have double-entry bookkeeping,
– does NOT operate in an environment with open entry into the marketplace, and
– that is NOT run by this rule: high bid wins.

My findings are that – often but not always – different personality traits apply to successful leaders in organizations within different particular areas of services and at different levels of those organizations. One can speculate what personality traits may be useful when it comes to entrepreneurship. But I have chosen an engineering approach to that: find first out what personalities work in practice for being an entrepreneur and only then find out what personality traits they have in common.

My book sets out a specific way to measure individual personality traits. That translates into fundamental principles which can be treated as the equivalent of axioms because they follow today’s scientific standards.

And I apply this knowledge to the area of entrepreneurs, and to nothing else.

The result is NOT an answer to who can be an entrepreneur and who not. The result is an indicator of who will have an easier life compared to others in the role of an entrepreneur. And that is an important difference.

Special pre-launch: 

Be part of this book: take the Entrepreneur Assessment and get your questions answered

I believe in only writing useful books that readers actually want to read. So I need your feedback. 

• Is there anything else you want to see in the book outline?
• Do you have specific questions about patents that remain unanswered?
• Have you had a bad experience with patents? And would you like to share your story, with my thousands of readers and community members?

I welcome you to be part of this book. You can contribute in two ways.

Option 1: While the book is still under development, I am offering you a chance to be part of a limited group of advanced readers. 

• You will get to take a selection of assessment tests
• You will receive access to special content  
• You will get your questions answered
• Your story may even be featured in the book 

Interested in being an early adopter? Sign up by sending me an email.

martin-schweiger (at) ip-lawyer-tools.com

Option 2: Enter the members-only discussion forum below, or email me at martin-schweiger@ip-lawyer.tools.com

As an early contributer, you will get credited in the book. You will also receive a free copy when it is published, as well as all future upgrades. Bonus: if you aren’t a member already, you get 1-year membership to the ip-lawyer-tools.com community. You can then discuss your question in the forum here:

Send in your questions! I look forward to hearing from you.