Entrepreneurial DNA – Review

What kind of entrepreneur are you? What types of business are potential disasters for your skill set? What kind of people should you work with? 

If you are interested in the answers to these questions, this book will help answer them. First time author Joe Abraham has developed a simple quadrant that will help any entrepreneur leverage their strengths. The four types of DNA that Abraham divides entrepreneurs into are:

Builder – An entrepreneur who loves building businesses from the ground up.

Opportunist – An entrepreneur who wants to leverage money and time to make money fast.

Specialist – An entrepreneur characterized by their strong expertise.

Innovator – An entrepreneur gifted at product creation.

Part One serves as a general introduction. Most of Part One is pretty basic information, unless you need convincing that entrepreneurs personalities and skill sets vary widely. Near the end of Part One, their is a test that you take online that will give you the BOSI profile that fits you. The test only takes a couple of minutes, and it seems to be surprisingly accurate.

Part Two has a separate section for each the BOSI Primary DNA types, followed by Seven Business Optimization Strategies for each. Unless you are trying to understand more entrepreneurs than yourself, you can really just read your section. For my DNA type, the profile fit very well. The seven optimization strategies were helpful as well, although the \”stay healthy\” one seems like it was thrown in just to bump the number up to seven. These strategies will certainly help, but it is even more fruitful to recognize what your weaknesses are. Once you identify your weaknesses (and are able to admit them) you can outsource, partner, or strategize to overcome them.

Part Three is the action portion of the book. Here you will refine your vision and mission, set goals for the short term, and realign your business practices to fit with your DNA. Some of these are more helpful than the others . . . again, seven seems forced here. The paper napkin exercise at the beginning of Part Three is an interesting to test to see whether your current reality still reflects your original dream for your business.

Overall, this book is recommended for any entrepreneur or anyone who wants to be one. It is helpful and its a quick read, especially if you decide to skip the sections dedicated to other DNA types. Anytime you divide everyone into just four groups, it won’t always fit your personality perfectly. However, it should be close enough to give you some real insight on your business needs and what types of business practices you should be focusing on.


Other Entrepreneurship Book Recommendations:
The Four-Hour Workweek
Thinkertoys
One Simple Idea