The Keys to Entrepreneurship What makes a successful entrepreneur? What can one do to put oneself in a position to succeed on their own? Jay Goltz, for example, is an extremely successful entrepreneur who started his business from the ground up. In the summer of 1978, Jay Goltz founded the Artist’s Frame Service. His business started by using his father’s basement as his office, but eventually moved to an old factory district in Chicago. Today, Goltz’s business in the largest retail, custom picture framing facility in the United States, with over 120 employees and more than $9 million in sales. This success has led Goltz to earn several awards, including being inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. What did Goltz do or possess to make his business venture so successful? Perhaps if one asks the right questions the answers will reveal themselves. Why do entrepreneurs like Jay Goltz succeed when so many others fail? Can a person develop the personality traits to become a successful entrepreneur, and how would one attempt to do that? How important is a business plan when getting started in a business like Goltz’s Artist’s Frame Service? By examining Jay Goltz, and how he started his business, one should be able to identify the attributes that are required to be successful in entrepreneurship.Jay Goltz succeeded in business, I believe, because he was much more prepared than the average person was. Along with possessing key personality traits, Mr. Goltz also had a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Accounting from Northern Illinois University. Goltz also examined other existing framing shops to see how the business is run, and used that knowledge to emphasize his business off the weaknesses of others. For example, Mr. Goltz noticed that many of the framing services did not follow modern management principles. This type of observations and investigations contributed to helping Goltz develop a s...
