Many research studies have been conducted by researchers to understand and answer this question so that the factors that motivate people to take all the risk and start a new enterprise can be identified.
The 6Cs that motivate entrepreneurs to establish their own business are as follows −
● Change − Entrepreneurs frequently want change, not only change, they also want to be the bearers of change. They are solution givers and want to interrupt the status quo. They have a vision like "I want to assemble the world's information" or "I want to put an AC at every desk" and they take an attempt to make this change. In this attempt, some succeed and some fail.
● Challenge − Some people love challenges and they opt for starting a new business as it is very challenging to handle big problems. These people find typical job in a big corporate as boring and not challenging enough.
● Creativity − Running one’s own business is all about being more creative and having the independence to make new discoveries. For example, testing a new website design, launching a new marketing scheme, creating inventive items that solve a known issue in a different way, creating new advertising campaigns, etc. One needs to have an infinite room to welcome and introduce creativity in a small business.
● Control − Some people tend to start a business because they don't want to be pushed around and work for a product/company in which they have no way to shape their destiny. They want to be their own boss having their own time, own pace, location of their choice, employees of their choice and have a progressive role in deciding the direction of the company.
● Curiosity − Successful entrepreneurs are always anxious and ask − "what if we do X this way?” They want to have more than one option to do a work and choose the best one from them. They want to understand the customer's perceptions, point of views, markets and competitors. They are frequently anxious to see how their particular theory like "people want to do A with B" works. In this aspect, they can’t be differentiated from a scientist who is trying to prove his theorem.
● Cash − The last but not the least part is the cash. Money says it all. Many nonentrepreneurs have a misconception that cash comes first for entrepreneurs but this is never really true. If this would be the case, then there is no reason for an Ellison or Gates to keep expanding their business aggressively after they have made more than billion dollars. However, money is not the primary motivation.
From the above discussion, it can be said that the highest motivating factor is the urge to get something or the drive to do something differently.