Blog & Company News

Mar 19, 2015

6 Traits of a Successful Entrepreneur

Everyone has thought about being their own boss at one point or another. It is a misconception that the only people to achieve such success are those who received straight A’s in college. On the contrary, those young adults who have developed that type- A personality, being over achievers and workaholics, are generally not the type to take the risk required to establish a business. Go big or go home! However, there are a set of character traits that research shows are shared among entrepreneurs on the whole. Tenacity Also known as resilience, determination, persistence, commitment, etc. is a must have if you are trying to excel as an entrepreneur. There will be a great deal of uncertainty and failure happening many times each week, and only one who is strong willed can get past that. The feeling of starting all over again is a hard reality to swallow, but if you remain resilient, the feeling of getting back up again becomes easy until success is attained. Passion At times you may feel like just giving up, but if there is passion behind your venture, you know that will never be an option. Passion is the root of your madness. Money is the outcome, but often times it is assumed that money is what drives a successful entrepreneur. Perhaps that may be true in some cases, but most entrepreneurs just want to change the world. They believe in the product or services they want to provide the world even if others do not. Tolerance of Ambiguity In this business, the uncertainty of the future is just understood, especially at the beginning stages. Some people are just not cut out to manage this level of ambiguity, but those who successfully manage it can also manage their fear of the unknown. Fear is embedded at every level of owning a business. Fear of humiliation, fear of missing payroll, fear of bankruptcy, etc. are just a few. The bottom line is that you need to understand that you have control over the outcome as long as you keep a clear mental path and keep going no matter what! Vision Success starts from having a great idea, perhaps going where no one has gone before. It is not always necessary to reinvent the wheel; sometimes looking at things from a different angle makes all the difference. Thus, one of the defining traits of entrepreneurship is called vision. Entrepreneurs imagine another world and have the ability to communicate that idea effectively to investors, customers, and staff. It just takes some time to sit down with yourself before a million dollar idea pops into your head. Persistence is everything! Self- Belief Although this may seem like common sense, it is a lot harder to attain for people. Self- confidence is a MUST! There will always be people who disapprove of change and not believe in you just because the majority of people have yet to validate your idea. Despite what others think, you have to be crazy sure your product is something the world needs. Researchers define this trait as task- specific confidence. It’s a belief that turns the risk proposition around. You mitigate risk by doing ample research which will subsequently drive your self- confidence in the positive direction! Flexibility The market is always changing and you have to adapt to this. Although being confident and self-promoting about your ideas is essential, knowing when something isn’t working is just as important. A good idea may initially work, but may need tweaking to really take off. The ability to pivot around ideas will be the difference between overall success and failure!