Here are the 26 qualities of an entrepreneur. They are in no particular order. If you don’t have all of these 26 qualities, or at least try to develop them, then your business success is doubtful.
By the way, I absolutely try my best to avoid writing list posts because there are a hundred list posts out there on any given day (‘100 best list posts’, anyone?), but I think this is a key post, and a necessary one, due to the fact that I don’t take this stuff lightly.
I have researched this, and I believe this to be a definitive list, but if there are any entrepreneurs out there who feel I have missed something out, then please feel free to get in touch, either via the comments, or my email.
So here we are then…
1. Successful entrepreneurs are persistent. Sticking to things. Not giving up. Watch this and understand what I mean. Seventeen companies to make a millionaire…
2. Successful entrepreneurs have a burning desire to learn. You do not know everything. You never will. It’s impossible. I’m a black belt in Taekwondo, which puts me in the top five per cent, but I can still look forward to at least twenty more years of study before I make it to the very upper levels of the discipline. And even if I make it that far, doesn’t mean I’ll be technically perfect.
3. Successful entrepreneurs have drive. It gets you up in the morning. I get up at five most mornings, so I can have an hour to myself to work on my blog. I don’t need money. That isn’t driving me. Knowing that it makes me happiest does. i want to make a blogging business that helps entrepreneurs. That’s it. I’d do it for free. Think about whether or not you would do what you do for free, and then ask yourself if you have drive.
4. Successful entrepreneurs have energy. Eat well, exercise, drink responsibly. Don’t be the richest entrepreneur in the graveyard. You can’t give your best if you aren’t at your best.
5. Successful entrepreneurs are demanding. Don’t settle for second best. Ever. Because that is what you will always get. You see that business that is respected and powerful? They got 1st place.
6. Successful entrepreneurs are goal orientated. You don’t know where you want to be, you won’t get there. If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, it is moving you away from them.
7. Successful entrepreneurs are self confident. They teach self confidence in school now. You know why? Because there is a direct, proven correlation between poor self-confidence and unemployment.
8. Successful entrepreneurs are creative. This means thinking outside that box they keep referring to. Stand outside stuff now and then and work out another way. Or do the opposite of everyone else. Just be different in your thinking. Think like an entrepreneur.
9. Successful entrepreneurs have vision. Easy to lose sight of this after you’ve got it. Don’t. Have the vision and take that as what you are aiming for. Nothing else gets in your way. You might not get there tomorrow, or five years from now. You might not get there the way you thought you would. But you will get there. It’s your vision.
10. Successful entrepreneurs are independent. No one tells you what to do. You make your own decisions. you’re an entrepreneur.
11. Successful entrepreneurs are calculated risk takers. You weigh up options, test outcomes, and then take the risk that brings the least harm and the greatest results.
12. Successful entrepreneurs are innovative. Be the purple cow.
13. Successful entrepreneurs are committed. Do a little every day that pushes you forward. Stay committed.
14. Successful entrepreneurs have great problem solving skills. Because that is what you get, day in, day out. Problems are what make the magic happen.
15. Successful entrepreneurs have a high tolerance for ambiguity. If you get upset or discouraged when things don’t happen the way you expect them to, how on earth do you expect to sell/market…win?
16. Successful entrepreneurs have strong Integrity. Because cheaters always get caught. And liars start to make funny little pauses when they speak…
17. Successful entrepreneurs are reliable. Clients don’t pay people who can’t get it done.
18. Successful entrepreneurs use initiative. See a problem? Get there first.
19. Successful entrepreneurs have an ability to utilise resources. Anything that could help you in your business, you use it. You chase it.
20. Successful entrepreneurs are good organisers. Remember, six things…
21. Successful entrepreneurs are competitive. Competition makes everyone up their game. Fact.
22. Successful entrepreneurs are change agents. ‘This is the game that moves as we play’. If you don’t like change, then you obviously aren’t the type to leave their job, set up a business, and make it profitable. You’re no entrepreneur. Get back in your cubicle and be quiet.
23. Successful entrepreneurs have a high tolerance for failure. See number one.
24. Successful entrepreneurs have a burning desire to work hard. Give it one year of the hardest work you have ever done and watch your life change. It has been proved time and time again that hard work applied in the right direction can achieve much more than anything else.
25. Successful entrepreneurs ask for immediate feedback. This is why the top sportspeople have coaches.
26. Successful entrepreneurs have (now and then) some luck. Yeah, I said it.
So there you go. If you disagree, disagree. But let me know. I feel that if the above isn’t you, you are in the wrong game. But that’s just me.
Until next time, work smart.
