11 Traits of Entrepreneurs that lead to a successful Startup
The most successful Entrepreneurs share some similar characteristics. The ability to work hard, professionalism, skills, persistence, passion, self-discipline and initiative are some of the most important characteristics. Here, we define 11 characteristics that will help you succeed as an Entrepreneur. You don’t need to master all of these to perfection to make it. But you do need to learn to overcome your weaknesses, if you want to build a sustainable business and bring real “value” to your clients.
Topics: Passion & Skilled, set Goals & Evaluation, Initiative, Time Mgt, Communication Skills, Responsibility, Professionalism, Core Principles, Flexibility, Hard Work, Persistence
What makes for a successful entrepreneur? What do s and entrepreneurs have in common over and over above saleable skills? Let’s take a look at the characteristics of successful s and entrepreneurs:
1. Passion + Skilled = Successful
If you want to have all the characteristics to be successful, the best way to do it is to choose a “niche” in which you know that you are passionate about and where you can grow & thrive. Passion >> skills will lead to success. If you keep improving upon your skills, because you are passionate about what you do, you’re going to succeed. Finding the right niche means you’ll be able to deliver awesome results for your customers. Those are results that you will feel proud of, results that will make clients want to buy from you again & again.
2. Goal & Evaluation-oriented
Most entrepreneurs are great goal setters. They have a long term Vision for their businesses. They also set goals for personal development. They also pursue these goals single-mindedly. If you want starting up to give you a sense of achievement & self-worth, a lot of that comes through creating & attaining goals and being able to evaluate, correct course and set new goals along the way.
3. Taking the Initiative > Success
Are you ready to take charge? To ask the customer when you don’t understand their need/s? To create opportunity where none seems apparent? If the answer is “yes”, then you’re in the right place to start & build your business. Entrepreneurs have to be ready to take the initiative, because there’s no one else to take it.
4. Time Management & Organization
You need to be ruthless about time management to succeed. Customers often have deadlines. If you miss those, you’ll cost them money, and they won’t want to buy from you again. Entrepreneurs learn to plan their time and stick to the plan. They know what they can do in any given time frame, and they don’t over-commit. It’s tempting to “take-on” all the orders offered, but you’ll end up with no business at all if you can’t deliver. Learning to say “no” or later, is part of the business owner’s life.
5. Communication Skills
Successful entrepreneurs are in constant communication with their best customers, team, mentors, advisors, etc. You need to be able to communicate well over the phone, in person and in writing (even if you’re not a natural). You’ll need to master a host of communication tools, too (each client has his/her own preference, and each will insist that it’s the “industry standard”). That includes Skype, Trello, BaseCamp, IM, VoIP, Voice Mail, Slack, & many, many more.
6. Taking Responsibility
Your customer isn’t interested in your excuses. They’ve given you the responsibility to get the product they want. They expect you to deliver. If you’re not prepared to do the job under all circumstances—you’re not ready to startup. You only have one reputation, and squandering it might mean you never get another chance to show the world what you have to offer. You have to take responsibility to deliver the goods – no matter how tough it might be to do so.
7. Professionalism
You don’t need to wear a suit to work if you don’t want to. You do, however, have to be professional. If you have a client meeting, you need to dress appropriately. If you make a promise, you need to deliver. You need to conduct yourself ethically & legally. It’s an essential part of running any business.
8. Core Principles
You need to be absolutely truthful & honest with your clients. You need to set a high standard of ethical practice. If you get a bad reputation, you’re not going to win much business. When things go wrong, it’s your job to put them right. That doesn’t mean be a doormat for your customers, but it does mean that when it’s your fault things go wrong, you own up and you “Do whatever it takes” to put things right, even when it costs you time & money.
9. Flexibility
You know the whole, “you can do anything you want as an entrepreneur” line? It’s not entirely true. There are days when you’re going to get up at early and work until late, because you have a commitment to meet. There are times when you’re going to do boring, repetitive work as part of a bigger, more exciting process. Business owners need to be flexible in their approach to survive (ie, to meet customer’s changing needs).
10. Hard Work >> Successful
If you haven’t read the book “The 4-Hour Workweek”, you should. It’s packed with tips on how to run a business. Running your own business is usually a lot of hard work. Not only is there lots of preparation to be done: sales, marketing, admin, support, etc. If you think that building your own business is the miracle cure for 9-5 work, think again. If you’re not prepared to work hard, the entrepreneurial life will quickly show itself to be an impossible dream.
11. Persistence > = > Successful
If you’re the sort of person who gives up whenever an unexpected challenge presents itself, starting a business is going to be really hard on you. To win new Customers, you have to be persistent in marketing & sales. To deliver value for your customers, you have to be persistent about doing the best work that you can do. When a customer pulls an order at the last minute, you can’t fall into depression. You have to do bounce back & look for the next customer/s.
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison
BONUS: How you can be Successful !!!
How many of these above characteristics can you truly see in yourself? Please do make two lists of the above qualities:
- One list of the qualities which you have
- One list of the qualities you know that you currently lack or could improve. It’s time to gaze into the abyss and be honest with yourself; what are your weaknesses?
We “all ” have weaknesses. No one is born with or has mastered all 11 characteristics to perfection. The crucial take away is that if you are aware of your weaknesses, you can at least try to improve on them.
Comments: Are there any other Traits to be Successful in business?
from Inter-Active Design.com 12/16 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz
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