5 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs Find out if you have what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur.
By Wendy Keller
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Those who succeed tend to share some common traits. If I'd known this when I started my first business at age 15, I would have paused before leaping. While one can succeed by drive (and a little bit of luck) alone, it may be helpful to know if you possess the traits which can help you attain success as an entrepreneur.
Big dreamers
There are two kinds of businesses in the world: Lifestyle businesses and enterprise businesses.
Lifestyle businesses provide the owner with, well, the lifestyle that they want. Enterprise businesses are meant to grow as large as possible. To choose what your heart really desires, just ask yourself, "What do I really want my business to look like in five years?"
If your first answer is about your lifestyle, plan on a lifestyle business. But if you can think about the business as an entity you want to grow separately, you're likely the enterprise-builder type. Be true to yourself from the start. It will help make a lot of your decisions much easier moving forward.
Related: 4 Factors From Childhood That Are Strong Indicators of Success
Realistic learners
Starting a business without doing enough due diligence is foolish. Opening a new shop in your town that already has lots of competitors is illogical unless you have a strong, distinctive, clear value proposition. If you don't have one, figure it out or try something else.
Self awareness
The Oracle at Delphi admonished people to "know thyself." It takes some serious self-awareness to know when you are lousy at something. I'm bad at management because I assume everyone else should also be a self-starter — see what needs doing and just do it. I'm impatient and incredulous in equal measure when people don't. I learned that it is easier to grow in the early years if one is aware of weaknesses so adaptations can be made.
What are you not good at? Everyone says, "Hire your weaknesses." But new businesses sometimes think they can't afford to do so, or they figure that things are good enough to get by for now. Right now, there are a million people in our hyperconnected world who are ready and waiting to help you out, at affordable prices. You'll get further faster by recognizing your weaknesses, playing to your strengths and letting go of trying to do everything yourself.
Related: 8 Great Entrepreneurial Success Stories
Courage
When you're first starting out, everything is new and shiny. I once read a statement that said, "50% of your decisions will be right, 50% will be wrong. The only thing you can do is decide faster."
As you learn more about business and your industry, this equation will change. But as the market shifts, you will shift, your company will grow, and you will want to stay open by looking for new ways to do things better.
If you're already up and running successfully, test a percentage — maybe 25% — to see if a new method can outperform the old ways. Be courageous enough to be wrong, adapt, be wrong again, adapt, be wrong again, adapt once more, and become marvelously right.
Tenacity
One of my favorite consulting clients is a forthcoming author who is rapidly growing his third company. When he started his second company, he needed to forge a partnership with one of the biggest brands in his industry.
Somehow, he got the CEO on the phone and told him that he was booking a plane ticket to meet with him in 72 hours. The CEO told him not to come, but my client said he was coming anyway. He finagled a meeting with the guy in a chain restaurant. The promised 15 minutes became four hours. Four hours became a multi-million dollar partnership.
Tenacity means not taking no for an answer. If you can see benefits in your products or services, you have a moral obligation to help others understand that working with you and your company is in their best interests. That's when you'll get the deal.
The future is earned by the bold.
