Have you ever wondered what separates highly successful entrepreneurs from everyone else? Not every entrepreneur achieves success, but those who do have certain entrepreneurial traits that help them on their journey to success.
Here are the traits of entrepreneurship that are practiced by highly successful entrepreneurs. See how you match up and use what you’ve learned to raise your performance level.
1. Creative
The first characteristic of entrepreneurship shared by successful entrepreneurs is creativity. By nature, entrepreneurs love to create. This means that whether using their talents to invent never-before-seen gizmos or finding a better and more efficient way to do something, these individuals have an innate ability to use the power of imagination to make life easier, more enjoyable. Richer for those they serve.
2. Passionate
Imagine having a deep love for something and wanting nothing more than to be around it every day. For a regular viewer, it may be just a casual service or a simple product, but for an entrepreneur, it has become an integral part of life. Their first thoughts in the morning are about the “work” they will do that day, and they go to bed thinking of ways to improve the next day.
Highly successful entrepreneurs don’t even see their business as work in the traditional sense, hence, finding the word in the above quotes. They love what they do. It doesn’t work anymore. It’s fun. That’s life. It has become a part of who they are at their core. There is never a dull moment when you are doing something you love every day.
3. Faith
Another characteristic of entrepreneurship is confidence. In many cases, especially with service-based businesses and solopreneurs, there is a personal brand. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there every day, regardless of industry.
Consider these names: Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, Gary Vaynerchuk and Martha Stewart. All have enjoyed incredible success. Each has received tremendous acclaim for their respective works.
But it is not always praise and admiration. These business moguls have also had their fair share of criticism and hardships, especially early in their careers. Despite many initial struggles and struggles, they kept going, and only after years of hard work did these leaders reap the fruits of their labor. If these individuals had failed to believe in themselves and their abilities, they might have given up and we would never have heard their names.
4. Self-motivated
Generally, entrepreneurs are go-getters and achievers. Those who are highly successful exhibit this character trait. They are thinking big ideas, setting things in motion and trying to make life better for those they serve. But they also understand that their ideas will come to life if they work to make them happen.
Highly successful entrepreneurs have a strong desire for results and can use specific drivers to go the extra mile. They don’t need a cheering department to be cheering. These individuals allow their purpose and passion to fuel their actions until they claim victory.
5. Self-disciplined
Too many entrepreneurs spend too much time worrying about the well-being of the company and too little time taking care of their own health. It may seem obvious, but failure to take care of your body and mind through healthy self-discipline will surely lead to your downfall sooner rather than later.
The human body can only handle so much stress, and the long hours most entrepreneurs work will inevitably come undone unless some downtime is scheduled.
Take some time to familiarize yourself with self-management techniques that can enable you to get the most out of both your downtime and productive hours. However, be careful not to approach your personal downtime like a business endeavor. Too many entrepreneurs don’t know how to go into “off mode” and sometimes refuse to have the self-discipline necessary to force themselves to take a break.
Remember that too much stress can destroy your abilities to make it as a successful entrepreneur, and soon you’ll approach self-management with a new appreciation for its importance.
6. Planning
For many entrepreneurs, life is an as-it-comes adventure, in which they roll with the punches rather than planning well ahead of time. This is a dangerous path, as countless business endeavors have failed due to lack of foresight.
Moreover, rapid changes in the market conditions in which you are working can rarely be done without adequate preparation. So focusing on your organizational skills now will surely help you later.
However, most entrepreneurs struggle to hone their organizational skills because they are caught up in the day-to-day grind of running their company from a big-picture perspective, which rarely if ever allows you to plan the finer details of your business future. That’s why it’s important to set aside some time for planning purposes or consider hiring an assistant to help you manage your busy schedule.
Hiring someone to keep track of your calendar, meetings, and other critical deadlines isn’t always easy for entrepreneurs trying to cut operational costs of doing business, but with dedicated professional help you can boost your organizational acumen. a long time
You won’t be able to model a path for your employees without adequate organizational skills, so don’t let them fall on the backburner as you seek business success.
7. The visionary
A critical entrepreneurial trait that all highly successful entrepreneurs share is the ability to see with vision, not just with sight. This means being able to peer into the future and vividly visualize what will be, envisioning it as if it were already a reality.
Just as a master mason can imagine a magnificent cathedral standing before blocks of stone or an artist can see a beautiful portrait before the first brushstroke, so a visionary entrepreneur can feel the profound impact of their work long before it comes to fruition.
8. Goal oriented
Successful entrepreneurs know the importance of focusing on their goals. They know how to set the right goals and they can put their focus and effort towards achieving them. This trait isn’t just for entrepreneurship, all endeavors require you to be goal-oriented to succeed.
Every day we are bombarded by countless shiny objects and distractions trying to steal our attention. These entrepreneurs know how to avoid distractions and have mastered the self-management skills needed to be productive and get things done. When you are a business owner, achieving company goals is a primary responsibility. Realize that no one will do it for you. If you want to be successful, you must be willing to devote the attention and energy needed to achieve your company’s goals.
9. Specialized knowledge of product or service
Stepping into the world of entrepreneurship means making a conscious decision to make your business a core part of your life experience. Successful entrepreneurs don’t have the luxury of clocking in and out every day, nor do they want to. To have a thriving business, it is important to have specialized knowledge in your given area of expertise.
The most successful entrepreneurs immerse themselves in industry news to advance their understanding, stay on top of trends, and stay ahead of competitors. These leaders are always learning so they can be of greater service and higher value to their customers.
10. Risk taker
Going into business for you is a risky undertaking as there are no guarantees. Even if your business is just a side hustle right now, it’s a huge investment of time, money, and resources that can strain personal and family relationships.
Despite the potential risks, entrepreneurs are willing to stay the course because they know the potential for reward is high. Some entrepreneurs also consider it a thrilling experience, the way a rock climber might scale the side of a mountain.
11. Decisive
Many people fear being forced to make an important decision. After all, what if you mess up and the consequences of your poor choices haunt you for years to come?
While it’s perfectly natural to fear making a critical mistake whenever a big decision must be made, entrepreneurs who find themselves unable to be decisive when it counts most inevitably lead their businesses to failure.
As the leader of an enterprise, it’s your role to make the tough calls when budgets start to dwindle and deadlines loom. Some things can and should be delegated to others, but when it comes to being a decisive leader, all enterprising entrepreneurs need to stand up and learn how to be decisive.
12. Strange
Entrepreneurs want to solve problems. They know that people have pain points and struggles in certain areas of their lives and are looking for solutions. It is a deep level of curiosity that helps entrepreneurs discover these valuable solutions.
In addition to solving problems, entrepreneurs also want to help find better ways of doing things and design more effective methods that yield greater results. They study how things work and then dream up ways to improve them.
A few years ago, if you wanted to rent a movie, you had to get in your car and drive to the local Blockbuster to pick one up. But then, some people got curious and wondered if there was a better way to rent movies. Netflix was born, and the rest is history.
13. Flexible
As noted above, business can have many uncertainties, so entrepreneurs need to be flexible in their approach.
Essentially, while it is important to be firm about what we want, we must also be flexible about how we get it. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to adjust course, take detours, or try different approaches to find the best way forward.
14. Optimistic
SmallBizTrends found that only 80% of all small businesses started in 2014 made it into their second year. This rate declines dramatically in the early foundational years, and by five years it is down to a 56% survival rate. [1] Considering these statistics, it is clear that there is no guarantee for business survival, let alone achieving massive success.
Knowing that the odds are against them, how can the greatest achievers maintain such high levels of optimism? Whether an innate or learned behavior, winners know that having an optimistic outlook will bring more opportunities and take them further than wallowing in pessimism. They believe that things will work out in their favor because they believe in their skills and believe that they have the ability and resources to overcome the obstacles that come their way.
15. Analytical problem solving
Too many entrepreneurs dismiss the importance of analytical problem solving because they mistakenly believe that number crunching is best left to someone else. True entrepreneurs, so this logic stands, focus on the big-picture scenario and don’t get caught up in crunching the numbers.
In reality, however, analytical problem solving is a key characteristic of a successful entrepreneur as we now live in a data-driven age where collecting and analyzing tidbits of information is an essential part of most business activities.
Whether you’re selling insurance, designing new software, or working in a myriad of other fields, analytical problem-solving skills will help you make sense of the ever-increasing flurry of numbers that permeate the business world. With big data analytics becoming an intrinsic part of the market, these analytical skills will only become increasingly important to the long-term well-being of your entrepreneurial businesses.
Yes, entrepreneurs need analysis too, [2] so don’t avoid what you don’t understand if you want to make a profit someday.
16. Sympathy
Most businesses are not started because people want to make the world a better place, but in search of profit so that you can earn an honest living for yourself.
For many entrepreneurs, noble causes and helping people must come second to profit because failure to make money means bankruptcy and the inability to help anyone again.
However, it’s important that you don’t allow profit motives to consume your entire entrepreneurial personality, because the business leaders who find success most easily are empathetic and able to connect with people on a deep, emotional level.
It’s worth talking about empathy at length, because it’s something that most entrepreneurs lack. By honing your empathic abilities and opening yourself up to other people’s experiences, you’ll quickly gain the ability to cultivate deep employee loyalty to your business cause. Moreover, your workers will realize that they can turn to you as a friendly source of motivation when they are down, instead of treating you as a harsh boss to avoid whenever bad news hits.
Genuine empathy is good for business because it humanizes your otherwise robotic business operations and gives customers, workers, and investors plenty of reason to trust your leadership abilities. [3]
If you’re struggling to attract new clients, your inability to empathize may be at the root of your problem. Given that many entrepreneurs struggle with empathy, making it a core personality trait is a great way to stand out in the marketplace while attracting the best and brightest workers.
17. Communicative
You don’t have to be a business mastermind to understand that a strong communicative arsenal is essential to surviving and thriving in a cutthroat commercial marketplace. However, what few entrepreneurs realize is that some forms of communication are more valuable than others, and that interpersonal communication should be above all else if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur.
Interpersonal communication is face-to-face communication, which is important to remember. Technically there is such a thing as mediated interpersonal communication, in which you’re talking face-to-face over video services, but the real deal involves you and the person you’re communicating with seeing each other in person.
Entrepreneurs who do not actively work to improve their interpersonal communication skills will find themselves struggling to succeed in a number of critical business areas, not least recruiting and retaining employees.
You may think that your employees dread sitting face-to-face with their boss, but the truth of the matter is that human beings need human contact to be happy, healthy and productive. Introducing yourself to your workers in a normal human way and frequently engaging them face-to-face will strengthen your personal relationships while making it easier for you to read other important signals that get lost in body language and technique. mediated communication.
In other words, try to remember that digital communication skills aren’t the only thing that matters.
18. Representative
Another key characteristic of entrepreneurial success is the ability to delegate, as even the most savvy business owners cannot do everything themselves.
If you are unable to learn the hidden talents of your employees so that you can assign them special tasks when the need arises, you will never fail to maximize the potential of your employees, which all successful business owners must do sooner or later. .
Delegating isn’t always easy for entrepreneurs, especially those who start at the bottom on their own before reaching the top of the dog pile. But failure to let someone else take control over time can lead to stress-related burnout.
Avoiding burnout is essential if you want to make it as a business leader, because if you suddenly find yourself overworked and unable to lead, no one else will be ready to take over the reins of your company.
Learn how to nurture talented workers and transform them into smart managers, and your job as an entrepreneur will be much easier than if you tried to do everything yourself.
19. Resourceful
Along with being flexible, another characteristic of entrepreneurship is being resourceful. A successful entrepreneur can think outside the box to solve problems. These people are the MacGyvers of the business world. They may not always have the exact tool for the job, but they will always use ingenuity to get the desired results.
20. Continuously
Last on this list of entrepreneurial characteristics is persistence. Successful entrepreneurs don’t give up and they never give up. They will continue until they win. Once they win, they will continue until they win again and again.
The most successful entrepreneurs understand that it’s impossible to win every time, but they keep going because it’s the only way to ensure future wins.
Sir Winston Churchill once said, “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another without losing enthusiasm.”