You just might have what it takes to be an entrepreneur if you can identify with these 10 traits.
1. Passionate and motivated
Passion and motivation are two sides of the same coin. If starting a business is more than a career, and infused with passion you are motivated to pursue it fully. For instance, there’s a difference between becoming a freelance writer for the sake of profit and being passionate about the writing process and changing the lives of those who read my work.
Zappos Tony Hsieh once said: “I made a list of the happiest periods in my life, and I realized that none of them involved money. I realized that building stuff and being creative and inventive made me happy.” In a nutshell, if you aren’t passionate about entrepreneurship, don’t quit your day job.
2. Able to take risks
Risk is an essential aspect of entrepreneurship. Risk means you have to be able to tolerate uncertainty. You will have to make decisions with imperfect information. However, it doesn’t mean you should take blind risks, though. Successful entrepreneurs seek to manage and minimize risk.
3. Hard working and dedicated
Entrepreneurship takes dedication and hard work. The quality of your work and dedication has everything to do with your company’s performance. Entrepreneurs show an intense dedication towards the task at hand and cultivate discipline. As Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.”
4. Adaptable and flexible
Adaptability is a competitive advantage. It shows one’s ability to learn from experience, and improves the competency of the learner. In a similar way, “flexibility in business [is] the ability for a company to make whatever internal changes are necessary to respond effectively to the changing outward environment, as quickly as possible.” There is always room for improvement.
5. First a leader, then a boss
Entrepreneurship demands leadership skills, especially as you grow a team. Great leaders create more leaders. “Remember the difference between a boss and a leader; a boss says ‘Go!’ – a leader says ‘Let’s go!'”
6. Able to face failure and rejection
Most people look at failures in a negative sense, but for entrepreneurs failure is a stepping stone to success. If you read about most of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, you will find they have one prominent thing in common: they failed, a lot. For example, “Alibaba founder Jack Ma was rejected from 30 jobs, including KFC, before becoming the richest man in China.” He is now worth an estimated $20.4 billion.
7. A good financial manager
Cash is the lifeblood of business. If you don’t know how to manage it well, your business won’t keep its doors open for long. A major reason startups fail, as David Skok explains, “is because they ran out of cash. A key job of the CEO is to understand how much cash is left and whether that will carry the company to a milestone that can lead to a successful financing, or to cash flow positive.” Dave Ramsey, financial expert and NY Times Best Selling author, once said, “Those who don’t manage their money will always work for those who do.”
8. Good at identifying and meeting needs
Entrepreneurship relies on a certain level of curiosity. Curiosity coupled with successful implementation are key to success. Successful entrepreneurs seek to understand their market and offer a compelling value proposition. They observe the needs and wants of their customers and deliver a solution.
9. Creativity and innovation
“Creativity goes hand in hand with innovation. And there is no innovation without creativity. While creativity is the ability to produce new and unique ideas, innovation is the implementation of that creativity – that’s the introduction of a new idea, solution, process, or product.” Entrepreneurs are inherently creative, they approach old methodology with new ideas and innovative solutions.
10. A strong negotiator
Negotiation skills is key to closing business deals and growing a business. It is a skill that can be learned, but it helps if you come by it naturally.
This article has been edited.
Muhammad Hasan who is a computer scientist academically and a digital marketer by profession sharing business tips on behalf of Fleekbiz. He love’s everything about SEO, social media and blogging. Connect with @M_Hasan110 on Twitter.
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