Starting your own business is the dream of everyone but it needs dedication and courage. To be an entrepreneur means especially to become an expert in the things that make life difficult for people. That’s because every properly ambitious business in some way tries to fix things for other people. And the bigger and more original what you are trying to fix happens to be, the more successful your business can be.
Consumer society is now well developed; it may be easy to think that all the big problems out there already have thousands of fixes anyway. It seems like we surely have enough of everything. But to get the sense of the vast opportunities that remain in capitalism all you need to do is to ask yourself in what area you want to do something innovative by focusing on your strengths. Successful entrepreneurs develop a clear vision for themselves, their company, and their employees. Their energy and motivation to become successful should be unmatched.
Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs
Most people focus on the idea, the capital they are investing or education to run the business; they all might be the supporting factors in certain circumstances but they are not the keys to focus on to become an entrepreneur. Most of the advice focuses on the practicalities i.e., writing a business plan raising money, finding staff, marketing, and PR but the following are the traits that all entrepreneurs must have to succeed
- Self-discipline
It is one of the most important traits to get success in all fields of life. It is important to do the right things at the right time even if you don’t feel like doing it. The main difference between successful entrepreneurs and failures is that the former make a habit of doing things irrespective of the circumstances or situation. As they know that this is the price they must pay for the successful life ahead.
- Integrity
It is the most respected quality that can be developed to become successful. You should never compromise your integrity while taking decisions related to anything in life, especially in the case of a business. Your honor is everything. In business, success can be calculated considering the number of people or parties that trust you or rely on you while buying services.
- Persistence
Persistence is the quality that gives the courage to face all the setbacks on the way towards success. At the start of your career, make your mind that no matter what happens you will never give up your dream and have the courage to persist in the face of adversity. It is the measure of your belief in your strengths and abilities to succeed.
- A clear sense of direction
Because of the turbulence and rapid change in today’s marketplace, most business owners have been used to operating day by day. They tend to deal with the short-term profit and sales on a daily basis without thinking and planning for the future. This is not the trait of successful people as to get success you must have a clear target in your mind for yourself and your business in the future. As the owner and leader of your business, it is your responsibility to give your people a clear sense of direction in their work.
- Decisive and Action Oriented
The trait that is mandatory to become a successful entrepreneur is being decisive and action-oriented. Thus they must think, make the decision quickly and carry out the decisions they have made. They move fast and get quick feedback from their actions. If they find they made a mistake they quickly self-correct and try something else as the key to triumph is to try. According to the law of probabilities, if you try far more different ways to be successful, the chances are that you will eventually find the right way for you at the right time.
- The past does not equal the future
If the past has failures does not mean the future will have that too. If one plan fails does not mean others will fail too. If you love to do something, be great at it and see if you can turn it into a business. In the worst case you are going to have fun doing what it is you love to do and in the best case, you can turn it into a business. Successful entrepreneurs build on their past failures i.e., take lessons from past experiences and don’t get crushed by them. They are not failures if you learn something valuable from them. The real failure is when you don’t learn from them and you repeat it in the future
- It’s never too late
It’s never too late to start working for your passion. There is no telling when you are going to be successful that might happen tomorrow or a year later. The only sure way that you fail is when you quit. There is no time for excuses; if you want something you can surely do it as everybody has that opportunity to go for it. Entrepreneurs need to realize that sometimes it, not the idea, it’s not who you know, it’s not how much money you have the access to; it’s finding something that you love to do.
- Zero-based thinking
It’s a concept that “if I started over today, how would I do it?” like if I have to start my business or finances all over again from the scratch how would I do that. This is how you avoid past failures holding you back. By doing this you can avoid the sunk cost fallacy of that psychological principle i.e., the feeling that you invested so much time, energy, or money so you just can’t walk away. That is a trap, the psychological trap that keeps us stuck.
- Knowledge is fuel
It has been said that “readers are leaders” and that is true the more you learn, the more you earn. Successful entrepreneurs feed their mind; they know that knowledge is the fuel for their ideas, creativity, energy and their success. Some people find it hard to take out some time for reading and always complain about the shortage of time. Advanced technologies have solved this problem as well. One of the coolest tools that can be used for this purpose is “audible” by which you can listen to audiobooks while doing other tasks. Learning while you are working can easily help you consume 1 to 2 books per week.
- Be the purple cow
It is very important to be standing out in the crowd to be successful. Stand out to succeed, don’t be lost in the crowd and your uniqueness. Look at the world around you where ideas are born, where individuals started in garages. The great businesses come from ideas that people felt something could be done and then they could make a difference. On the way to success, you will have failures, you will have frustrations but it’s a continued commitment that you have to the world around us
Lessons for successful entrepreneurs
Most people are used to the traditional educational system i.e., get some good grades, get through college, get accepted in some prestigious university, work hard by studying day and night. It is almost conditioned against the risk that is required to become an entrepreneur. There is always a fear of leaving a job to become an entrepreneur as you lose the certainty as there is no security in starting a business. You have to be brave enough to take the risk to get your desired future.
Don’t buy things that you don’t need
Don’t buy stuff that you don’t need. Make sure you go through every single month in a way that you respect money which will somehow payback.
Be well rounded
It is important to be well-rounded and try different things or take some risks. Any mistake is wonderful revenue for you. If you work on really difficult things you are better off because you have no competition. Others are not working on that difficult problem and even if you fail you end up doing something great in the process.
Go for the small company
It is okay if you are working in a small company or a small setup as some successful entrepreneurs advice to prefer the small company as it teaches you how to pursue your passion with limited resources. It’s not important which company you go to, it’s which boss or mentor you follow. This is very important as a good boss teaches you differently. You have to be very clear that you are working for yourself if you want to be an entrepreneur.
It is important to do all the things that you are good at. Don’t try to jump into the new era every time you face any difficulty. You may be successful but the rate of dying is too big, so think about how you can focus on things you are good at.