Being an entrepreneur requires much more than just big ideas. A true entrepreneur is a rare breed; it’s someone who possesses a unique cocktail of traits, skills and characteristics that enable them to beat the odds and go after their dreams full throttle.
Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching, and running a new business. The entrepreneur is “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.”
What is an entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is a person who converts an opportunity into a workable and marketable concept. They apply their time, money, skills and effort to the process of getting their product or service into the marketplace.
Entrepreneurs come in all ages and from various backgrounds – all types of people can learn to start up a business.
Entrepreneurs are doers and thinkers – they like action, but they are also very methodical.
Entrepreneurship is a choice for freedom. It means that you decide how you want to allocate your valuable knowledge and skills. Entrepreneurship means you get to choose how much time you want to put in. Instead of taking orders from a boss, you are the boss. While most people know exactly where and what they are going to be doing Monday morning, an entrepreneur will be busy grinding and strategics creatively. Honestly, it’s exciting and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
1. Strong leadership qualities
Leaders are born, not made. Do you find yourself being the go-to person most of the time? Do you find people asking your opinion or to help guide or make decisions for them? Have you been in management roles throughout your career? A leader is someone who values the goal over any unpleasantness the work it takes to get there may bring. But a leader is more than just tenacious. A leader has strong communication skills and the ability to amass a team of people toward a common goal in a way that the entire team is motivated and works effectively to get there as a team. A leader earns the trust and respect of his team by demonstrating positive work qualities and confidence, then fostering an environment that proliferates these values through the team. A leader who nobody will follow is not a leader of anything at all.
2. Serial innovators
Entrepreneurs are almost defined by their drive to constantly develop new ideas and improve on existing processes. In fact, that’s how most of them got into business in the first place. Successful people welcome change and often depend on it to improve their effectiveness as leaders and ultimately the success of their businesses as many business concepts rely on improving products, services and processes in order to win business.
3. Entrepreneurs are Masters of Nothing
With a fully grown business, there are several employees and each one plays a different role. With a startup there are just as many roles to fill, but usually only one or two people to fill them.
This means that most entrepreneurs need to have a diverse skill set just to bring their vision into reality. They can’t merely be good managers; they must also be good marketers, salespeople, and copywriters. It helps if they’re good programmers, graphic designers, and web developers too.
But when you’re good at so many things, it’s very difficult to be great at any of them. To master a skill requires that you invest hours into its practice daily. For this reason, most entrepreneurs are “jacks of all trades, masters of none.”
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As your business grows, you can begin to hire masters of their trade to fill certain roles. In the meantime, you’ll have an easier time getting off the ground if you a have a well-rounded skill set.
Also read: 10 Ultimate Success Tips For Business Startups
4. They continuously look for opportunities to improve
Entrepreneurs realize that every event or situation is a business opportunity, and they’re constantly generating new and innovative ideas. They have the ability to look at everything around them and focus it toward their goals in an effort to improve their business.
5. Self-confidence
Investors, venture capitalists and business partners require that entrepreneurs be supremely confident about their prospects.
The best entrepreneurs believe they can define their own future and use this self-assurance to persuade people to tie their fortunes to theirs. Virgin Group’s Richard Branson ties together a diverse range of businesses – including airlines, beverage companies and music stores – with a powerful personality.
6. Problem-solver
Entrepreneurs need to be either very capable people or have the know-how to find the right help (at the right price). They should be ingenious problem solvers, individuals who can resolve issues quickly and efficiently. Unless they have a lot of money to start off with, most entrepreneurs will find themselves a “wearer of many hats.” That is, they are likely the secretary, accountant and salesperson all at one time, and they get things done!
7. Being motivated
Motivation determines the level of effort that you and others will put into achieving the goal of commercializing an idea. It is concerned with how hard a person is willing to try. Importantly, motivation is about the quality as well as quantity of the effort.
8. Admit when you’re wrong and move on
When people fail to take accountability for their actions, resentment festers.
If I’ve learned anything, it’s that life is too short not to enjoy yourself. Become an entrepreneur! Aim high! But more than that, focus on creating a business that has a great culture, does right by its employees and that people actually want to work for. That’s the best feeling in the world as far as I’m concerned.
9. Adoption of technology
Figuring out how to capitalize on the technology of today while anticipating the technological advancements of the future provides enormous opportunities. Business owners who use IT more effectively, especially for data-driven decision making, have shown higher productivity and profitability than average companies.
McKinsey Global Institute’s Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) survey found that “Web knowledgeable” small and medium enterprises created more than twice as many jobs as companies that are not heavy internet users, across sectors from retail to manufacturing.
Also read: 10 Morning Habits of Highly Successful People
10. Stand on the Shoulders of Giants
You don’t have to adopt all of these qualities today, just the ones you resonated the most with. Does your business feel unfocused? Work on your focus. Are you not grinding enough? Start hustling more to get your business and products out there.
Entrepreneurs are not born with these qualities, they learn and adopt them through mentors, influencers and their own personal experience. You can start today to do the same to be a better entrepreneur and business leader.
By Fahim Ahsan