Becoming a successful entrepreneur today requires more than just starting a business. It demands the qualities and characteristics of an entrepreneur to guaranty business success.
Almost everyone desires to become an entrepreneur today, however, only few people are willing to pay the price of entrepreneurship.
Many young entrepreneurs are suddenly rising from various aspect of human endeavors today.
This is because entrepreneurship gives more fulfillment than working as an employee for a boss who gives you a paycheck.
So many people quit their jobs just to embark on an entrepreneurial journey.
However the journey to become an entrepreneur is not a cheap one to embark upon.
You must be ready to take the bull by the horn to succeed as an entrepreneur.
Table of Contents
Who is a successful entrepreneur
A person who has mastered the principles, disciplines and characteristics of entrepreneurship is said to be a successful entrepreneur.
These are men and women of diligence, creativity, planning, time management capacities who are contributing massively to economic growth.
Successful entrepreneurs see obstacles as opportunities for growth. They are filled with the passion to succeed at every given task.
Examples of successful entrepreneurs today are Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, e.t.c.
In this article, we have discussed 20 hidden and powerful characteristics of an entrepreneur.
20 Hidden and Powerful Characteristics of an Entrepreneur.
There are many known characteristics of an entrepreneur, let’s quickly check out these 20 amazing characteristics of successful entrepreneurship.
1. Thinking outside the box (creativity):
If you ever want to succeed as an entrepreneur, then you need to be extremely creative.
You must always think outside the norms. In my own simple language, i call it thinking outside the box.
Imagine the invention of Microsoft, Apple, Tesla, Facebook and Amazon, you will notice one thing in common.
These are men that were able to think beyond the norms to invent their own dreams.
2. Ability to see hidden business opportunities:
Most successful entrepreneurs in our world today saw opportunities when no one ever thought about it.
For instance, the only medium through which people were transported in olden days were through camels and horses.
This had the disadvantage of travelling for longer days and feeding these animal to allow them regain strength.
However, the use of vehicles today help people reach their destinations faster compared to the cost of using camels.
It took the likes of Henry Ford who was one of the olden days automaker before Tesla and Toyota today.
The ability to see hidden opportunities is one of the greatest characteristics of an entrepreneur.
3. Entrepreneurs are good in documentation and details:
Ideas come like a flash, no wonder successful entrepreneurs always have a book and jotter beside them.
A friend of mine once said ideas can come in anytime, you need to be attentive enough to grab them.
Having a jotter and a pen by your side will enable you document your ideas so you don’t forget them.
You might also get some ideas that are too big for your normal brain to deal with.
For instance, while chilling out on a cool spot having some good soft drinks and wine.
Putting down your ideas on paper will help you break them down into smaller units.
Hence at the best time, you can now conveniently make strategies for business implementations.
Good entrepreneurs pay attention to details, they are incredibly sensitive to figures and facts in business.
They are also effective in keeping records for good future reference.
4. They productively work more hours than employees:
A true entrepreneur who has the passion to succeed doesn’t over sleep with his time.
It’s normal to get tired and exhausted after a long day work, Off-course it is.
Nevertheless, successful entrepreneur still keep up late at night setting out for the next day.
So, if you intend to break the storms as a young entrepreneur, then start making productive use of your time.
This is because good productivity will help you win your market share in-spite of challenging market competitions.
5. Entrepreneurs are addicted book lovers:
Successful entrepreneurs invest in developing their minds, they are book lovers.
Read the stories of Bill gates, Warren buffet, Robert Kiyosaki and many others, you will find this virtue in common.
They keep developing their minds and improving on their ability to think creatively.
They read business books, finance and entrepreneurship books from other author to learn and grow in their entrepreneurial journey.
Entrepreneurs understand the power and benefits of developing their minds and would stop at nothing to do it.
This makes reading one of the major characteristics of an entrepreneur.
6. A daring mentality (I can do it mentality):
Entrepreneurs are always equal to the task, nothing bows an entrepreneur.
They know how to handle challenges and tough situations as if it never existed.
They are people who will dare the unimaginable and push impossibilities to reality.
7. Entrepreneurs are smart risk takers:
The ability to take calculated risk is one of the major difference between an entrepreneur and a employee.
Entrepreneurs are ever willing to take risks to grow their businesses even if the odds are not in their favor.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook once said “the greatest risk anyone can take is not taking any risk at all”
The greatest risk you can take today is not taking any risk at all.
Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Official of Facebook
Successful entrepreneurs know the advantages and benefits of taking risk to grow their businesses.
Hence they will never stop doing something to improve their business no matter the cost.
8. Self Motivation:
Most successful entrepreneurs in our world today never needed encouragement to succeed in their businesses.
For instance, Tesla is the most valuable automaker in the world today by global market capitalization.
This is because Tesla CEO kept his zeal to see his electric car company become a world class automaker.
True entrepreneur’s are always energetic, motivated and willing to put in their best at every given opportunity.
9. Entrepreneurs see failure as a learning opportunity:
Entrepreneurs are people who see failure as a learning curve and growth process.
They are people who are ready to stand up over and over again when pushed down by failure.
Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating
Elon Musk Founder and CEO of Tesla
It’s true failure can be so intimidating, painful and annoying.
However, how do you plan to measure your progress without failure.
Every successful entrepreneur today have a failed story to tell in their past before they eventually discovered how to succeed.
10. Emotional stability:
There is no sentiment in business. Successful entrepreneurs don’t allow emotions come in their way.
One good psychological characteristics of an entrepreneur is his ability to think with his head an ignore any feeling whatsoever.
Many entrepreneurs have entered bad business dealings simply because the person was living in their neighborhood.
Entrepreneurs are emotionally stable people when taking decisions during business transactions.
11. Consistency:
You can’t be on today and off tomorrow and expect people to trust you with their money.
You must prove to customers that you are in for business and nothing else.
Entrepreneurs are regular people, they are dependable and always showing up no matter the circumstances.
The power of consistency helps successful entrepreneurs in winning and retaining customers.
No body wants to do business with an on and off type of business man, lack of consistency breaches trust in the customers mind.
Consistency is the game for winning in business. Nobody is willing to do business with an on and off brand.
This is one of the basic characteristics of entrepreneurship.
12. Focus:
The quality of being undistracted from a certain goal, mission or vision.
A good entrepreneur will never shift attention from reaching his/her goal in-spite of market trends and competitions.
Successful entrepreneurs are highly focused people. So many distractions might come to push them out of the path to progress.
However, they will never let go of their vision because they are determined to scale through successfully in businesses.
13. Planning is a vital characteristics of an entrepreneur:
Planning is winning, this is one of the most important characteristics of an entrepreneur.
Its the life-wire of successful entrepreneurship. They make plans that will run daily, weekly and monthly.
Entrepreneurs make plans ahead, they plan for business meetings, trips, schedule appointments and project duration.
They are very calculative in ensuring that all plans are strictly followed and fully realized.
14. Entrepreneurs are goal setter and path finder:
Successful entrepreneurs set short term and long term goals.
Short term goals are those which are achieve daily, weekly or within a month.
Long term goals could be reached over 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 or 20 years time.
They are goal setter and path finders with the capacity to create their own path.
These are people who have capacity to pursue what they want and get it.
15. Multi-task:
Multi-tasking is the ability to do more than one activity at a time yet accomplishing successful end results.
For instance, drafting a weekly plan and responding to customers mails and inquiries at the same time.
Most successful entrepreneurs multi-task themselves to utilise time for other important activities.
These is a way of combining two activities in one event, i call it killing two birds with one stone.
16. Financial education:
One of my major financial mentor in entrepreneurship is Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich-dad Poor-dad.
He is one man that understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur today.
Financial education will help you understand how money works and how to generate more wealth through various investing strategies.
Never just work for money or for power. They are temporary… Knowledge is the new money.
Robert Kiyosaki Best Selling Author of Rich-dad Poor-dad
Lack of financial education is one of the painful reasons why people lose money in business without knowing.
Financial education is vital in the place of business transactions. This is one characteristics of an entrepreneur that cannot be neglected.
17. Passion to profit:
A successful entrepreneur is always positive about his business dealing.
He/she knows the end result of every business dealings will lead to success.
This is why the way we think is a vital requirement to become successful as an entrepreneur.
Hence, you can find out the 3 psychological business disciplines every entrepreneur or CEO needs today.
18. Entrepreneurs show dedication to customers:
The success of every business largely depends on customers patronage.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once said if you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might tell 6 friends.
However, if you make customers unhappy on the internet, they can each tell 6000 friends.
This is why you must know how to build a great customer service as an entrepreneur or business CEO today
It could be giving discounts or freebies, attending to customers queries on time or just do what’s best for them.
Customer’s are the strength of a business, hence do everything possible to protect your customer’s interest.
19. One vital characteristics of an entrepreneur is credibility:
Entrepreneurs are accountable, they don’t play pranks to cheap third parties in the place of business transactions.
They are trust worthy individuals, highly reliable men and women who do all it takes to give customers satisfaction.
Lack of credibility in business is one of the 8 major reasons entrepreneurs fail in business today.
20. They know their target audience and how to sell to them:
True entrepreneurs are able to define their target audience from the crowded market population.
No matter the benefits and values in a product, targeting the wrong audience would render it completely useless.
They know their target audience and how best to sell to them.
One good characteristics of an entrepreneur is knowing how to sell and how to convert leads to sales.
However, remember that people hate sales pitch today, so knowing how to win customers to buy is vital in entrepreneurship.
This is why becoming an entrepreneur demands lot of discipline and training to become successful.
Imagine knowing your target audience but not knowing how to sell, that’s a big headache.
Nevertheless, entrepreneurs don’t just know who the target audience are, they also know how to sell to them.
Conclusion:
Now you know the 20 hidden characteristics of an entrepreneur that guaranties success in today’s business world, over to you.
Becoming a successful entrepreneur is not a one day affair, it a journey that requires discipline and dedication.
It goes from thinking outside the box to invent a product or service and selling it to your target audience.
I believe you have gotten some key benefits in your hands to fly your entrepreneurship journey successfully through this article.
Let me know if you got value at the comment session below.
Kindly share this article to your loved ones to bless all who intend to venture into entrepreneurship.
