This is a guest post by Tom Walker. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
Many people dream of becoming an entrepreneur. The freedom to work for yourself, own your own business, the chance to strike it rich, and the ability to live your dream, might leave you chomping at the bit to quit your day job and pursue your passion. It often isn’t until you’re working 14-hour days, seven days a week just to turn a small profit that you realize how hard it really is, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.
1. Passion
It’s hard to be a great entrepreneur if you’re not really into what you do. Having a passion for your work, whether it be baking, writing, or selling antiques, can have a huge impact upon how successful you are as an entrepreneur. It’s much easier to push yourself to work those 14-hour days, when you’re doing something you love.
2. Organization
Being organized is necessary for most successful entrepreneurs. Keeping up with bills, tracking and filling orders, recordkeeping, and fulfilling a laundry list of other business related activities can make it hard to keep your wits about you as a business owner, but it can make or break your business’s success.
3. A Willingness to Take Risks
There is a difference between taking risks and taking calculated risks. While it may not pay to take too many chances, almost all entrepreneurs have to take some to succeed. In most instances, the act of becoming an entrepreneur alone is a risk. The hard part is being able to properly weigh the risks versus the rewards of the chances you do take.
4. Foresight
Some people can’t see the forest for the trees when it comes to successfully running their own business. These same people often become so bogged down in the daily operations that they forget to look ahead to the future. Having foresight can help your business stay up with the current trends, have access to the latest technology, and better deal with long-term planning and forecasts that can help your operations grow and evolve.
5. Ability to Budget
While being cash savvy isn’t always a necessity in every case, for many entrepreneurs, being able to make more from less when it comes to money is often important, especially in the opening stages of a project or business venture.
6. Motivation
The ability to stay motivated is often a key characteristic of a successful entrepreneur. It seems that it would be easy to stay motivated when you’re running your own business and doing what you love. Typically, in the opening stages of running your business, it is. However, staying motivated over the long haul and forging ahead when times are tough is often the true test of a successful entrepreneur.
7. A Strong Work Ethic
Motivation, whether by money, love or passion for your work, can fade with time, and as it does, it’s important for an entrepreneur to have a strong work ethic to stay focused on the job at hand. When motivation fails, it’s helpful to be able for an entrepreneur to fall back upon a strong work ethic.
8. Persistence
But even a strong work ethic isn’t always enough to push through extremely tough times. As an entrepreneur, you might just have to keep plugging away until you get it right. Work ethic is important, but even a strong work ethic can fade when you face seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and this is where it can pay to be persistent. Keeping at your work, even when you know everyone else has given up on you, is often a characteristic of a successful entrepreneur.
9. Able to Cut Losses and Run
While work ethic, motivation, and the ability to persevere are all important characteristics in an entrepreneur, there is no sense in beating your head against a brick wall. When you know there is absolutely no chance of a project succeeding, it’s important to know when to cut your losses and move on. A cruel fact of being an entrepreneur is that you must often be prepared to lose money, and by allowing a project to die, while you might be losing money in the short run, you could be saving yourself money in the long-run.
10. Effective Communication
Not every entrepreneur has to be a great public speaker or enjoy interacting with the public, but they must often be willing to do so on a regular basis. Even if you are a more introverted type, working to develop your communications skills can go far in helping you to become a successful entrepreneur.
About Author :
Tom Walker blogs on the CreativeCloud for a specialist supplier of cartridges for PhotoSmart printers, toners and refills based in the UK.
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
You mentioned it all. Nice post Tom.
Agent Deepak@Blogging, Marketing & Success´s last blog ..Best Advice Ever – Term Planning
Great list, I believe not everyone is cut-out to be a entrepreneur. If you don’t have the qualities and characteristics that are mentioned above, you’ll probably end up giving up.
I think it’s hardest when you are first starting out, but once you see some success, then you get remotivated and you can rinse and repeat what is working for you.
Mathew Day´s last blog ..Tips for Choosing a Successful Domain Name
Passion and persistence are are the two things that will get you into entrepreneurship and keep you there. If you do not have these two qualities, I find it hard to believe that you can be successful.
Tom@Free Squeeze Pages´s last blog ..Affiliate Marketing – NoFollow and Content Is King
I think the two most important characteristics to be a great entrepreneur are passion and persistence. We need to be passion in what we are doing. We need to be patience and keep on the effort. We can’t give up easily.
Kok Siong @ Cancer Research´s last blog ..Anti-angiogenic Therapy to Treat Cancer
Awesome list. The top three essential traits needed to become successful are probably persistence, passion, and willingness to take risks. Without persistence and passion, you will not last long in the business. Not possessing those two traits is the formula for disaster, as you will be unmotivated and will most likely give up too quickly. However, if you do gain a bit of success, I believe that taking risks will get you even farther.
Bob @ Work from Home´s last blog ..AquaMails – PTC
In the past, people use to said if you’re an introverted type of person you need to change to be more sociable to succeed because you need to mixed around to get business contacts. That’s still true for the social geek but nonetheless the internet has open the door of opportunities for even an introverted person.
The future belongs to those who can see it and know how to go for it.
Good point there. I was reading through thinking how it’s the same for online or “irl” entrepreneurs, but I guess the difference is with the level of actual irl social contact.
Anne Moss´s last blog ..Is Blocking Ads Unethical?
Thanks for the comments guys! I find that being really enthusiastic about what you’re doing is always the key to being successful-because if you love what you’re doing, you not going to avoid the work at all costs…and that’s what counts the most!
9 outa 10 ain’t a bad start – ability to budget, not so much.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED – $100 – 10 Winners – Comment Contest! ‘Till Months End…
I find it interesting that any one of these traits affect the others. With passion you develop persistence and motivation. Organization aids in sticking with a budget.
Let oneself be reminded by these traits of how oneself should be damn serious to be an Online Entrepreneur… Set your course, let loose and be adventurous…
Terrence´s last blog ..Construction Life Could Be Fun
If you don’t have the traits then our chances of being succesful is very limited.
I don’t know how effective communication has gotten its way there especially that we don’t need to talk face to face wiht anyone we are dealing with.
Paul@Diabetis´s last blog ..Eating Brown Rice could prevent Diabetes
A very nice article. I’ll try to post some interesting entries next time. haven’t cam to your blog a few month (only read from the feeds). The layout is much simpler and more mature than before.. I am still on blogspot and looking forward for more money making trips from you..
BIZZNURSE´s last blog ..Seriously, Can we make money from Blog?
Very informative post and I love the these 2 points: A Willingness to Take Risks and Foresight. Brave to take the risk and dream big, you will become successful in the future.
Lee | Money4Invest´s last blog ..Air Asia.com 2010 Promotion – The World Best Low-Cost Airline
Having a thick skin – so you can ignore the trolls and personal attacks.
Many people take any comments which disagrees with them, too seriously and take offence.
Andrew
Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Interview: Pawan Agarwal – MaxBlogPress Owner
I love the number #1, #3, #7, #8 & #10. It is an amazing tips
Tinh´s last blog ..Google vs Digg Traffic: Which Helps You Earn The Most with Chitika?
I have to agree that the first thing to have is passion. Even non online earners or ordinary people must have passion in doing something to succeed. Be good in what you do
harvz´s last blog ..Pacquiao vs Clottey Overshadowed by Mayweather vs Mosley?
I find that being really enthusiastic about what you’re doing is always the key to being successful-because if you love what you’re doing, you not going to avoid the work at all costs
Gabby´s last blog ..Floyd Mayweather Jr makes more discriminating and racial remarks toward Pacquiao and Filipinos
Nice post Tom. You make some very good points throughout your article. I would have to agree with 7 – a strong work ethic. I truly believe that is one of the main factors that bloggers need.
Scented Soy Candles´s last blog ..The Products Required To Make Scented Soy Wax Candles
The ability to dream big and then the common sense to put into place the things necessary to achieve your dream are two traits that I think are necessary for success. It’s also a great idea to keep a journal of your ideas. Reading the journal on those difficult and occasional down days may help to keep you focused and motivated.
Hard work is the key in all areas of life…blogging and social media is no exception.
Eric Shafer´s last blog ..30 Lovely Hand-Picked Flower Desktop Wallpapers
Very nice summary of common entrepreneur qualities. I think perseverance is one of the more important traits. Creating a profitable business is not for the easily discouraged or faint of heart!
Lee – We agree with your list and our recently completed research project shows many of your characteristics.
See our blog post on Characteristics Of Successful Entrepreneurs
Glenn
Co-Founder
Entrepreneurs Guild
Glenn´s last blog ..Your Home Based Business Ideas
@Glenn,
Thanks for sharing the blog post, it’s interesting!
Our pleasure Lee!
Love what you have going on here…
Glenn@EntrepreneursGuild´s last blog ..Your Home Based Business Ideas
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