There is no such thing as a typical entrepreneur because both old and young, male and female, quiet and outspoken, introverts and extroverts start their own new businesses. However, one of the common characteristics of successful entrepreneurs is that they have the ability to take their abstract ideas and turn them into a good or service (that other people need and want) which can be sold for profit.
We can distinguish the following similar characteristics shared by successful entrepreneurs.
Innovative. Successful entrepreneurs are good at thinking up new ideas for goods and services, or new ways of delivering existing goods and services, or new ways of selling. The entrepreneur may not be an inventor in the traditional sense like Nikola Tesla, but they must be able to carve a new niche in the market, attract customers in innovative ways and present their business as being different from others in the same market, offer a Unique Selling Point (USP) that the competitors do not have. This requires original ideas and an ability to do things differently – this is the skill of innovation.
Self-motivated and determined. Successful entrepreneurs have the drive to keep going, even when things get difficult, very difficult. It is never an easy option to set up and run your own company. It is very hard work, day and night, and may take up many hours of each day. A willingness to work hard, commitment, ambition to become successful, high levels of energy, determination and sharp focus are all essential qualities to become successful in business.
Self-confident and able to bounce back. Successful entrepreneurs have a strong belief in their own abilities and ideas. We know that many business start-ups around the world fail in the first year of operations. But this should not discourage true entrepreneurs who would have such belief in themselves and their business idea that they would bounce back from any future setbacks.
Multi-skilled. Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to develop their ideas from early stages of Research and Development (R&D) to profitable sales and caring after-sale services. This requires a good understanding of all business functions (Production, Human Resources, Finance and Marketing). A successful entrepreneur will have to make the product or provide the service, promote it to potential customers, sell it and keep accounts making sure that profit is made. These different business tasks require a person who has many different qualities to manage the whole process, such as being willing and able to learn technical skills, being able to get on well with other people, and being good at handling money matters and keeping accurate accounting records.
Have leadership qualities. Successful entrepreneurs have good communication skills, the ability to motivate others and good decision-making skills. The entrepreneur will have to lead his or her employees by example and must have a personality that encourages people in the business to follow and be motivated. Otherwise, workers may not believe that the entrepreneur will ever be able to achieve success in the future and the whole company may even go bankrupt in the worst-case scenario.
Initiative and results driven. Successful entrepreneurs not only have good ideas, but are also able to develop a good plan for achieving business’s objectives. They are focused on achieving tangible results and make sure their products and services are sold for profit.
Risk-taker. Successful entrepreneurs are prepared to take many risks knowing that failure is a very high possibility. But, what makes them different from an average person is the special skill to see failure as a positive experience to be learned from. Successful entrepreneurs must be willing to take risks in order to see fruit-bearing results in the future. Often the risk they take is by investing their own savings in the new business, borrowing money from a bank in the form of a start-up capital loan, or even wasting their time that they could otherwise have spent with their family members.
Good at networking. Successful entrepreneurs are comfortable to reach out to other people, communicate well with customers, suppliers and all other stakeholders, as well as learn from others, including competitors. Being good at making new connections opens up new opportunities that may have not been available, if the entrepreneur just kept to himself and refrained from making acquaintances in real life.
These skills and qualities of successful entrepreneurs help them to turn ideas into real products, create the demand to establish new markets, and start up and run and a profitable business.
