15 Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur
How to Succeed in Entrepreneurship
According to statistics, nine out of ten start-up entrepreneurs go bankrupt in the first year of their activity. Even those who stay afloat cannot always become prosperous businessmen. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is the lack of a certain set of business, personal and moral qualities.
Business qualities of an entrepreneur
Business qualities of any successful entrepreneur should be in the first place. It is thanks to them that you can achieve success in business. Let's take a look at five of the most important.
1 Practicality
A synonym for practicality can be called prudence. A successful businessman will invest money only in a business that brings income. That is why truly rich people try not to dress flashy, do not use defiantly expensive accessories. After all, the purchase of these things will only satisfy whims and will not pay off in any way.
This rule has become a way of life for many successful entrepreneurs. For example, one of the ten richest people in the world, Warren Buffett once had lunch at McDonald's and paid off using discount coupons.
Of course, practicality should not border on greed.
This is the ability to assemble a team of professionals who are ready to work for business development and growing profits. When a business grows, an entrepreneur cannot raise it alone, even if he works day and night. After all, in the event of an illness of an entrepreneur, the matter will rise. Therefore, any leader needs competent assistants.
The company will not achieve anything if only management thinks.
Akio Morita, Japanese entrepreneur, founder of Sony Corporation
3 Diligence
Yes, yes, if you have invested all your funds in some kind of production and have assembled a team of professionals in their field, do not expect these people to do everything for you, and you will only passively make a profit. When a person wants to become a successful businessman, he must be ready to work hard, most often without holidays and days off.
For example, Oleg Tinkov, the founder of Tinkoff Bank, admits that he could not break away from his work for more than a couple of weeks. He prefers to work 100% of the time in his life.
If you want to be an entrepreneur, then know that it's not a job, it's a way of life. It defines you. Forget about vacation, about coming home at 6 pm. The last thing you will do at night is send letters. And in the morning, the first thing you will do is read the letters received during the night, and you will wake up in the middle of the night. But it pays off because you are doing something for yourself.
Nicholas Zennström, Swedish entrepreneur, founder and developer of Skype
At the same time, many rich people in their interviews emphasize that diligence alone is not enough: for example, the work of a miner is hard, but it will not bring a lot of money. You need to have other qualities that allow you to become a successful entrepreneur.
4 Organization and ability to follow the set goal
It would seem that a person works for himself, and therefore he is completely free in his actions. But if you do not manage to properly organize your time, you can "get lost in business." Without self-discipline, there is no successful entrepreneur. You need to learn how to independently develop a schedule of important things for yourself and follow it. This will help you achieve your goals on time.
As an aid in organizing affairs, you can use a regular diary.
Before you think about solving future problems, learn how to deal with today's in the least time and with greater efficiency.
Peter Drucker, author of several famous books on management
5 Foresight
This quality can be developed in yourself if you constantly analyze the picture of the development of your business. A prosperous businessman often feels if things are going well and if a certain task is worth taking on on an intuitive level.
Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know who you really want to be. Everything else is secondary.
Steve Jobs, entrepreneur, inventor
Personal qualities of an entrepreneur
It is also important for an entrepreneur to have certain personal qualities. If you have at least some of them, you already have the makings of a future businessman.
1 Learnability
A successful entrepreneur is not afraid of change, he is ready to learn and develop at any age. At the same time, simply getting a higher education by prosperous businessmen is almost not appreciated. But many of them recognize the benefits of their students in obtaining useful contacts, developing discipline, and perseverance.
A successful person learns throughout his life from his mistakes.
I believe that education is the ability to take risks and give things your own assessment, as well as the ability to question statements, ask the right questions and seek the truth – and not just accept everything as it was presented to you.
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple
2 Creativity
One of the most sought after qualities in entrepreneurial activity. This is the ability to be creative, the ability to find unusual solutions in a standard situation.
An example is the activities of the well-known businessman Yevgeny Chichvarkin, the former co-owner of the Euroset communication salons. In his youth, he traded things in the market, all his goods were always ironed and beautifully packed, which constantly attracted buyers.
When Chichvarkin, together with a friend, founded the Euroset communication salon, he realized that advertising contributes a lot to sales growth. That's where the shocking Euroset slogans came from: "Come naked and get a phone for free!" or “Neither … to myself, everything to people!"
A person is willing to pay for experiences. Shopping should be an adventure! A person should have something else besides the goods. For nothing in our urban world, a person is ready to pay more than for impressions. Because home – subway – work – subway – home. It gets.
Evgeny Chichvarkin, entrepreneur
3 Ability to take risks
Passion and excitement must be present in the business you are doing. Your business must be interesting to you. The main thing is not to overdo it and weigh all the pros and cons before making a decision.
For example, Bill Gates, in order to become a co-founder of the Microsoft network, dropped out of Harvard, and received his diploma only 34 years after entering!
Leave at any time and create your own business – and it's never too late to return to Harvard!
Bill Gates, entrepreneur, social activist
4 Decisiveness
If an entrepreneur does not have this quality, his business may go bankrupt. No wonder Bill Gates advises to act immediately if a good idea comes to mind. It could be done by someone else.
Ideas themselves are valuable, but every idea is, after all, just an idea.
The challenge is to put it into practice.
Henry Ford, owner of automobile factories
5 Perseverance and self-confidence
These qualities help overcome the setbacks that even the most successful entrepreneurs face along the way. Even if mistakes follow one after another, the further path of your business depends only on whether you give up or not.
Thomas Edison, an American inventor and entrepreneur, for example, called all his failures "the discovery of another way that does not work."
Many people dream of success. For me, success is overcoming repeated setbacks. In fact, success in any business is one percent, while failure is ninety-nine. Looking back at my work, I feel like I was doing nothing more than a series of mistakes, serious omissions. But I am also proud of my achievements. Although I made one mistake after another, the mistakes and failures never occurred for the same reasons.
Soichiro Honda, Founder of Honda Motor Company
The Moral Qualities of an Entrepreneur
Very useful in any entrepreneurial business are the moral qualities of its head. Unfortunately, not all entrepreneurs try to develop them in themselves, and then they don't understand why they didn’t achieve success.
1 Honesty and responsibility
A truly honest entrepreneur is considered a reliable partner; clients are more likely to come to him. The success of the business directly depends on the truthfulness of its leader.
Here is what Sergey Galitsky, the former owner of the Magnit chain of stores, thinks about this:
If you break the rules of the game, then there is no point in doing business. When you cannot win fairly in business, sooner or later you will lose. You need to work harder, be more experienced, smarter, more talented. From these nuances there is a victory.
2 Composure
Entrepreneurial business is always associated with a stressful situation, making responsible decisions, communicating with clients and partners. It is always important for a good entrepreneur to control himself, to be polite and discreet with his employees and customers.
Alas, in some stores it is not uncommon to find a boorish attitude on the part of sellers, whose direct duty is to sell the released goods. That is why they remain sellers, because they do not possess such an important quality as self-control.
The main formula for success is knowing how to deal with people.
Theodore Roosevelt, politician, US President
3 Sociability
To find a common language with your partners and clients, it is very important to have the ability to easily communicate with people. The ability to listen and hear your interlocutor, to argue your point of view helps in business development. This helps to establish contact with potential customers, inspires their confidence.
I still prefer talking to people rather than texting.
Richard Branson, businessman, billionaire
4 Empathy
Not all entrepreneurs have the ability to put themselves in the place of another person, but it is not superfluous at all. With it, you can try to understand your clientele.
So, for example, did the founder of the IKEA chain of stores, Ingvar Kamprad. All his life he drove an old car, and forced the employees of his office to use xerox paper on both sides.
I'm a little tight-fisted, but so what? I look at how much money I'm going to spend on myself and wonder if IKEA customers can spend that much… I could fly first class all the time, but there's no point in spending money just because you have too much. If there is such a skill as leadership, it is to set a good example. I did this for all IKEA employees.
Ingvar Kamprad
5 Modesty
Wealth and modesty are difficult to combine, but there are entrepreneurs who have this useful trait. This quality helps to think sensibly, to be fair and to treat other people with respect.
For example, the founder of the Zara brand, Amancio Ortega, does not hesitate to dine with employees, wears modest clothes and lives in an apartment, not in a luxurious mansion.
I would like to remember where I come from, and modesty helps me in this. Money is not a motivator for me
Tim Cook, Apple CEO