Characteristics of Top Entrepreneurs
How do you know if you have what it takes to start or run a business? Entrepreneurs come from all ages and backgrounds – all types of people can learn to start up a business.
There’s really no way to know for sure, but I do find things in common among the emotional fabric and background of people ready to consider an entrepreneurial venture.
1. You come from a line of people who couldn’t work for someone else. I don’t mean that in a negative way. People who are successful at establishing their own business often have had parents who worked for themselves. It’s usually easier to get a job with a company than to start your own business; people who strike out on their own often have the direct example of a parent to look to.
2. You’re a lousy employee. People who start their own businesses tend to have been fired from or quit more than one job. I’m not saying you were laid off for lack of work or transitioned from one job to a better-paying one — you were asked to leave, or you quit before they could fire you. Think of it as the marketplace telling you that the only person who can effectively motivate and manage you is yourself.
3. You see more than one definition of “job security.” There are some people I know who’ve stayed with one employer for 25 or 30 years. They look incredibly secure. But how many people do you know who are able to stay with one company for that long? In a constantly changing economy job security can be frighteningly fleeting.
4. You’ve done the market research already. Don’t talk about your great business idea if you haven’t put the time into figuring out if there’s a market for your product or service. As the people behind any number of failed Internet ventures will tell you, “cool” doesn’t necessarily translate into “profitable.” Don’t bother building it if you haven’t figured out whether there’s a good chance the customers will come.
5. You’ve got the support of your family. Starting a business is stressful under the best of circumstances. Trying to do it without the support of your spouse or other significant family members or friends would probably be unbearable.
6. You know you cannot do it alone. You might excel at promoting a business. Maybe you love running the financial end of the enterprise. Or you could be someone who starts a business because you have unique creative or technical know-how to create a product. But it’s unlikely that you are going to excel at all of these tasks — or at all of the tasks involved in running any business. Forget all that “lone wolf” stuff. No matter how “go-it-alone” your philosophy is, you’re going to need some help sometime. The willingness to get that help — having employees, partners or consultants for those areas in which you are not an expert — is one indicator of likely future success. In addition, you can’t grow an organisation unless you understand your own strengths and are willing to delegate your weaknesses to others.
7. P1 - Passion (with a capital “P”): Every top entrepreneur starts with a passion for what they are doing. For them money is a motivator, but not the prime motivation. Entrepreneurs see money as a resource but never as the end in itself. They are motivated to start a business by a range of personal, financial and social reasons.
8. P2 - Problem orientation: Most entrepreneurs set out to solve a problem. For many it is about doing something for customers that would enhance their lives. They are passionate about providing value and quality to customers.
9. P3 – Perseverance: Success has been a long time coming for many entrepreneurs, and most have to work long and hard at getting it “right”. It doesn’t happen overnight, but these individuals have the determination and belief to keep going when many would give up and get a job.
10. Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur: Top entrepreneurs do it again and again and again, reinventing themselves and their organisations.
11. A lack of orthodoxy: Top entrepreneurs think of doing things differently: a pocket sock, a flat chicken, a new way of looking at financial planning. They put ends and means together in different permutations.
12. Values and a people-based approach: Top entrepreneurs are very people focused. It’s evident in the way they talk about their staff.
13. Vision: All top entrepreneurs have a vision of a business that helps lots of people – a big dream.
14. Fearlessness about changing direction. If top entrepreneurs hit a roadblock, they will find a new way to do things rather than give up.
15. Top entrepreneurs are doers and thinkers – they like action, but they are also very methodical people.
16. Top entrepreneurs are not gamblers! They are moderate risk takers who conduct feasibility studies and market-test their ideas before they invest lots of time and money into an idea.
17. Top entrepreneurs have a great desire to succeed, to solve problems put in front of them and to have total control of the work they do.
These qualities may possibly be the minimum requirements for achieving success as an entrepreneur. In themselves, they may be a tall order. But as many who have tried and failed will attest, often they may simply not be enough.Timing, technology, teams, finance, and fashion – these things and more must combine to make a successful entrepreneurial venture.
So are you cut out to be an entrepreneur?
Being an entrepreneur has undeniable appeal - being your own boss and not having to report to anyone else, not having to consult others and get their “buy-in” before making a decision, not being pulled into internal political battles for turf and power, not being part of a layer in a bureaucratic pyramid, not having your agenda and work schedule determined by others, and of course, the possibility of making millions by starting the next Microsoft or McDonalds.
But talk to most entrepreneurs and what you’ll hear is:
§ They have as many bosses as they have customers (assuming that they are lucky enough to have customers!).
§ They have no one to consult about their decisions even when they want to.
§ There is no shortage of work to do (they can choose any twenty-four hours of the day and any seven days of the week to work).
§ They rarely have anyone to delegate to, or even get support from.
§ The glamour of being the next Bill Gates seems a very far glimmer in the distance.
All of which is to say that before you go down this path you need to look very carefully at what it involves and look very honestly at yourself. But if you do go for it – then really go for it!
