Top Common Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs are key to any type of business. Most of the businesses fail, but there is not just one reason why they do. It is when people work hard and they don’t have any success. They need to look at the big picture, like how their personality matches with running a business.

Many great entrepreneurs have many things in common. We put together research and talked to people who work closely with them, and they can tell us what traits led to their success.

Harvard Business School and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) have done research about successful entrepreneurs. It is important to have these qualities to be a successful entrepreneur.

8 Common characteristics of successful entrepreneurs

Vision

Entrepreneurs need to know where they want their business to be and how they will get there. Harvard Business School has found that vision and influence are characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.

Surprisingly, we found that only one person mentioned vision as a key trait. Ross Albers of Albers & Associates said that he thinks it is important to have a vision. He did not really explain why, but he used a metaphor to try and get his point across.

Good entrepreneurs do not just sit around and wait for good things to happen. They go out and hunt for new business opportunities. They also have a vision and are able to adapt quickly.

Confidence

People who have started a business are more confident about themselves than people who have not. This might be because they are used to being in charge and making decisions. People with high confidence also seem to do better in other areas, such as “comfort with uncertainty” and building networks.

Entrepreneur Lindsay LaShell said it was important to have confidence and be open-minded while finding success.

One thing that entrepreneurs always say is that they have to balance confidence in their work with an open mind. They have to be confident in themselves and also accept when changes are necessary.

Motivation

Successful entrepreneurs are willing to put in long hours and they might not get paid for it. Entrepreneurs risk being worse off when they work hard.

NBER research (page 11) found an important aspect of this trait, “achievement motivation,” that drives successful entrepreneurs. The researchers of this study say that:

“It is often thought that people with high achievement motivation are drawn to environments where they will have more success. It is also often thought that those in large institutions don’t have as much control over their success because it’s not up to them.”

This is important because it means that people who want to work hard can do it.

Passion

Successful entrepreneurs must have a passion for their business. Without a love of the work, many would-be entrepreneurs give up when it gets difficult.

Passion is not related to skills or behaviors, but it is important for starting, maintaining, and succeeding in an entrepreneurial journey.

Decisive

Researchers found that many characteristics of successful entrepreneurs could make decisions. They can take action and believe in themselves. You should also think about what you want to do and take steps to get it done.

In many cases, it pays to go with your gut. That will eliminate analysis paralysis. It can make it easier for you to differentiate your business and be efficient. But know when not to go with your gut too. Balance your instinct with more impersonal approaches to business instead of allowing either one to reign supreme all the time.

Discipline

Most of us know it takes a lot of discipline to be our own boss. We need to have a lot of willpower to build our business and achieve long-term goals. This is different for each person, but we might need self-discipline in order to develop an efficient workflow or watch the money flow.

Joe Sinkwitz, CEO of Intellifluence says:

If you show up and put in the time, you will be able to improve your skills. If you complete the boring tasks that are important every day, it will help lead to better outcomes. It is not always fun, but with time it can lead to what a lot of people want.”

It is good to get organized with tools and think about what you need to do. But remember to do the work that you have right now.

Curiosity 

Some people are really curious. This is a good trait to have for an entrepreneur because it can lead to innovative ideas. A study from Slovenia found that there was a positive relationship between being curious and being an entrepreneur. Francesca Gino also wrote a good article about curiosity in the Harvard Business Review.

When Joe talked about how entrepreneurs need to be curious, Saurabh Wani noticed that the automate.io CEO also has this quality:

“This person liked experiments and was not afraid to fail. He wanted to work with other people who were just like him.”

This gives us an advantage. We know what we like and do not like.

Curiosity can help you find new products and tools that will make your business more efficient. For example, pinechatbot get people to talk to customers. It helps you as a leader too.

Taking risks

When you are starting a new business, there will be many risks. You might lose customers or say no to a new opportunity so you won’t get burned out. There is much evidence that entrepreneurs have a higher tolerance for risk than general managers (NBER, p.26).

You need to be brave and take risks to build a business. You can do this by moving forward despite not knowing what is going to happen.

You can learn from characteristics of successful entrepreneurs

Now you’ve seen research done by scientists about what kind of people are successful. You also learned about some interesting things that other people have done. It might be hard to think you don’t have these traits, but it is not the end of the world. The good news is that you can learn!

The secret to being a good entrepreneur is learning and doing. You can learn about entrepreneurship in many courses, but you will have to do it for yourself. People usually don’t change overnight; they change as they get more experience.

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