10 Things All Entrepreneurs Need To Succeed
The entrepreneurial spirit is composed of lots of different personality traits. Some of them are essential for being an entrepreneur, while others are useful only in certain situations. Every entrepreneur is different, of course; Richard Branson has a different mindset to Susan Wojcicki, and both of them will have completely different tips and tricks on how to achieve success. However, we’re betting that all entrepreneurs share a good few of the traits we’re about to list. Here are 10 things all entrepreneurs need to succeed.
1. A good mind for money
A great entrepreneur can turn a 3000 loan into a successful business without breaking a sweat. That demonstrates a head for money and statistics that will stand you in very good stead indeed if you intend to open up your own entrepreneurial venture. You’ll need to know what each of your transactions means and how to optimise them for maximum value. It’s also a near-essential skill to be able to pore over stat sheets and spreadsheets looking for financial inconsistencies.
2. Team spirit
If anyone ever tells you that an entrepreneur needs a ruthless streak, ignore them. It’s something of a myth that entrepreneurs need to be able to betray or backstab those close to them, and it’s also a myth that entrepreneurs need to be nasty or hard-edged to succeed. Team spirit and an eye for good collaborative opportunities are much more useful qualities than simply being a “lone wolf alpha”; you’ll get much further if you build a network than if you try to establish dominance.
3. Dedication
Your idea might initially look like it’s going to fail or like it could underperform, which is why dedication is a great quality for an entrepreneur to have. Being able to disregard some of the more disquieting statistics and focus hard on delivering a great core product means you’ll be able to weather many storms, and you’ll come out of the other end stronger. Even if your business does eventually fail, your dedication will help you pick yourself up and start again.
4. A killer business idea
As an entrepreneur, the most important thing for you to have when it comes to success is a killer business idea. If your idea isn’t solid, then you could build the best business operation in the world, but it likely still wouldn’t succeed because the idea at its centre wouldn’t be viable. Look carefully at the market you want to enter and try to figure out where that market’s weaknesses or underexplored niches are. That’s where you need to establish your business.
5. Adaptability
Very few entrepreneurs end up where they started. You need to be able to identify potential opportunities for growth in your business, even if those opportunities seem a little far from where you began. Of course, you also need to make sure not to betray your business’ core ideals and brand identity, and that’s a tricky balancing act, so you need an innate understanding of how to enter new markets without falling away from who you are at the centre.
6. An ability to think outside the box
Hand-in-hand with adaptability goes an aptitude for thinking outside the box. Creative problem-solving and a novel approach to the realities of the business world are crucial qualities for an entrepreneur. If you just attempt to solve problems like everyone else does, you’re going to come up with the same solutions, so you won’t be able to progress. Thinking about problems from different angles and perspectives, and applying lessons from areas of life that might not be immediately obvious, can yield great results.
7. Empathy
It’s all too easy to paint successful entrepreneurs as sociopathic single-minded people, but that simply isn’t the case. Just like you need a strong sense of team spirit to become a great entrepreneur, you also need empathy; you need to be able to understand what your customers, colleagues, and other people you work with are thinking so that you can build better relationships with them. You must never forget your essential humanity when you are an entrepreneur.
8. A risk-taking attitude
You need to be able to take risks as an entrepreneur. Creative and business risks are what will catapult your business to the next level; you can either choose to continue trundling along as you are, or you can choose to chase immense growth at the risk of potentially setting yourself back. Risks will help you to build a profile and become an audacious, exciting business rather than one that’s known for playing it far too safe, so they’re almost always worth taking (almost!).
9. An instinct for when to stop
It’s extremely easy to burn yourself out as an entrepreneur. The rigours of building and maintaining a business can really do a number on you, and so you need to have a strong instinct for when to step back and give yourself a break. Ideally, you should parcel out time for work and time for relaxing, but when that isn’t always possible, be sure that you’re aware of your boundaries and that you respect them. If you live with someone, ask them if they can help you to maintain limits when it comes to work times.
10. A love for what you do
Last, but not least, a great entrepreneur should love what they do. You should wake up every morning excited about the prospect of getting to work on your business. If it doesn’t excite you, then there’s no difference between being an entrepreneur and simply clocking into a regular job each day. As such, your first business idea should focus on an industry you love or a concept you’ve been excited about for a long time, rather than just a concept that you think will sell.