I’ve always admired entrepreneurs, but I’ve never really considered myself one!
When I think about entrepreneurs, I think about people who found and run large corporations, who wine and dine investors to try to fund their latest ideas, and who make and lose large sums of money depending on how well their ideas or their companies are doing.
However, there’s a small, but vibrant source of solopreneurs – or baby entrepreneurs as I like to think of them – people like myself and fellow bloggers who run small businesses all by themselves.
We don’t have large staffs (or perhaps any staff at all), and we handle all of our ideas, promotion, billing, and networking by ourselves. In many ways, we are unlikely entrepreneurs, people who fell into ideas or who were lucky enough to have their hobbies transform into legitimate income.
Still, whether entrepreneurs are big or small, there are some key traits that I’ve noticed applies to all of them.
1. Resilience
Entrepreneurs are a resilient bunch. Failure is a part of the game. Not all ideas work. Not all pitches are accepted. Not everyone gets the jobs or the clients or the income they want. The difference is that entrepreneurs try again (and again…and again.) When many people give up or take the easier path, entrepreneurs typically fight their way through problems to get to the solutions that work.
2. Excellent Work Ethic
Entrepreneurs have a lot of drive. They create ideas on their own, and they wake up every day trying to make those ideas come to fruition. There’s no rule book or guide or boss telling them to wake up in the morning and get work done. Sure, they have clients and meetings and deadlines, but basically, their entire career is self-driven. It takes some extreme work ethic to keep that momentum up even on a small scale.
3. Ability to Work With Others
While I love working from home and working by myself, the truth is that I never, truly work 100% alone. My business, tiny as it may be, relies on my ability to work with others, work for others, and help others. If I was a big jerk, then no one would hire me or help me when things go wrong. Entrepreneurs have to be able to respect and work with other people and realize none of us have all the answers.
4. Confidence In Decisions
Successful entrepreneurs have to have the ability to make solid decisions and be confident about them. Being unsure or scared that something will fail is pretty normal, but when it comes time to actually making the decisions, entrepreneurs have to be ready to stand by them. Lots of people like having decisions made for them, because it’s easy, but when you are in charge of your own fate, being confident in everything you do becomes increasingly important.
I’m sure there are many more qualities of successful entrepreneurs that I am missing, so please feel free to add a few in the comment section below! Also, if you are an entrepreneur or solopreneur, tell us all about your biz in the comments!
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A good entrepreneur also has the ability to learn from mistakes – show me one successful person that hasn’t failed!
Yes! Failure is such an integral part of it!
Great post- I like what you wrote about how you never truly work alone- being able to work with others is imperative when you are self-employed.
It’s true — but I have to say, it’s so nice to work with others through a screen while hanging out in my pjs. :D
A successful entrepreneur also has to be creative….as they are usually trying to make money on an idea they came up with.
Oh yes, that’s a good one I should have included. Thinking outside the box is necessary!
I love what you said here about resilience, Cat, and I think that’s a huge key to any successful person. The ability to say “oh well” and “what can I learn from this” when failure arrives, and then to get back up on that proverbial horse again, definitely determines the difference between success and failure.
I so agree. It’s hard when deals fall through but it’s so worth it to keep going!
Most entrepreneurs I know are not afraid to fail. That’s why they’re willing to take chances.
It’s so true. They know failure = good lessons.
Love that you pointed out right away that failure is kinda inevitable when you’re an entrepreneur, and you have to learn that it’s not a bad thing! You learn from failure and the difference between someone who’s successful and someone who isn’t the amount of times they failed – it’s the amount of times they got back up and tried it again.
I couldn’t agree more. It sucks when things don’t work out, but I always learn something when that happens.
Good points right there. Entrepreneurship also involves taking risks because you are not guaranteed you will reap the fruits of your labor.
Oh yes, risks are scary but necessary for sure!
Good points Cat! For us I think resilience is a big part of the game. You deal with clients who don’t pay, those who lie to you about getting business from them and all over the place income from month to month. While that can make it nutty (to say the least) at times, it’s so worth it when you see what you’ve created begin to grow.
Yes to all of the above. It’s challenging but very fulfilling.
I like to think I’m good at working with others, but in all honesty it’s a place I struggle and need to get better at. I think one reason I like blogging is because almost 100% of my work is online-based and working with others is almost without exception done over email, which I find to be efficient.
I’m with you. It was hard for me to deal with interruptions at work and try to learn to be more patient if people didn’t do things exactly the way I did. I find that I work much better with others in an online setting too. It’s amazing how different it is, actually.
I think all those are right on. I would expand and add that successful entrepreneurs learn from failures. Sometimes a failed project or mistake can be one of the most valuable tools available, but it depends on your perspective. I would also add that good business people never burn bridges. You might have a bad deal or disagreement with someone, but you never know who that person knows or how they might end up in another position someday. Bad mouthing someone to everyone you know will come back to haunt you or will cause people to be careful about how they deal with or trust you.
Oh yes. Those are really great points actually, especially about badmouthing!
I think number 4 is really good point. I think you have to have a lot of confidence to be an entreprenuer. I’m sure your friends and family might sometimes questions your decisions. It is good to be confident and just go for it even if others think you are crazy.
Oh yes I’m def. used to people questioning my decisions or “not getting” my business as whol.e
You mailed it again DC with this one. I have found it to be a fact that most successful entrepreneurs have the ability to scrap the bad ideas immediately and not take it personally when things didn’t work out. You almost have to have the ability to detach your emotions from decisions. Hard to do, especially since most entrepreneurs are very competitive and hate to “lose”.
RatherBeShopping I can’t take credit for this one, it’s Cat’s post!
DC @ Young Adult Money RatherBeShopping Whoops sorry, you nailed it on the head Cat! No, you didn’t “mail” it…LOL
Haha thanks Kyle! :D Glad you enjoyed it!
I think the ability to work with others is very important. If someone is just a complete a$$ then it makes me not want to work with them at all.
So true. I can’t deal with jerks!
These are all qualities I saw in my last bosses, who started a company from the ground up several years ago. They were always looking for ways to improve the business, and never settled. They were extremely ambitious and worked all hours of the night. They did whatever it took to put the business first. It was really admirable. It takes a lot of resilience/dedication to making something work.
Very cool story! Love that!
Resiliance is definitely a key but I think there is also a flip side to that. The awareness to recognize when a project or idea isn’t working and you should move on to the next one. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the mentality to never quit but that comes at the cost of not being able to put time and effort into a future endevor. One that could be more successful than your current project.
That is true. Sometimes things don’t work and it’s good to recognize that too!