This is a guest post by Paul Onwueme. To write an article for this site, please see our write for us guidelines.
Do you want to start a business but aren’t sure if you are actually heading down the right road? Before anything else, it is wise to ask yourself if you have what it takes to become an entrepreneur and to stay on even when you have to face so many obstacles and put up with numerous challenges. What are the qualities of entrepreneurs?
What makes them tick, who are they judging by the qualities, traits and attributes they have that others lack or have in small measures?
Here are 13 characteristics of Entrepreneurs;
1. They are hard working
All entrepreneurs will own up to one thing, they are not lazy. They work hard at what they do, they might appear to be decision makers only approving or granting permission to staff who work for them but that is the case with highly successful and well established entrepreneurs but they are a very small percentage and even they had to work very hard to get to where they are today. Hard work is a must for every aspiring entrepreneur.
2. Innovative
Being able to do something in a new and different way is what being innovative is about. Most entrepreneurs are innovative usually being among the trail blazers, setting and surpassing standards with their offbeat approach to problem solving.
3. Determined
With determination comes the quality of believing in nothing more than your passion and aspirations. The desire to overcome frustrations, disappointment, rejection, mockery and unfriendliness by standing your ground and pursuing your dreams makes one truly determined. Entrepreneurs are a determined lot, willing to prove their point despite the obstacles they may face.
4. Independent
A true entrepreneur is independent, having a mind of his own, not following the crowd for the sake of belonging to a group but rather doing so because they deem it worthwhile. They have their own causes and they live their lives accordingly without minding if it fits into another person’s picture.
5. Productive
All entrepreneurs are productive. They always want to create or deliver something valuable to people, something that improves the quality of life and solves a problem nagging a particular group of people (niche if you may). Their lives seem devoted to finding a solution in form of a product or service that delivers that much needed value.
6. Self-reliant
Most entrepreneurs are self-reliant, empowered and skilled. They have one or more skills and competencies that make them able to earn a stable income and are always trying to improve upon those skills or to acquire new ones.
7. Focused
Entrepreneurs are usually focused or single-minded in that they pursue one major project at a time. More often than not, that project is the love of their life, their business idea.
8. Expert sales people
It is rare to meet an entrepreneur who isn’t a good sales person. Most entrepreneurs are good at convincing people to buy a certain product often times this is due to their thorough knowledge and believe in the product rather than their distinct persuasive abilities.
9. Uniqueness
Follow your rainbow, that seems to be a common theme with entrepreneurs, they know that being yourself is the sure way to success, they are not copy cats (well may be when it comes to business ideas).
10. Self-motivated
Most entrepreneurs have initiative and drive because they can motivate themselves to act. They always seem to know what needs to be done and don’t wait for anyone to tell them.
11. Risk takers
They are also incurable risk takers. They don’t take foolish risks rather what they do is take calculated risks based on intelligent assumptions.
12. Frugal
Entrepreneurs value money. They see money as a means of acquiring assets and for that reason only buy what they need. Whatever extra income they have must be invested wisely and they do this consistently as long as they earn an income.
13. Passionate about what they do
All entrepreneurs are passionate about what they do. They love what they do and will be happy to do it anyway even without being paid for it, but that is not to say they are not profit motivated because they usually are.
[box]Paul Onwueme goes by the alias Business Ideas Expert and has a blog about business ideas at http://lagosbusinesses.blogspot.com He is interested also in Entrepreneurship and internet marketing.[/box]
