What makes an entrepreneur successful? It’s certainly not magic – but it has everything to do with mindset. Learn more about it here.
20% of new business owners fail within the first year.
And it’s no surprise: being an entrepreneur is hard work and takes a lot of persistence. As an entrepreneur, you need to work through problems, have the ability to adapt to change, be resilient, and sometimes, you need to be a little crazy.
But contrary to what most people think: you don’t have to be a genius or have a fancy degree to be able to lead your business to success.
So what makes an entrepreneur successful?
It’s actually very simple. It’s all about having the right mindset.
Today, I’m sharing the six essential traits that I firmly believe that every entrepreneur needs to succeed.
So let’s get started!
1. Having the ability to listen to others.
In my career as a marketing professional, I have noticed that the most successful entrepreneurs have consistently shown the ability to listen to others. In fact, when they are in meetings, they barely talk at all!
Instead, they just listen to what everybody else is saying – and absorb every word. They only speak and share their perspective when everybody else has done so.
And mind you: these are the very same entrepreneurs who built Fortune 500 companies!
You see, wise entrepreneurs constantly collect data and information to understand any situation better. They listen so they can effectively communicate and be able to inspire and motivate people to help them with their business’s mission.
So, if you’re the kind of person who loves to talk, you might want to consider talking a little less and listening a little more. Try to absorb what the other person is saying before speaking up.
2. Having the ability to solve problems.
I know that the easiest way out of any problem is to throw your hands up and say, this isn’t working. But that’s not the right way to approach it.
You see, entrepreneurs are problem-solvers. They find solutions. They keep moving – and that’s precisely why they are so successful.
And even if something doesn’t work, they don’t just throw in the towel. Instead, they give it a little more time to work and just keep exploring other things that might.
What makes an entrepreneur successful? Successful entrepreneurs have all kinds of plans. They have Plan A’s, Plan B’s, Plan C’s – and who knows how long the list goes on!
As a result, these entrepreneurs often end up with different strategies and ways to accomplish the same thing – which gives them an extraordinary ability to solve problems, even if they have too little time to come up with brilliant ideas.
But of course, this doesn’t mean that you can’t do it. You can adopt this mindset as your own.
So, the next time you feel that a problem has stopped you in your tracks, try to think creatively. Be resourceful. How will you solve that problem with the resources you have at hand? Could there be several other ways to solve it?
And if you need help, there are always people who can help you and give you great advice and support.
But you have to be willing to put in the work to solve your problems. And that’s what makes the difference between a successful and a failed entrepreneur.
3. Having the ability to lead.
Not everybody has the ability to lead, but this doesn’t mean that there’s nothing else you can do about it.
Leadership is something that can be taught and learned. But it has to start with the first two traits that I shared with you.
Firstly, you need to listen more intently to others. Secondly, you should have the ability to solve problems as they pop up.
Once you regularly put these two skills into practice and help people solve their problems and lead them towards success, more and more people will view you as a leader.
Of course, so many other factors go into leadership, but these two skills are an excellent way to get started.
Also, if leadership is a topic that you’d like me to discuss further, drop me a comment below, and I’ll see if I can get to it!
4. Having patience.
Have you ever heard of the saying that to harvest the fruits, you need to plant the seeds?
You see, the key to success is being patient – because success doesn’t happen overnight.
In fact, the most successful entrepreneurs are in it to play the long game. They are not looking for overnight wins or short-term gains. They are looking for successes that will set them apart and allow them to make an impact.
I know that this can be very difficult to do because I, myself, have struggled with this. As a fourth-generation entrepreneur, I often find my patience testing me – and maybe because I grew up with everybody around me being impatient all the time. As a result, we often get stuff done, but we’re also constantly working towards getting more done.
Now, I’m not saying that working hard is a bad thing. But I do believe that you have to take time to breathe. You have to step back and focus on the bigger picture – and just be patient. I assure you, you’ll become much more efficient when you do!
5. Being consistent.
Let me break it to you: you can’t get extraordinary results with unextraordinary measures.
Naturally, you have to work hard to get extraordinary results. But if you want to succeed, you have to learn how to be consistent in your efforts.
Consistency is key to success, and it is one of the reasons some entrepreneurs are so successful. They know what to do, they do it – and they stick to their guns.
The reality is that too many people quit – even after making a lot of progress.
But the entrepreneurs that I know and admire are the ones that persevere. They keep going, even when it seems like it’s not going to work out.
They keep working, even when the odds are stacked against them. They keep on pushing because they know that the results will come.
6. Having the ability to push past failure.
Isn’t it amazing how super successful entrepreneurs fail more than they succeed?
In fact, so many of them have failed so many times that they, themselves, can’t even count how many times they’ve failed!
Thomas Edison was famously quoted as saying, he found 9999 ways not to build a light bulb because his 10,000 was the one that ultimately worked. How crazy is that?
But thanks to him, we now have power and lighting in our homes.
Imagine how different our world would be if he hadn’t found that one way to make a light bulb work!
When you fail, don’t beat yourself up and keep pushing. If you can do that, you’ll be able to go past failure. You’ll even make a difference in your life and the lives of others.
In Conclusion
So, as you can see, being an entrepreneur is not easy. But it is possible.
I hope you enjoyed learning about these key entrepreneurial success traits and everything else that goes into what makes an entrepreneur successful. But these six essential skills that I just discussed are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to becoming a successful entrepreneur.
If you’re interested in knowing whether or not you have an entrepreneurial mindset at this point, then click here to take my Entrepreneurial Mindset Quiz. It’s a quick quiz with only eight questions that will walk you through whether you are a natural or if your mindset needs some work. It will also give you the tools and resources to help improve your entrepreneurial mindset.
