1. Passion and Energy
When you think of the likes of Bill
Gates, you tend to feel he is living a life filled with long vacations and
excessive free time. But that’s not true; most successful entrepreneurs are
known to have a great amount of passion and energy.
“Passion is what drives me forward.
Passion is what makes me go to bed at 2am and wake up at 6am.” – Aliko
Dangote
In fact, they possess the capacity
to work long hours with minimal sleep. What most people don’t realize is that
entrepreneurs work longer hours than most employees; shuffling between their
family, business duties and meetings. This just reminds me of a quote from
Warren Buffet, the world’s richest investor and founder of Berkshire Hathaway.
“Without passion, you don’t have
energy. Without energy, you have nothing.” – Warren Buffett
2. Ability to take Responsibility
“Sometimes when you innovate, you
make mistakes. It’s best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your
other innovations.” – Steve Jobs
Successful entrepreneurs are known
to take responsibility of their actions and decisions even in the face of
failure. They don’t blame their employees; instead they take charge, correct
their business mistakes and move on.
“My philosophy is that not only are
you responsible for your life but doing the best at this moment puts you in the
best place for the next moment.” – Oprah Winfrey
3. Long Standing Commitment
“It’s my job for Oracle, the number
two software company in the world; to become the number one software company in
the world. My job is to build better than the competition, sell those products
in the marketplace and eventually supplant Microsoft and move from being number
two to number one.” – Larry Ellison
This is a very vital character
possessed by any successful entrepreneur you come across. Entrepreneurs are
known to be committed not just for the moment but for years. You can imagine
Warren Buffet, who is in his 80’s, yet he is still committed to the growth of
Berkshire Hathaway, which he founded many years ago.
“I’m not afraid of turning 80 and I
have lots of things to do. I don’t have time for dying.” – Ingvar Kamprad
“If I make a commitment to
something, I will stick to it no matter what.” – Jenny Craig
4. Self Belief
“You are nuts and you should be
proud of it. Stick with what you believe in.” – Trip Hawkins
Successful entrepreneurs are known
to display a high level of self confidence. They have little belief in fate;
they strongly believe in themselves and their ability to achieve their set
goals. This is a major character venture capitalist watch out for before
financing any business venture.
“Some people intertwine self belief
and faith but I stand to say they are not the same. Faith is not self belief.
While faith says it can be done, self belief says ‘I can do it.’ While faith
says there is possibility, Self belief says ‘I am the possibility.’ Faith
without self belief is vain.” – Ajaero Tony Martins
5. Persistence
“When the going gets tough, the
tough gets going.”
This is what persistence stands for;
the ability to press on in the face of hardship. Without persistence, nothing
can be achieved. When you think of persistence; think of Henry Ford, founder of
Ford motor Company and Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds.’
“Nothing in the world can take the
place of persistence. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
The world is full with educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent.” – Ray Kroc
6. Goal Setting
“I intend to be, the richest man in
the world.” – Howard Hughes
All successful entrepreneurs share
the characteristic of being goal oriented. They have the ability to set clear
goals for themselves. These goals are high and challenging but realistic and
attainable. To them, life without goals set and achieved is life wasted.
“I think I am very goal oriented.
I’d like to win the America’s cup. I’d like Oracle to be the No 1 software
company in the world. I still think it is possible to beat Microsoft.” – Larry
Ellison
7. Ability to take Risk
“In today’s rapidly changing world,
the people who are not taking risk are the risk takers.” – Robert Kiyosaki
As we all know, business is a risk
and to undertake it, you have to be daring. Successful entrepreneurs are risk
takers; they put down their time, energy and resources to make sure their
business stand the test of time.
“You must take risks, both with your
own money or with borrowed money. Risk taking is essential to business growth.”
– J. Paul Getty
8. Intelligent Use of Feedback
Feedback is one element that
successful entrepreneurs don’t joke with. In fact; it is so important that they
surround themselves with smart teams so as to get feedbacks about decisions
they took. Most importantly, they make intelligent use of the feedback they
receive. Please note that feedback can be in the form of criticism, opinion or
advice.
“Sometimes, I think my most
important job as a CEO is to listen for bad news. If you don’t act on it, your
people will eventually stop bringing bad news to your attention and that is the
beginning of the end.” – Bill Gates
9. Strong Self Imposed
Standards
“It takes 20 years to build a
reputation and only five Minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will
do things differently.” – Warren Buffett
Successful entrepreneurs have laid
down principles which they don’t compromise for any reason. If you want to be a
successful entrepreneur, you must be firm, strict and be a man or woman of
principle.
“I am stingy and I’m proud of the
reputation.” – Ingvar Kamprad
“Real integrity is doing the right
thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know if you did it or not.” – Oprah
Winfrey
10. Ability to Work under Pressure
and Uncertainty
To be an entrepreneur, you must have
the ability to work under pressure and uncertainty. Whenever you are facing
tough times in your business; remember Donald Trump, who was in personal debt
of a billion dollars and his corporation was in debt of 9 billion dollars yet
he kept cool and worked his way out of the debts.
“You must not only learn to live
with tension, you must seek it out. You must learn to thrive on stress.” – J.
Paul Getty
11. Strong Internal Control
Control is essential to the business
survival of every successful entrepreneur. To build a successful business, you
need firm control of your cash flow and all other business systems. Control is
a watch word of entrepreneurs and investors.
“In order to be a player on the fast
track, you will need to have a plan on how to gain more and more control. On
the fast track, it is control more than money that counts.” – Rich Dad
12. Intelligent Use of Resources
Sometimes, entrepreneurs are faced
with the challenge of building a business with limited capital. When building a
small business startup from scratch, there is need for efficient utilization of
the limited resources. It’s called building a business on a “Shoe string
budget“
“IKEA people do not drive flashy
cars or stay at luxury hotels.” – Ingvar Kamprad
13. Ability to Quickly Learn From
Failures
“Punishing honest mistakes stifles
creativity. I want people moving and shaking the earth and they are going to
make mistakes.” – Henry Ross Perot
Successful entrepreneurs make lot of
mistakes that sometimes lead to business failures but they don’t bow their head
in defeat. Instead, they quickly acknowledge their business mistakes, correct
them, learn from their failures and move on. They fail but they don’t quit.
Instead, they get inspired by their failure and use their failure as a stepping
stone to success.
“Failure is just a resting place. It
is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
14. Money as a Means of Keeping
Score
“I don’t make deals for the money.
I’ve got enough much more than I’ll ever need. I do it to do it.” – Donald
Trump
This characteristic might sound a
little bit funny but it is a common attribute found in most successful
entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs use the money acquired from their business as a
landmark, a target and a sign to move on to other business challenges. An
entrepreneur who makes his/her first million dollars will be happy with the
achievement and will set a goal to make his/her first 100million dollars.
“Build wealth as a by product of
your business success; If wealth is your only objective in business, you will
probably fail.” – J. Paul Getty
15. Delayed Gratification
“You know you are on the road to
success if you would do your job and not get paid for it.” – Oprah Winfrey
I should have listed this first but
I decided to save it for the last. Most individuals like the concept of getting
rich quickly, invest today and gain a 1000% ROI in a week and stuffs like that.
Entrepreneurs know that profit or reward may not be instant and may even take
as much as five years before receiving any dividend. Sometimes, they work
without pay, hoping for a greater reward in years to come.
“I never attempt to make money on
the stock market. I buy on assumption they could close the market the next day
and not re-open it for five years.” – Warren Buffett
Having revealed the characteristics
of successful entrepreneurs, I will advice you try to develop these characters
because without these characters, your success will be limited.
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