Small Business Entrepreneur

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Most people assume that in order to be a successful business owner, one must be responsible, hard working, willing to take risk, high energy, and so on.

In my experience, I have to say that those qualities are not necessarily the markers of a successful entrepreneur. Of the many entrepreneurs I know, some are total extroverts, some are complete introverts. Some are the type that work every moment to win and some just have a good idea and are able to put it together relatively easily.

My point here is that there are a variety of characteristics of the successful entrepreneur and there is no one profile for success. Many people get discouraged early on because they assume they don't possess the supposed characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. They think they're not ready, need more education, or just don’t have what it takes to pursue a good idea. Basically they sell themselves short.

What about you? How do you know if you have what it takes to start your own business? In my opinion, the following are the key, real-world characteristics of the successful entrepreneur:

1. Age

   When I started my first company at 24, people told me I was "brave" because I was willing to take the "risk". In retrospect, I realize there was nothing really brave about it. At such a young age, I had virtually no responsibilities and if I failed I would have just used the experience to demonstrate my initiative and drive to prospective employers and/or business school. (I realize that in this day and age 24 would not be considered that young but practically speaking, someone who is just out of college and only has a couple years at their first job is young.)

   The point is that the younger you are, the lower your risk.

2. Ability to Persevere

   This is one of the absolute most important characteristics of the successful small business entrepreneur. Even a very successful small business will have moments of defeat. These defeats can be as small as a key sale not coming through or even minor criticisms.

   Can you stand up to disappointment? If you are the type of person that banks on every little comment from a potential client or every opportunity you thought you had, you will be in trouble. The truth is that there are ups and downs. The ups are big and the downs are also big. You need to stay centered.

   Many successful small business entrepreneurs live by the concept that nothing is a done deal until you have finished the work, been paid, and the money is safely sitting in your bank account, and I agree with this perspective. (I would add however that even then it’s not a done deal because of the potential for any crazy lawsuit to happen.)

3. Ability to be Objective

   You will need to objectively evaluate your idea and other critical business decisions. You may have a number of advisors and other trusted people around you, but these people will not necessarily be able to help you accurately evaluate the decisions you have in front of you. In fact (and I have experienced this firsthand), the advice you receive can be detrimental to you for a number of reasons:

   • Even very intelligent advisors cannot fully understand your idea. Many ideas are unique, new, different, or technical. It’s difficult to find even experienced colleagues that can help you effectively evaluate your idea or other business decision.

   • Peers can be dismissive of your potential. It’s unfortunate but your drive to start a company can be very threatening to people around you. They may see every reason why you will fail, none of them true. Even peers who have started a company of their own in a similar space might see your opportunity as too much of an upward struggle because they are so far out of the startup mode that all they can see are obstacles. Don't listen to them.

   So you will need to have a level of objectivity to evaluate your ideas as well as some analytical capability to draw upon for the evaluation process.

4. Energy, Drive, Will to Succeed

   Owning your own business is definitely work. There will be times when you may have to work around the clock for extended periods, and you will have new headaches to put up with. But you will be amazed at how much energy and commitment to succeed you'll suddenly have once you have money at risk and your idea on the table. You may find out you have more drive than you ever imagined.

   Plus, it gets easier. I know countless successful small business entrepreneurs who have built their businesses up, organized their operations, brought in key staff and now barely show up at the office.

   You will certainly have new headaches in getting to this point, but keep in mind that you will also lose a few headaches, like a nagging boss who you do all the work for but they make all the money. Instead you will become the nagging boss who makes all the money ;)

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