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Last Updated on January 20, 2024 by Work In My Pajamas
Finding success as a business owner is not an accident. In addition to having a solid business plan, the best entrepreneurs also share certain traits that contribute to their overall success. As a business owner, you can expect to spend many hours getting your business up and running before it becomes profitable. It is stressful, and not everyone is equipped to handle it.
“As an entrepreneur, you’re going to fail. That’s just an unfortunate fact,” John Rampton writes on Forbes. “While something that drastic would be too much for most people to handle, an entrepreneur has the uncanny ability to get up and dust themselves off.”
These individuals share several personality traits that you need to run a successful online business.
1. Creativity
For one, they are creative. “Entrepreneurs are almost always defined by their drive to constantly develop new ideas and improve on existing processes. In fact, that’s how most of them got into business in the first place,” explains the Minority Business Development Agency. “Successful people welcome change and often depend on it to improve their effectiveness as leaders and ultimately the success of their businesses as many business concepts rely on improving products, services and processes in order to win business.”
2. Future-Oriented
The most successful business owners are future-oriented as well. They look past the value in each transaction and look toward what comes next. These entrepreneurs focus just as much on daily operations as planning out cash flow, creating plans for growth, and investing in the future of their companies. They look to the future and, as such, are prepared for shortfalls in cash flow as well as whatever opportunities come their ways.
3. Self-Motivation
Successful small business owners have a certain drive. They are determined and motivated to succeed, even when the rewards of their efforts are not immediately visible. The best entrepreneurs have a certain passion for what they do that pushes them on, even when the money isn’t there. “Entrepreneurs believe in themselves and are confident and dedicated to their project,” writes Investopedia. “Their intense focus on and faith in their idea may be misconstrued as stubbornness, but it is this willingness to work hard and defy the odds that make them successful.”
4. Integration
You also need the ability to build and nurture relationships. While small business owners do need to be able to stand on their own, they also need to be able to work with others — and the research backs it up. According to the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute, the ability to collaborate and delegate was the absolutely most important trait for small business owners. Business thought leader Joshua Cooper Ramo calls the talent for creating these connections the “Seventh Sense.”
5. Trust
Finally, successful entrepreneurs have trust. They believe, beyond doubt, that they can succeed in their chosen fields — but that doesn’t mean they are reckless. While they realize that failure is a possibility, they trust that they can handle whatever hurdle they have to face. In turn, successful business owners spend time planning out every detail and leaving as little to chance as possible.
Being a business owner is not for everyone. Long hours and frequent setbacks as you refine your business model can be demoralizing at best and completely catastrophic at worse. Having the right combination of personality traits provides the foundation for success. Creativity, independence, self-motivation, integration, and trust can help you survive and thrive.
