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Increasingly, most entrepreneurs have the intense desire to start a business long before they know what the business will be. It is that internal need to be independent and create something, “the burning gut,” that drives entrepreneurship. The reason why passion is so important is that starting a business is hard work that doesn’t always go smoothly. The drive to succeed sustains the entrepreneur through difficult times.
Entrepreneurs display many other behaviours, not all of which are attractive. Here we look at the GOOD.
The following are some of the positive qualities of successful entrepreneurs. People who exhibit these behaviours tend to make good entrepreneurs.
- Creativity
Entrepreneurship is more art than science. No two start-ups experience exactly the same things. No two entrepreneurs approach a venture in exactly the same way. This is what makes entrepreneurship at once so exciting and so difficult. There are no hard and fast rules for going through the process; there are only examples from which to choose those techniques that seem more appropriate for a given situation.
Crafting a star-up strategy successfully requires creativity – the ability to juxtapose things that are normally not found together. For example, the drive-through bank was the result of combining banking and the fast-food model.
- Business Knowledge
One of the best ways to prepare for entrepreneurship is to learn as much about it as possible by reading magazine articles, books and newspapers – and more importantly – by talking to entrepreneurs. Studying the environment for business and looking for trends and patterns of change is an important part of the preparation to become an entrepreneur. These activities increase entrepreneurial knowledge, thereby reducing some of the risks and enhancing the chances of success.
- Critical Thinking
Because entrepreneurs operate in a world of uncertainty, the ability to analyses a situation, extract the important and ignore the superfluous, compare potential outcomes, and extrapolate from other experiences to the current one is vital. Entrepreneurs also regularly have to weigh options in complex situations. Critical thinking skills can be improved through practice and by observing how others with well-developed skills work through a problem-solving situation.
- Integrity.
When all is said and done, business is about relationships – with partners, with customers, and with suppliers. Successfully building relationships requires honesty and integrity. It requires giving value and delivering on promises. An entrepreneur’s core values are the foundation for the business and are always reflected in the business and in the way customers are treated. Their integrity is something that entrepreneurs guard more carefully than anything else because they cannot afford to taint or lose it.
- Self- Discipline and Perseverance
To succeed in anything requires a higher-than-average amount of self-discipline and perseverance. Entrepreneurs don’t give up easily, and they tend to stick doggedly to a concept until something or someone convinces them that it’s time to move on to something else. If entrepreneurs didn’t have this tenacity, there would be no great business, because every entrepreneur faces the doubters and nay-sayers when a business concept is in its earliest stages, The ability to stick to the task and persevere against all odds is what wins that day for the entrepreneur.
- Thriving on Uncertainty and Chaos
One of the biggest problems that scientists and engineers face when they decide to consider entrepreneurship is the lack of formulas and of right and wrong answers – in short, they face ambiguity and uncertainty. People who wish there were no surprises in life and who want an environment that is predictable and stable will find it very difficult to survive in the world of the entrepreneur.
One of the reasons why entrepreneurship is such an interesting and exciting field is that it is constantly changing. It is well known that the greatest, most innovative ideas come about at the edge of chaos when things that don’t normally connect are brought together in new ways. Opportunity is rarely found in stable, predictable settings.
