SA Close Corporations is now known as PTY Company Registration - you can visit our new website at PTY Company Registration

Eight Top Qualities of Entrepreneurs

By Angela Baca

Do you dream of owning your own company? Entrepreneurship is a profession that awaits your discovery. The following article presents a detailed discussion of entrepreneurship by examining eight top qualities of successful business owners.

As you read the following list, think about the advantage of self-evaluation. As you reflect on your commitment to the idea of owning a business and the qualities of successful entrepreneurs, you will find yourself in a better position to determine your chances for success at business ownership.

1. Attitude. Successful entrepreneurs have a powerful attitude that energizes their company. When customers walk in the door, they sense that a business owner is capable. Customers feel confident in purchasing products or services and returning time and time again for their needs. If you want to become a business owner, develop your own entrepreneurial attitude. Polishing your attitude puts you in an ideal position to pitch a business plan to potential financial sponsors, including loan officers, venture capitalists, and private investors.

2. Vision. Business owners possess a vision for their company. If your vision is to establish a startup company, your goal is to map out where the business is headed over several years. It is not enough to have a good business idea. Vision helps you follow through with detailed steps for turning an idea into a company that realizes a profit. In subsequent stages of ownership, vision helps the entrepreneur to sustain the business.

3. Innovation. The ability to respond to market conditions (i.e. the demand for a new product) distinguishes highly successful businesses from other businesses. If you want to own your own company, you will either have to be innovative yourself or manage innovation in employees. For example, you can hire people with great ideas. Their ideas will drive functions like sales, product development, and customer service. As a business manager/owner, developing your staff can produce higher rates of innovation. You can model innovation or build a community of innovators through your role as the entrepreneur.

4. Persistence. This quality differs from qualities like vision and innovation because persistence can exhaust you over the long haul. An inspired entrepreneur doggedly pursues a vision. A persistent entrepreneur invests thousands of hours of hard work year after year. Persistence in entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. Although some business owners can operate a business in a forty-hour week, many business owners work many more hours each week to ensure their company runs smoothly.

5. Market knowledge. This is a valuable quality you can acquire. For people who create businesses in markets they have already worked in for years, market knowledge is a no-brainer. For the entrepreneur launching a business in a new market, there is no handbook for success. You can read up on market knowledge and pursue professional development in this area. Just use a Google search to commence your research.

6. Integrity. This quality is easy to overlook or assume. In the business world, giving your word to customers, suppliers, and employees impacts your business reputation. You have to conduct business ethically and honestly. You have to follow through on promises. You have to build trust and inspire loyalty from all parties. Don’t go into business thinking that there is an easy way to make money by deceiving customers. There is a way to succeed at business that embodies integrity just like other professions like public service and ministry.

7. Resource management. Just like a business managers in larger organizations, entrepreneurs must adeptly juggle resources. In other words, you have to be able to handle money, products, supplies, people, assets, property, and other business components in smart ways. While you may believe that experience running a household or education in business management adequately prepares you to run a business, consider testing your resource management skills. One idea is to perform resource management for an employer. Your experience will prepare you to make wiser decisions as a business owner.

8. Communication. Entrepreneurs are communicators. They have to communicate business ideas to their staff. They have to articulate a marketing plan to attract customers. They have to respond to customer needs. They have to negotiate business deals. If you want to succeed in entrepreneurship, you can focus some time on improving your communication skills. Your success can be increased through effective communication.

As you ponder the likely advantages of business ownership, use the qualities above as a starting point. There are dozens of other considerations. As you proceed through the stages of writing your business plan, it becomes clearer whether you can earn a living with your proposed business. The failure to turn a profit can turn a good business idea into a business failure.

Finally, consider whether your proposed business will give you the kind of financial security you need. Some business models will be very vulnerable to the ups and downs of the economy. If you need a fixed income every month to survive financially, the uncertainty of business ownership may not be the right fit for your situation.

Entrepreneurs rely upon their own skills and employee skills to manage a company in a dynamic business marketplace. Don’t make the mistake of becoming an entrepreneur on a whim. Determine if you have what it takes to run a business and then design a strategy for testing your idea in the business arena.