I would say that there are a number of traits that are typical for a good entrepreneur:
- Toleration of Risk – The willingness to wager some or all personal assets on the belief that there is an opportunity to provide a greater value than is currently available and customers who are willing to pay for the improvement.
Persistence - Courage to believe that there is a better way and that the product or service will sell itself once the potential customers learn about it.
Creativity - An ability to come up with clever workable solutions. An unwillingness to accept that the status quo is the best solution.
Confidence – Having a strong belief in their capabilities and the chances of success.
Ability to Make Decisions – The ability to make good decisions quickly. In many businesses there is a requirement to make good decisions on-the-fly and accept the risk of not doing a great deal of homework – but rather by trusting their gut instincts.
Ability to Motivate Others – An empathy for the employee’s feelings and needs. An ability to communicate the necessity of providing a service to customers that is different from what the market already delivers.
But remember that approximately 50% of all businesses fail within the first 4 years. The list above are characteristics of an entrepreneur. I think that the difference between any entrepreneur and SUCCESSFUL entrepreneurs is that successful entrepreneurs also have an ability to accurately gauge how valuable their product is to the mass market (or to put it another way - they understand where the breaking point is in a cost/benefit analysis.
Chris
