How Your Personal Qualities Mark You Out for a Career in Business
The conventional wisdom on becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own business is that this is something that you choose to do. However, the reality may be that the world of business actually chooses you. In some cases people start a business because they have a specific set of skills and they want to work for themselves. The reality in this case can be that you end up owning a job rather than owning a business.
What many people who are passionate about starting their own businesses will have in common is a series of traits that mark them out to be ideal entrepreneurs. Equally, these very qualities that are so enviable in business may make them highly unsuitable for the world of work.
So in this newsletter we’re going to examine some of these characteristics, and also look at why possessing these traits might mark someone out as a troubled and troubling employee. The term ‘entrepreneurial’ applies equally to an established business owner who wants to accelerate the growth of the business or start a new business venture.
Determination
At the heart of every business owner is a tenacious nature, which is absolutely essential in the world of commerce. Achieving anything in business will inevitably involve negotiating a vast array of obstacles, which are literally unending. If you want to succeed with your own company, it is essential to push through these problems, and retain your resolve at all times.
Virtually anyone that is either successful or driven to start their own business will possess this inner determination. Persistence, determination, commitment – these are the qualities that will help you achieve success, and also to overcome the failures that you will almost inevitably encounter.
Passion
People may look at successful entrepreneurs and business people with envy. And they may have similar ambitions for their own lives. But these ambitions will never be realised without a huge amount of passion. Ambition, insight, and intelligence are all vital qualities for entrepreneurs, but without a real drive to participate in the world of business there will be no ultimate success.
Many entrepreneurs are so driven with insight and vision that they genuinely believe they will change the world. And, of course, several of these people have literally achieved this. There has to be an excitement and belief at the heart of what you’re doing in order to succeed in the hugely competitive world of commerce.
So if you don’t truly identify with what you’re doing, you should basically think about doing something else.
Courage
While no one is literally fearless, the meek and timid are unlikely to inherit the earth in the current business paradigm. Courage is absolutely critical. You need to be able to withstand the fear of uncertainty and potential failure, while being ready to take the big decisions that your company and vision ultimately requires.
There are a huge list of things to be fearful of in the world of business, not least completely failing and going bankrupt. If you are ever going to overcome such fundamental fears then it is necessary to be a courageous person at heart. You have to push through such concerns, and continue to take the actions and decisions required to be successful.
Vision
Achieving success in any field of business is largely dependent on vision. If you can’t see opportunities and experience insights that others cannot see, you quite simply won’t succeed as an entrepreneur. There is a curiosity at the heart of the entrepreneurial spirit, and a vision that enables ideas to come to fruition.
Indeed, going into the field of business in the first place requires a faith in one’s vision that many people simply don’t possess. You have to be ahead of the curve in business, and this is a trait that only a relatively small percentage of the population possesses.
Self-Belief
Self belief is absolutely essential in business, not least to get over the difficulties and failures that we have discussed previously. You have to absolutely believe in what you’re selling, and feel in your heart and soul that your position is absolutely correct, even when a cavalcade of naysayers tell you that you’re completely wrong.
Flexibility
Thriving in business requires regular adaptation. The world moves extremely fast, and the business climate evolves as market conditions change. Equally, as you work on a particular product or service, you will have to respond to completely unanticipated circumstances. More often than not, what you ultimately deliver will be significantly different from your initial vision.
Being strong enough to admit that something you are doing is not working is absolutely critical in the world of business. Stubbornness is actually a bad trait for entrepreneurs, as it will prevent someone involved with a business idea from identifying what is wrong, and admitting things need to change within a company.
Nimbleness and flexibility are absolutely essential for any business person.
Rebelliousness
This may not be one of the most obvious trends among business people, but there is something of a pioneering spirit in the entrepreneurial field. You have to be willing and ready to break down barriers, and set new standards for the industries that you’re working in.
Research conducted by the University of California and the London School of Economics discovered that many entrepreneurs have a combination of intelligence and love for risk-tasking activities. In essence, beginning a business in the first place is an example of breaking the rules, as only around ten percent of people in society are openly engaged in entrepreneurship.
So the business field certainly contains its fair share of rebels and chancers!
Escaping the World of Work
Aside from the positive qualities that we can associate with business people and entrepreneurs, many people that decided to pursue business ideas also struggle to fit into the corporate system. Indeed, it’s often possible to identify that you are ideally suited to the world of business, simply by analysing your experience in regular employment.
Family Ties
Many successful entrepreneurs and business people find that several of their family members found it difficult to work for other people. In particular, often the parents of entrepreneurs work for themselves, and had their own businesses. As the saying goes, blood is thicker than water.
Status Quo
Many business people and entrepreneurs detest the status quo, continually challenging and questioning everything around them. While many people in the working world go with the flow, business people will continually strive to make things better, and furthermore be willing to take action on these instincts.
Getting Fired
Interestingly enough, many successful entrepreneurs are fired by companies on several occasions before becoming business people. If you find yourself getting sacked on a regular basis from employment, this could be an obvious indication that you’re suited to running your own business. This is often literally in your DNA.
Anti-Authority
Another common trait among business people is an anti-authoritarian streak. This is often why such people cannot fit into the working world in the first place, and are frequently fired from employment.
Hugely Competitive
Business people are also often hugely competitive, always believing that they can do something better than they have already. This is really at the crux of every successful person; the obsession with improvement, and unending perfectionism. This often doesn’t mesh particularly well with a desk job.
Accentuate the Positive
So we hope that this has been an enlightening examination of the characteristics that mark you out as a potentially successful entrepreneur. It is virtually certain that anyone that is seriously considering this field will possess many of the qualities, and seeming drawbacks for employment, listed in this newsletter.
What next ?
Whatever you feel about your current situation and your business perhaps you feel that it’s not as good as it gets. You may see significant opportunities that can significantly develop your business or you may have some issues to overcome before you are ready to grow.
If you would like to have an informal chat about your business and how you can make the shift to the next phase then get in touch and I’’ send you a free business review questionnaire and a link to Value Builder. This will tell you the current position of the business and indicate the potential to increase the long term value as well as the profitability.
You can contact me as follows:
Richard Perry
Business Performance Coach
w: https://actioncoach.co.uk/coaches/richard-perry/
e: richardperry@actioncoach.com
t: @actioncoachrp
f: https://www.facebook.com/actioncoachrichardperry/
t: 01582935121
m: 07913092897
