Am I entrepreneur? Do you have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur? Can you learn how to be an entrepreneur? Yes! So what is stopping you? Sooner or later, you will toy with the idea of starting your own business. I know because I started investing in income property a long time ago. I will share some of my experiences as an entrepreneur with you.
Background
I think I was always an entrepreneur. My parents, grandparents and great grandparents were all entrepreneurs. My parents took me to work on Saturdays as early as I can remember. Initially, I thought it was fun because I would play with the various things around the office. Around six (6) or seven (7) years old, they put me to work. I worked every weekend with them until I went away to school at eleven (11) years old. Working around my parents taught me a lot about hard work and not letting anything stop you.
5 Important Traits
Responsibility – I was given responsibility at a very early age. I was expected to do work! I was given an assignment and expected to complete it on time and to the best of my ability. I did not realize it at the time, but it made me feel important. Someone depended on me to do something and get it done. What a lesson? I had sole responsibility to complete the project. To this day, I always take responsibility seriously. You can never delegate responsibility; entrepreneurs realize they are ultimately responsible for the business. No excuses!
Goals – My parents came to this country as immigrants and started businesses. The odds were against them because of so many factors, but they persevered and achieved their dreams. Goals are big part of my life. I made it the focal point in my early thirties! I developed a plan to be financially independent before I turned forty (40). I achieved my goal at thirty-eight (38) years old. I held myself accountable on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and adjusted my effort to achieve the goal.
Determination – Successful people fail! Surprise, the difference is they keep trying until they succeed. When you read my member post, you may think it was easy, but more people told me no before someone said yes. It took me a long time to find a good real estate broker to help me find my first apartment building. As I achieved a goal, I would set new ones. Part of my goal was more income property, several businesses and ultimately cashing out.
Passionate – Everyone talks about passion, but you must love what you do! You should wake up, excited to go to work! Do you feel that way about work? If you don’t, you should change your job or career. Entrepreneurs love what they do; it is not a job just to pay the bills. When it becomes that, it is time to sell. When you love what you do, you do everything to learn new skills and become better at your job.
Problem Solver/Decision Maker – Entrepreneurs are problem solvers, they must make decisions without all the information. They have to be right most of the time and they cannot research everything to death before they make the decision. They rely on experience and judgment to make quick decisions and they make them work. They do what is necessary to make the decisions work for their business.
Final Thoughts
Entrepreneurs are not born! They may show some traits, but they are people who are willing to work longer and harder than anyone else at something they love. Not all entrepreneurs are equal! Just having the five (5) traits does not mean you will be successful. I have wrote an article about successful and unsuccessful people to describe the traits necessary to succeed! It is what you do with those traits that make you successful or not. There is a long list of people who started businesses that fail which literally show there are many kinds of entrepreneurs. Some people with entrepreneurial characteristics should just work in an entrepreneurial company. Ask yourself, am I entrepreneur?
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Goals and determination are huge. Solving problems is a big one too. Staying focused and trying hard to make the most of each day has helped me break free of my day job. And hopefully I’ll continue to do well going forward. 🙂
Absolutely! Everyone experiences mistakes, curves and setbacks, but determination gets you through it. Keep working on your goals and you will be amazed at what you accomplish.
I really think that determination is an underrated success trait. Quite often, it takes persevering through obstacles and some failures to reach success – in money-related ventures or in other aspects of life. I’ve seen this in some of my own situations in life.
It is almost a secret weapon because it remains under the radar. The opposite of determination is giving up and too often many people give up too soon.
I think that entrepreneurs generally have a higher tolerance for risk than others. Let’s face it, more start-up businesses fail than succeed, so you have to go in knowing that there are high odds to overcome, and many simply don’t have that level of risk to make a go of it.
I think most entrepreneurs do not think they will fail because of their past accomplishments. Everyone has setbacks, but if you keep trying you usually succeed.