The word “entrepreneur” is being thrown around a lot these days. The term has become so commonplace that distinguishing the real entrepreneurs from the wannabes remains a challenge. Though it is true that a genuine entrepreneur can come from any socioeconomic strata, being a huge financial success doesn’t necessarily translate into being an entrepreneur. However, real entrepreneurs do share a few common traits that are crucial for success.
Here are four traits shared by most successful entrepreneurs.
Full of Perseverance
Every successful business has gone through periods when things didn’t work before it became a brand to reckon with. It is nothing but the perseverance of their leaders, who are the real entrepreneurs that earned these companies the top spot in their niche. When Steve Jobs went back to Apple as CEO, the company was nearly bankrupt. But, his determination to succeed turned the company into a household name.
Perseverance is the ability to correlate between success and failure. In short, it allows you to see through facts related to a situation to make informed decisions. Thus, you can take a firm decision and dare to take a step forward when others do not. Being a successful entrepreneur is like running a marathon, except there is no finish line. You are bound to lose a few sprints, but the race never ends; so you must go on.
Ability to Act on Their Gut Feeling
Sometimes, you may feel that making a decision based on the careful analysis of the hardcore data might not be the right thing to do. While the general public may hesitate to reach a decision in such situations, entrepreneurs tend to act according to their intuition. In fact, when it comes to key decision making, a whopping 62 percent of the CEOs rely on their gut instinct.
Mindfulness helps in having the right hunch or gut feeling. When your mind is devoid of distractions, it becomes a lot easier to interpret your intuition.
Virgin Group CEO, Richard Branson once said, “I rely far more on gut instinct than researching huge amounts of statistics,” said Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group.
It still not clear why even the brightest minds in this century rely on intuition when they have vast amounts of accurate data available at their disposal.
Higher Stress Tolerance
The third most notable trait of real entrepreneurs is the ability to deal with overwhelming amount of stress. Keeping the workforce happy, launching the perfect product, always staying a step ahead of the competitors, and maintaining a loyal customer base – all of these responsibilities can lead to incredible stress. A typical day in the life of a successful entrepreneur involves making several decisions, some of which may change their course of life forever.
However, most successful entrepreneurs tend to be emotionally stable. They understand that stress is a part of the game. Decision paralysis leads to stress, leading to an eventual collapse. As a result, entrepreneurs can take firm decisions in seemingly impossible situations. Thus, they learn to cope with stress and even use it to their advantage sometimes.
Remarkable Problem Solving Skills
Because they are open to new experiences (curiosity and adaptability), real entrepreneurs usually have remarkable problem-solving skills. In any business, you will come across a variety of problems that may push you to your limits. However, these problems are the means to acquire a new skill or learn a valuable lesson that will pay off eventually.
The biggest advantage of developing problem-solving skills is that it becomes easier to maintain a positive attitude as problems will occur irrespective of how successful your business is. This set of skills also fosters a disciplined mind so that you don’t jump to conclusions without discerning the facts. Most importantly, in a constantly evolving world, your problem-solving skills will guide you to explore possible options and solutions, keeping your business a step ahead of your competitors.
Successful entrepreneurs can come from different cultural, economic, and intellectual backgrounds. Irrespective of their differences, they do share a few common traits, separating them from the regular Joes.
Read more about building your leadership traits at TechCo