A good concept and initial finance are just two of the many aspects that go into beginning a successful business. The entrepreneur, though, is likely the most vital component. These are the people who must turn their ideas into fully working businesses.

If you’re considering starting your own business, you might be wondering if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur is someone who has a love for invention and the ability to follow through on their ideas; someone who can perceive a need that has previously gone unnoticed or, in certain situations, create a need that did not previously exist. Entrepreneurs aspire to work for themselves and are willing to take risks for the success of their ideas or products.

Many people desire to be entrepreneurs but are unsure if they have what it takes. Here are a few characteristics that entrepreneurs share. This is not to suggest that you must have all of them or that you cannot be successful without them. In the end, success is defined by a lot of hard effort and a little amount of luck.

Here are some qualities shared by successful entrepreneurs.

1. Curiosity

Successful entrepreneurs have a distinguishing personality feature that distinguishes them from other organizational leaders: a feeling of curiosity. The ability of an entrepreneur to remain curious permits them to seek out new chances on a regular basis. Rather than settling for what they believe they know, entrepreneurs ask probing questions and pursue other paths.

This is supported by the online course Entrepreneurship Essentials, which describes entrepreneurship as a “process of discovery.” Entrepreneurs cannot fulfill their primary goal of uncovering new opportunities unless they are curious.

The motivation they have to constantly ask questions and challenge the established quo can lead them to crucial discoveries that other business professionals may ignore.

2. Structured Experimentation

Entrepreneurs must be curious as well as comprehend systematic experimentation. An entrepreneur must conduct tests on each new opportunity to assess whether it is worthwhile to pursue.

For example, if you have an idea for a new product or service that meets an unmet need, you must ensure that customers are prepared to pay for it. To accomplish so, you’ll need to undertake extensive market research and run relevant testing to validate and determine the viability of your idea.

3. Adaptability

The nature of business is constantly evolving. Entrepreneurship is an iterative process in which new obstacles and possibilities emerge at every step. Although it is practically impossible to anticipate every circumstance, successful business executives must be adaptable. This is especially true for entrepreneurs, who must assess events and remain adaptable in order to keep their firm going forward in the face of unanticipated changes.

4. Decisiveness

An entrepreneur must make difficult decisions and stick to them in order to be successful. As a leader, they are in charge of steering the course of their company, including everything from funding and strategy to resource allocation.

Read Also: What Are The 4 Basic Rules Entrepreneurs Should Remember About Securing a Patent?

Being resolute does not always imply being right. To be an entrepreneur, you must have the confidence to make difficult decisions and see them through to completion. If the conclusion is not positive, the decision to take corrective action is as crucial.

5. Team Building

A great entrepreneur understands their own strengths and flaws. Rather than allowing their weaknesses to hold them back, they form well-rounded teams that complement their abilities.

In many cases, rather than an individual, it is the entrepreneurial team that propels a business to success. It is vital to surround yourself with teammates that have complementary talents and contribute to a similar goal while beginning your own firm.

6. Risk Tolerance

Entrepreneurship is frequently associated with danger. While it is true that starting a business requires an entrepreneur to accept risks, they must also take actions to reduce those risks.

While many things can go wrong while starting a new business, many things can also go right. According to Entrepreneurship Essentials, entrepreneurs who actively manage the risk-reward ratio position their businesses to “benefit from the upside.”

Successful entrepreneurs are willing to accept some risk in order to reap the benefits of their work; yet, their risk tolerance is closely tied to their attempts to reduce risk.

7. Comfortable with Failure

Entrepreneurship necessitates a certain level of comfort with failure, in addition to risk management and making informed judgments. It is believed that almost 75% of new businesses fail. Failure can occur for a variety of reasons, ranging from a defective business strategy to a lack of focus or ambition. While many of these risks are avoidable, others are unavoidable.

Regardless, successful entrepreneurs must plan for, and be at ease with, failure. Rather than allowing fear to hold them back, they let the prospect of victory urge them ahead.

8. Persistence

While many successful entrepreneurs are at ease with the prospect of failure, this does not mean they give up lightly. Instead, they embrace failure as a chance to learn and improve.

Many theories are proven to be incorrect during the entrepreneurial process, and some enterprises fail entirely. Part of what defines a great entrepreneur is their ability to learn from mistakes, ask questions, and persevere until they achieve their goal.

9. Innovation

Many people believe that entrepreneurship and invention go hand in hand. This is frequently true. Some of the most successful businesses have taken existing products or services and significantly upgraded them to fit the market’s evolving needs.

Entrepreneurs who are innovative have a competitive advantage. Fortunately, it is possible to acquire a strategic mindset. You can be well-equipped to detect new prospects and position your enterprise for success by honing your strategic thinking skills.

10. Long-Term Focus

Finally, most people associate entrepreneurship with the process of establishing a firm. While the early stages of a venture are important to its success, the process does not finish once the company is up and running.

“It’s easy to start a business, but it’s difficult to grow a sustainable and substantial one,” according to Entrepreneurship Essentials. Some of history’s biggest prospects were uncovered long after an enterprise had begun.”

Entrepreneurship is a long-term undertaking, and entrepreneurs must concentrate on the process from start to finish in order to achieve long-term success.

What are the 10 Qualities of a Good Entrepreneur?

1. Ability to take a risk

There are certain characteristics of entrepreneurship that will make your ventures successful – and one that is on the top of the list is the ability to take a risk. Starting any business involves a considerable amount of risk of failure. The failure rate of entrepreneurial ventures is high and only the toughest hang on. But, at times, it is absolutely fine to take the “practical” exit route and try something new, instead of continuing to keep your investments sinking in time, money, or energy. Many famous entrepreneurs weren’t successful the first time around. But they had the foresight to know when to cut their losses. Therefore, the courage and capacity to take the said risk are essential for an entrepreneur.

2. Being Able to Adapt

As you roll out your business venture, you’ll discover that things you expected to work well may not work at all. You could stumble into things that you did not expect to work that will. You’ll see others in your industry doing things that’ll work well for your organization and you’ll emulate them. Even if you are one of the lucky ones and your initial ideas work perfectly, the world is constantly changing around you. This is why being able to adapt is crucial to many successful entrepreneurs.

To help you become adaptable to changes, try to improve your coping mechanism. Find your best way to accommodate difficult moments and master it. The way you handle setbacks is critical for business success.

3. Can Sell

An entrepreneur must be comfortable at selling and this is one of the most important skills of successful entrepreneurs. Even with a sales team, the team lead must be an expert at networking and be able to promote themselves and their business to customers, donors, suppliers and staff. Their business is bound to fail if the entrepreneur does not know how to sell. Even if you have little to no sales skills, be smart enough to partner with someone who excels at it and can show you the ropes.

Another way to improve your sales approach is to learn how to build trust. Trust is the first reason others would buy from you. We also recommend learning from television programs such as Shark Tank and Dragon Den. Both offer examples of first-rate sales pitches and some very poorly done pitches.

4. Constant learning

One of the qualities of an entrepreneur is the ability to adopt the “The more I learn, the more I earn” saying in entrepreneurial lives. Continuous learning will help you develop your skill set in responding to the ever-changing environment, redefine the way you communicate with people, and innovate the way you lead.

5. Creativity

A lot of people would usually think that creativity is connected to arts, but that may not be entirely true. Creativity identifies a solution or an out-of-the-box approach that could benefit the team or the organization. The ability to be creative and innovate characterizes the success of an entrepreneur because being observant to changes and always reinventing the way they operate is very important.

Take CC Chang, the co-founder of FunNow, an app that allows users to book entertainment and leisure services at the last minute. Unlike competitors such as Klook, which is aimed predominantly at tourists, FunNow targets locals who want to find something fun to do in their own city. The app gained 600,000 users within three years and tripled its number of user interactions in 2018.

6. Goal Oriented

Entrepreneurs are all about setting goals and putting their all into making them real. Leaders must set ambitious targets, translate them into specific metrics and milestones, make them transparent throughout the organization, and discuss progress frequently. To be goal oriented, entrepreneurs are always planning and organizing – dedicating themselves to the discipline of being task oriented.

7. Motivation & Passion

If there is one important trait in entrepreneurship, it would be passion. It is also the drive behind something that you have built and want to continue to improve on. Motivation will inspire you to enjoy what you are doing and want to continue doing it for a very long time. Your demonstration of passion and motivation will determine your success in any entrepreneurial venture.

8. Self-confident

Nobody is born with unlimited self-confidence. If someone seems to have incredible self-confidence, it’s because he or she has worked on building it for years. To gain self-confidence, it helps to visualize yourself as what you want to be. Practice visualizing a fantastic version of yourself, and achieving your goals. Remember, self-confidence is understanding that you trust your own judgment and abilities.

9. Staying organized

It’s a rare person among us who doesn’t feel the need to get more organized. Every entrepreneur spends some time to plan and organize the activities he has to do. The secret to being organized is to start with identifying what are your most important tasks for the day and listing out an easy workable task list.

10. Strong communication skills

One of the most important traits of an entrepreneur learns is how to communicate with others fluently; Even when transmitting new ideas to your team you should sound credible, compelling and easy to understand. For example, Shirley Kao, Chairman of Uni-President, the food-and-beverage conglomerate in Taiwan, realized very early that communicating with people you work with, to keep motivating the workers to provide quality services.