7 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs and how to develop them

There are traits we assume all entrepreneurs need to have to succeed: intelligence, charisma, risk-taking… but what sets apart the highly successful entrepreneurs from the rest of us? Having worked with 100s of entrepreneurs over the past few years, I have seen some fail, many do well, and a very small group — really succeed.

Eventually, you just start to get that gut feeling from someone, even at early stages of their journey, that no matter what they do, they will succeed. Is this because there are particular characteristics that make someone more likely to succeed with their business? I cannot say for sure. But I have spotted some trends in the mindset of individuals which tend to have a strong correlation with how successful their business becomes.

1. They are impatient and make quick decisions. They don’t wait around for the perfect solution, they identify a problem, make a change instantly, measure the results and keep going. When I am working with different entrepreneurs I often see this as the biggest thing that holds people back from making progress. One entrepreneur will see a problem and spend a month weighing up all the different options before making a decision. Whilst another will make a change that day and when that doesn’t work they will try something else the next day and repeat until it does work. Ultimately, the second entrepreneur gets a good result quickly and learns a lot more in the process too. If you step back and look at the bigger picture, what we’re ultimately seeing here is the methodology of ‘build measure learn’ from the Lean Startup being put into practice.
2. They are aware of but not phased by external forces. In business, there are so many things you cannot control i.e competitors, nay-sayers, or the market reaction to your product. Successful founders are highly aware of what is happening in their external environment but they are laser-focused on their vision and do not let it affect their confidence.
3. They speak to everyone about what they do. There is this perception amongst some people that if they tell people what they’re up to, someone will copy them and their time will be over. This is actually very unlikely to happen — One of my favourite quotes by Tim Ferris says it perfectly: “People can steal ideas, but no one can steal execution or passion”. Plus, the benefit of talking to people about your ideas and what you’re working on outweigh any risk.
4. They work hard. Despite this image that has been built that some entrepreneurs do emails on the beach and work 3 hour weeks; when it comes to building a successful start-up — entrepreneurs work hard. They work long hours and they have to do things they don’t always enjoy. Yes, it’s possible to build a self-sustainable lifestyle business and work a few hours a day, but to get there you need to bust your butt, no matter what that life coach is promising you (if you just pay her £6000 to show you how). Entrepreneurs who succeed in what they’re doing put in a lot of hours, they’re not afraid of the hard work, heck they enjoy it!
5. They don’t dwell on the past and aren’t afraid to innovate. They see what’s next before anyone else and aren’t afraid to take the risk to act on it. The truth is, people don’t usually like change, so simply relying on your customers to know when to change your product isn’t always the best thing to do. Successful entrepreneurs take their customer in mind but are also able to make changes based on their vision.
6. They don’t do everything themselves. There is a significant difference in the success rate of an entrepreneur that has a co-founder or a team member vs. someone who is doing it all alone. A common factor for entrepreneurs doing it all on their own is so that they can retain 100% of the rewards, however, what this often means is that they build their business 50% slower than they could, or they hit a motivation or resource wall and pack it in altogether. Successful founders build a team of supporters around themselves. This doesn’t always have to be a co-founder, sometimes it’s a mentor, an incubator, or they hire people as soon as it makes sense.
7. They possess bravery that borders on rudeness. Above all, confidence seems to be one of the most valuable tools in getting ahead. This makes sense, you need to believe in yourself before anyone in the startup world will believe in you. What is interesting is that this is something you can cultivate organically yourself, you don’t need funding or a successful background, you just need to have a word with yourself and embody it! In Israel, they have a word for this, they call it ‘Chutzpah’ — extreme self-confidence or audacity (usually used approvingly).

4 Steps to develop these entrepreneurial mindset traits yourself

We can all learn from these types of individuals, whether we are running our own business, working in a corporate role, or considering starting a new project. Here are 4 steps to help you develop your entrepreneurial mindset:

1. Challenge yourself. You can’t improve by staying where you are so do something that scares you every month. Put yourself out there. Get vulnerable.
2. Never stop learning — No matter how far ahead you are in your career or what credibility you have, keep learning. About business, on what’s going on in your industry, new ways of working, and most importantly, keep learning about yourself.
3. Surround yourself with others who have this entrepreneurial mindset. It’s true what they say, that you become the sum of the people you hang out with the most.
4. Be more introspective. Meaning, not afraid to look within to solve problems. When something goes wrong, sometimes we are all guilty of blaming it all on external factors: ‘We didn’t raise investment because investors just didn’t get what we were doing’, ‘our product failed because competitors played unfairly and took all of our customers, ‘people just need to be educated and then they will buy our product’. Forget all that and ask yourself: ‘what could I have done differently?’. Don’t expect anything. It’s your job as an entrepreneur to envoke change, to envoke action.