15 Entrepreneur Traits You Need To Succeed

What entrepreneur traits are necessary to be successful in business? Can you develop the qualities an entrepreneur needs that will help you succeed?

This short list of entrepreneur traits covers most of the personal traits you'll need to run a successful business. Of course, nobody's perfect, and no one has all of these all the time. You're born with some, and others need to be nurtured and developed.

This list was put together with some I found in books, online, and by brainstorming with my husband, another entrepreneur. Read them, and see if you have other entrepreneur traits to suggest.

1. Common Sense. Depends on whose definition of common sense you're using. Often 'common sense' will tell you to stay in that safe, dependable job you hate. Common sense can be defined by the majority, who are mostly miserable in their choice of work. My own common sense tells me to beware of listening to those people.
2. Knowledge of your field. You may need to have specific knowledge from the beginning. Or you may be able to 'learn as you go'. But you'll need the desire and ability to learn what you need to know if you want to become a successful entrepreneur.
3. Confidence. Yes, necessary to your success in business.
4. Ability to get things done. Absolutely! Make procrastination your enemy! Set goals and actively work towards them. Entrepreneurs are doers! They're also often "over-doers." One of the less-mentioned entrepreneur traits is the art of delegation. Sure, you can do it, but someone else CAN do it for you.
5. Creativity. Yes, you'll need to be creative in your thinking. You'll need to be a problem solver... your own 'solution provider'.
6. Leadership qualities. Depends on what you're going to do. If you have employees you'll definitely need leadership qualities. Otherwise, maybe you'll need this quality, maybe not.
7. Self-reliance. That means depending upon yourself to get things done. To be able to be self-motivating. Yes, and accepting the blame yourself when things go wrong.
8. Ambition, Drive, and Motivation I grouped these three together because they're so closely related. It's your personal 'why', and is different for every entrepreneur. These things are what keep you moving forward towards a goal. All are essential traits for entrepreneurs to have.
9. Patience My mother used to tell me and my sisters that, “Rome wasn't built in a day". She was telling us to be patient. Your online empire won't be created quickly either! You just have to be patient while putting one foot in front of the other, day after day. One of my favorite quotes is an old Chinese saying: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just when you are about to succeed”.
10. Positive Attitude You've heard it over and over... that you should focus on good and positive things. Keeping your attitude positive depends a lot on how you manage other people's negative attitudes.
11. Resiliance The ability to recover from set-backs and let-downs, or downright catastrophies. An entrepreneur's life is no bed of roses, and if it is, there's still thorns. Bounce back from set-backs and get back on track.
12. Confidence Picture the 'Little Engine That Could'. You remember that kids book, don't you? What did the little engine say? “I think I can, I think I can”.
13. Self-Discipline The sun is shining and you want play, not write another darn page for your website. Or the new video game you're dying to play just came out today. Maybe "American Idol" is on. You need to be able to look at the big picture and just say “no” to yourself. An successful entrepreneur is disciplined and can say no to his or her self. Well, ok, "American Idol" is only on for an hour. Watch it, then turn off the TV and get back to work.
14. Curiosity or desire and ability to learn new things. Pretty obvious.
15. Problem Solver This goes with creativity. When you get your business running, you will need to become a problem solver... FAST! There's no end to the challenges you'll run across from day to day. A successful business person needs to see the problem, brainstorm and trouble-shoot, and turn it around.

Well, now you know my secret... I'm in love with language... with words and how they work. I had so much fun with this project! I wondered if I could do an A-B-C list of characteristcs of successful entrepreneurs. Click there to see our A-B-C list of successful entrepreneur traits.

And for a different perspective, I put together a list of not-so-positive entrepreneur traits that could cause your business to fail. If you recognize yourself on this list of business sins, you'd better get to work fixing those problems!

Take a look at our lists of characteristics of entrepreneurs, both good and bad. See if you agree with our entrepreneur traits, or if you have others I left out. Let me know what you think!

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