14 Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur

Are you prepared to embark on the exhilarating adventure of entrepreneurship? Modern business is a very complicated affair. To organize and run it successfully, the entrepreneur must possess some qualities or traits. A trait refers to a specific attribute, quality, or inclination that an individual or object possesses.

It is difficult to say the qualities and traits required for a successful entrepreneur. Anyway, Discover the Key Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur has the following:

What is an Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an individual who takes on the role of starting and managing a business venture. They are driven by innovation, creativity, and a desire to solve problems and meet market demands. Entrepreneurs are often risk-takers, willing to invest their time, resources, and capital into their ventures to achieve success.

They possess a strong sense of determination, adaptability, and a willingness to learn from failures and setbacks. Overall, entrepreneurs play a crucial role in driving economic growth and creating opportunities for themselves and others.

Check out: What is meant by Entrepreneur

14 Traits or Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur

1. Passion for business: 

One of the Qualities of Entrepreneur is to positively influence people’s lives. This passion explains why people leave a passion for business. This passion typically stems from the entrepreneur’s belief that the secured jobs to start their firms and why billionaires like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Larry Ellison of Oracle, and Jerry Yang of Yahoo continue working after e selling they are financially secure.

They strongly believe that the product or service they are making a difference in people’s lives and makes the world a better place to live in.

2. Creativity: 

The concept of creativity pertains to an entrepreneur’s capacity to innovate and devise novel approaches for conducting business operations. Accomplished entrepreneurs constantly brainstorm innovative marketing strategies and actively seek fresh solutions to overcome challenges. Creativity helps for a successful entrepreneur.

Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop, emphasizes the crucial role of entrepreneurs in maximizing creativity and cultivating a conducive atmosphere that encourages people to have new ideas”.

Michael Dell of Dell Computers was quick to spot that the standard readymade computers never fully matched what customers wanted. His keen market sense told him that customer requirements come first. No other computer manufacturer had ever imagined that each computer could be customized to the customer’s needs.

Nevertheless, Dell was the first one to take up that daunting challenge. His computers were extremely cheap to the customers, but still extremely profitable to him. Dell had combined two genius ideas into one. This shows his inspiring creativity. His name will always be taken reverently in the history of computers, along with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

3. Willingness to make sacrifices and assume risks: 

A fresh startup endeavor is rife with challenges and unforeseen obstacles. In such an inhospitable environment entrepreneur has to be prepared to sacrifice his time, energy, and resources to carry out the venture and make it successful. Marriage, families, and friendships are too often casualties for entrepreneurs.

He should be willing to assume a relatively larger degree of risk because he has to guarantee wages to his employees, interest to his creditors, and rent to his landlord. Risk and reward are inseparable. To achieve greater profits, individuals must be willing to assume substantial risks.

When Narayana Murthy founded Infosys, he raised the initial capital of 10000 borrowed from his wife Sudha. He takes risks without any guaranteed income, without his funds, without any safety net – all because he fully believes in his ideas and plans for Infosys.

Sam Walton of Wal-Mart’ borrowed money from his in-laws rather than go to a bank. He picked a market no one else wanted. This was a huge risk. But he believed in his vision. He focused on building a strong distribution system that no one had tried before.

4. Hard work:

The willingness to work hard distinguishes a successful entrepreneur from an unsuccessful one. For example, Assim Premji (Chairman of Wipro) works in his office for fourteen hours every day. He is a successful entrepreneur. He is one of the richest people in India.

One of the modern successful entrepreneurs, Sabeer Bhatia of Hotmail loves to recall how he approached 18 venture capitalists to raise funds, failing every time, but still trying the next time

5. Desire for high achievement:

A successful entrepreneur knows how to achieve higher goals in business. Only individuals with the ability to envision grand aspirations have the potential to achieve success as entrepreneurs. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”. Walt Disney said, “If you can dream it, you can do it”.

Sunil Mittal of Bharati Telecom presents an excellent example of the need for high achievement. He belongs to a non-business background. He started the business of making cycle parts in Ludhiana way back in 1976 at the age of 18 with a borrowed capital of 20,000. But he failed soon. So he set up Bharati Healthcare in 1983 making capsules. It also did not work well.

Then he started to manufacture push-button telephones. Since that time, there has been no turning back. His entry into the mobile sector with the Airtel brand in 1995 has made him hit the spotlight in mobile technology in India.

6. Optimism: 

Prosperous business owners are not concerned about the current challenges they encounter. They are optimistic about the future. This enhances their confidence and drives them towards success. Some of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs failed before they finally succeeded.

Take Henry Ford’s initial venture, the Detroit Automobile Co., for instance, which unfortunately collapsed within less than two years after Ford and his associates established it. Ford’s second auto company also failed. But his third attempt in the then-new auto manufacturing business was a huge success.

L. Jacks once said, “A pessimist sees problems in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every problem”. In 1914, Thomas Alva Edison, at the age of 67, lost his factory to fire. Edison watched his lifetime effort go up in smoke and become ashes and said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burnt up. Thank God we can start anew”. Despite such a devastating disaster, three weeks later, he invented the phonograph.

7. Foresight:

Entrepreneurs should have good foresight. They should know about the future environment. They should be able to take timely action. Entrepreneurs perceive possibilities whereas the majority of individuals perceive solely obstacles or even nothing at all.

8. Self-confidence: 

The ability to make independent decisions and recover from failures is a crucial attribute for a prosperous entrepreneur. After the Second World War in Japan, Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita formed a partnership to produce an automatic rice cooker.

Unfortunately, their machine burned the rice. It was a flop. Their company sold just 100 cookers. Nevertheless, Ibuka and Morita demonstrated unwavering determination by establishing a new company focused on manufacturing affordable tape recorders, which they successfully marketed to educational institutions.

This venture ultimately led to the establishment of Sony Corporation, a renowned leader in consumer electronics.

9. Innovative ability: 

The tastes of customers change from time to time. To produce goods according to the tastes of customers, the entrepreneur should initiate innovative activities.

10. Communication skills: 

An entrepreneur who can effectively communicate with customers, employees, suppliers, and creditors is more likely to succeed than an entrepreneur who does not.

11. Technical knowledge and willingness to change:

The ability of entrepreneurs to embrace new technology plays a significant role in determining their success. Technical knowledge implies the ability to devise new products, find new uses for existing products, and also to find better ways of producing and marketing goods and services.

12. Determination, courage, and perseverance:

The entrepreneur must have qualities like willpower and determination to succeed. There will be ups and downs in a business. He must have courage and perseverance to face them. Courage is described as ‘grace under pressure Vijay Thandani (CEO of NIIT Ltd.) said, “Entrepreneurship is about marrying passion and process with a good dose of perseverance”. Edison discovered the electric bulb. But it did not happen overnight.

To find a fiber to burn inside the bulb, he experimented with other 2000 items. One of his friends traveled 2300 miles to the source of the river Amazon, in search of a suitable fibre. Another traveled 30000 miles through China and India. Yet another went to Japan.

He became successful only in his seventeenth attempt when he used tungsten. He invested a substantial amount of $1,00,000 in this venture before achieving success.

13. Leadership:

Successful entrepreneur generally has strong leadership qualities. He should be a good judge of human nature and a good leader. He must be able to select, train, and develop persons who can properly manage and control the labor force.

He can inspire ordinary people to accomplish great feats. A true entrepreneur must be able to inspire loyalty and hard work to raise productivity and efficiency. The best example of entrepreneurial leadership is JRD Tata. His greatest passion was flying, but he did not stop at his achievement of the first qualified pilot in India.

Motivated by his initial triumph, he took a step forward and established Air India in 1948.  He was also the first one to start the first Indian chain of Five Star hotels – The Taj Mahal in 1903.

14. Team spirit:

Successful entrepreneurs build teams and work with teammates. Collaborating in teams fosters synergy and leads to successful outcomes in various endeavors.  When ten lamps are present in one place, each differs in form from another, yet you can’t distinguish whose radiance is when you focus on the light.

Similarly, when working as a part of a team, there is no division in team performance, no individual exists. Bill Gates is the most successful entrepreneur. He holds a position among the wealthiest individuals globally. But he is more than that. He has become the Edison and Ford of our age.

A technologist turned entrepreneur, he embodies the digital era. His success stems from his personality: a blend of brilliance, drive, competitiveness, and personal intensity. In 1994 Microsoft’s sales revenue was only one-half of that of Apple Computer and only one-fourteenth of that of IBM. But Microsoft earned 25% profit on every dollar of sales revenue compared to just 3% for Apple. He receives profits for his entrepreneurial efforts.

Conclude

In summary, a triumphant entrepreneur must possess the abilities to be capable and well-informed, a proficient leader of individuals, a discerning evaluator of situations, brave and cautious. Most importantly, they must be endowed with a substantial amount of practical common sense.

These qualities easily distinguish him from others. Follow the 10 principle Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur you must become to build a successful business.

Only a limited number of entrepreneurs manage to meet these criteria in actuality. There are not many Fords, Tatas, Birlas, Goyenkas, Thapars, and Ambanis in the world. They started their businesses on a small scale and made very good fortunes.