I like Twitter more than any other social media platform. Why? This ever-popular microblogging platform has allowed me to witness many stimulating online discussions. Recently, I observed interesting conversations on ‘can everyone be a successful entrepreneur’ initiated by Smart Hustle Founder Ramon Ray and Shopify President Harley Finkelstein.
Actually, it all began when Shopify President said the following in an article on The Wall Street Journal,
Ramon Ray, who started four companies and successfully sold two, disagreed with it, citing that it required a lot more than just a tool to become an entrepreneur. And not everyone could be a successful entrepreneur.
Many participated in the conversation, voicing their opinions. Look at some insightful replies below.
If you ask me what I believe, I will go with Ramon here. Indeed, with the advent of the Internet and technology, there are tons of opportunities for everyone to start their entrepreneurial journey.
However, being a successful business owner demands more than just opportunities. You need the right tool, the right team, and the right mindset to ensure success in your entrepreneurial journey.
What You Need to Be a Successful Entrepreneur
Here are five traits that most successful entrepreneurs have. And if you want to be the one, you must start working on building these traits.
1- Grit
One of the most important aspects of being a successful business owner is having Grit. Yes, you read it right. My friend, without having Grit, you cannot make it as a business owner.
What is Grit?
Grit is the courage and resolve of a business owner to make his/her business successful. Most successful entrepreneurs have tested repeated failures in their initial days. They succeed because they didn’t quit.
As Winston Churchill said,
Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.
So if you’re thinking about venturing into the business world, you should start working on developing Grit.
2- Decisiveness
To succeed in your business venture, you need to be a quick decision-maker. This is because most business owners have limited resources. And every hour of the day is essential. If you delay making the right decisions, your competitors can take advantage of the situation.
The successful entrepreneurial journey is all about making the right decisions at the right time without any delay. In day-to-day life, business owners make a plethora of choices to run their businesses successfully. From hiring the right employees to fixing the prices of products/services, time lost in decision-making can cost you dearly.
3- Flexibility
Regardless of how good you are, it is impossible to control everything when you’re running a business. For example, you don’t have any control over what is happening in the market.
That said, as a business owner, you have to be flexible in your approach. Having a stubborn attitude or an unyielding approach is a surefire way to commit a business disaster.
Flexibility offers multiple benefits. For example, being flexible provides you with a competitive edge. Furthermore, You can exploit opportunities as they come if you’re flexible.
Therefore, flexibility is a must-have trait for all wannabe entrepreneurs.
4- Creativity
If you think being an entrepreneur means analytic thinking and taking decisions based on hard facts, you’re not seeing a complete picture.
Creative thinking plays a creative role in entrepreneurial success. Without being creative, you will not be able to come up with new ideas and processes to run your business smoothly.
What’s more, creativity can help business owners foster innovation, think unthinkable, and remove the fear of failure.
Creativity can also help you stand out from the crowd as it allows you to think beyond traditional solutions and create something new that can solve your audience’s problems in a better way.
5- Self-discipline
When you’re running your business, you’re on your own. Nobody is your boss to keep tabs on things you’re doing. Without self-discipline, it is not possible to keep yourself motivated and move on the right track.
My friend, no entrepreneurial journey is smooth sailing. You have to overcome multiple challenges to succeed in your business venture. And self-discipline will provide you with the willpower to keep going.
As Dwayne Johnson said,
All success begins with self-discipline.
So if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, start practicing self-discipline.
Nizer Saunders said in the discussion,
One major element of entrepreneurship is preparing oneself to move forward quite often without a safety net. Why is this an important factor? Instinctively humans flock towards safe pastures. But a few oddballs dare to explore the abyss and face uncertainty. Entrepreneurs dared to challenge a hypothesis in the pursuit to create opportunities via trial and error, producing (or not) extraordinary results to bring to market.
You can check more comments, replies here, here, and here.
In conclusion,
The Internet has provided us with a plethora of opportunities to start a business. However, starting a business is one thing, and making it a success is another. The traits mentioned above are critical for being a successful businessman. You should start working on those if you want to be your own boss.
What about you? Do you believe that everyone can be an entrepreneur? Leave your comment in the Twitter thread.