Personality traits to watch for if you’re an entrepreneur

Launching a business isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes more than a great idea or product alone. It also takes determination, grit, and an entrepreneurial mindset that researchers at the University of Michigan say is essential for new businesses to be developed.

And while many traits make a great entrepreneur, it’s important to know that there are some other traits that can hinder your success. If you’re serious about becoming an entrepreneur and business owner, it pays to know what traits ensure success for the long-term. When you intimately know the great traits as well as recognize potential red flags, you can make sure you’re not falling into traps that can hinder your success.

Here’s what you should know as you strive to embrace your place as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship requires you taking a lot of risks. But that doesn’t mean you have to be risky in your behaviors as well. There truly is a difference between the two. One means you’re daring and brave enough to disrupt and bring new ideas or products to the table. The other means you can potentially hinder your capacity to succeed. While the concept of “risk” is clear in definition, the difference between good risks and bad ones are very clear.

Here are a few things to avoid, which may require significant self-reflection about what you really want if you’re falling into these scenarios.

·      Keeping your passion as just a hobby. While there’s nothing wrong with a side-hustle, if you aren’t taking enough risks to put everything on the line and figure out how to scale your business, you may not be ready for a full-time entrepreneurship gig. If you’re seeking funding but you haven’t given up your safety net, you may not be taken seriously by venture capitalists or investors. You need to show you have skin in the game, and if you’re relying on other people to pave — and pay — the way for you to do just that, you should dig deep to figure out what you really want.

·      Being controlling. As you work to scale, you should have an idea of what your business stands for. You should have a vision and purpose. And it should be driving your company into the future. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to feedback from those around you. If you have the inability to hear constructive criticism or even collaborative ideas, it could signal to potential partners, investors, employees, and even customers that they should move on from your business. Think hard about whether it’s worth it to be unmovable.

·      Scaling to win versus scaling to succeed. Sometimes you must take your time to make your company really work. If you’re really an entrepreneur, chances are you’ve been thinking about starting your own business for quite some time. But if you’re starting a business to rush toward building a giant corporation, your priorities might be wrong. Make sure you’re planning to scale your company in a way that is smart, sustainable, and can grow genuinely. Any other way may not be the right one.

Experts at MIT say entrepreneurs are solutions oriented. They tend to see even the negative as an opportunity and use setbacks to grow and adapt. MIT also says entrepreneurs are “anti-fragile,” meaning they know they are built to do hard things, and so they act when things get difficult and find ways to get it done.

Here are a few more traits you should have as an entrepreneur.

·      Self-motivation. You don’t have to be the next Steve Jobs, sitting in a garage building your company 24/7. But you should be motivated enough to make your dream a reality. That means always having a big goal in mind and doing everything you can to get there. Especially when things get hard.

·      The willingness to fail. Entrepreneurs know failure is just a part of finding success. They learn to embrace it and aren’t set back by it. In fact, they see it as one of the steps they need to get to the next level. It’s just that simple.

·      The ability to ask questions. One of the most important things to know about running your own business is that you cannot know everything. Don’t be afraid to admit that fact. It gives you more credibility and it helps you find the right people to be part of your success story.

Entrepreneurship takes a lot more than good luck and having a great idea. It also takes a lot of guts, hard work, and the willingness to have difficult conversations with yourself. But if you’ve got what it takes, it’s worth it.

Do you have advice for hopeful entrepreneurs? Share yours in the comments below!

Jim Allen is a business leader and entrepreneur who has built one of the top-producing real estate groups in the Triangle. He is President of The Jim Allen Group, which is consistently named one of the top real estate teams in North Carolina and even North America.