The mindset of an entrepreneur is arguably one of the most overlooked components to successfully bring a start-up to fruition. What’s inarguable is the importance of an entrepreneurial mindset – possessing and displaying the characteristics of an entrepreneur is necessary to persevere through all the challenges most business owners face.
However, these characteristics aren’t always apparent, nor are they plentiful in every hopeful entrepreneur. Luckily, anyone can foster these characteristics within themselves to prepare themselves for the fast-paced and often brutal world of business.
The first step to building these characteristics is identifying them. In this article, we’ll help you identify the characteristics common to most entrepreneurs and teach you how to apply them to yourself. Then, we’ll walk you through the decision-making process entrepreneurs consider when handling major challenges and obstacles.
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Related: Tips for Aspiring High School Entrepreneurs
What are the 5 characteristics of an entrepreneur mindset
While every successful entrepreneur is different and, more importantly, unique, there are some common characteristics that tie them together. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it does shed some light on the commonalities of successful businessmen.
1. Humility
Humility is one of the most important traits an entrepreneur can have. When working with others, a braggadocios or pretentious employee can ruin team morale and harm the group. Therefore, humility is necessary to form strong friendships and partnerships with others as a business leader. More importantly, humility is the only way to remain true to yourself, even if you are successful. Time and time again, we’ve seen success change people for the worse – if you can remain humble and be aware of your roots, you can maintain your success while bringing about positive change for your community.
2. Confidence
To successfully lead a team and inspire others in and of your work, you must be confident in your decisions. Entrepreneurs often lead large teams of many diverse people. Only a confident leader can unite many people to work towards a goal with passion and determination. Confidence is also important for yourself – entrepreneurs face many obstacles (and, ultimately, failures) so it takes confidence in your vision and in yourself to come back from them.
3. Accountability
Accountability is an extremely important characteristic to have in any professional position. In fact, being accountable is even more important as an entrepreneur because you must be honest with your investors and partners.
In the business world, accountability is keeping up your end of the bargain for promises of delivery and admitting defeat if (after your best effort) you aren’t able to. Being accountable is the best way to ensure lasting partnerships without over-promising and under-delivering. No company is completely alone and having strong partnerships with others will help your company thrive.
4. Decisiveness
Being decisive is a necessity as an entrepreneur. Business leaders often make many important decisions every day – money/resource allocations, partnerships, and more. If you regret or backtrack on your decisions, you will be in a constant state of paranoia. However, if you are decisive and confident in yourself and your abilities, you will be able to remain positive, even when faced with temporary failure.
As long as you are bringing your best effort, there is no reason to ever regret your decisions – after all, you did the best with what you had. For that reason, being decisive in those choices helps you maintain an aura of confidence to propel your company and inspire your employees.
5. Resilience
Resilience is one of the most important traits to have as a business owner. Entrepreneurs face a plethora of different tasks and obstacles each day. If you give up at the first sign of trouble, owning a business will be very difficult and unstable. However, if you’re able to look past the failures and remain optimistic, you can push through, despite facing minor or even major setbacks. No entrepreneur is always successful, but if you are resilient, you can ultimately find success.
Additionally, here are a few more characteristics of an entrepreneur mindset.
Success is not achieved overnight, it takes time and determination. If you are looking for a program to help you, check out Beta-Bowl’s programs.
Related: Why Young Entrepreneurs Are Positioned to Succeed
How do entrepreneurs think
The style of thinking of an entrepreneur is arguably the most important skill to learn. While entrepreneurs vary greatly in personality or characteristics, they all have a powerful and insightful way of thinking.
● Brainstorm and create ideas
All entrepreneurs have their own unique process of brainstorming and creating new ideas. However, the most important step is finding your unique style of thinking. If you can tailor your brainstorming sessions to fit how you best think, you can be more productive and insightful in your ideas. An entrepreneur’s entire job hinges on having strong ideas and creating new innovations, so having a powerful line of thinking is essential.
● Do not take failure too seriously
If there’s one thing for certain, every entrepreneur will fail at some point. In fact, most will fail often in their career. However, as long as your successes are greater than your failures, you will come out positively.
Given how common failure is, you should never let it affect you internally. Rather, treat failure just as it truly is – a temporary setback in your career. If you remember that every failure is a good lesson and nothing more than a minor setback, you will be able to work towards your company’s mission. Check out how to become a CEO of a company.
● Stop worrying about what other people think
As any successful entrepreneur knows, few people will be genuinely supportive of you if you decide to go this route as a career. If you are seeking validation from others, being an entrepreneur will be extremely difficult – everyone will not like your product and there will always be people doubting your ideas. As an entrepreneur, you must disregard others’ skepticism and be confident in your ideas.
● Think big and do not limit yourself
Entrepreneurs’ entire job is to innovate and make life easier for others. As an entrepreneur, you will often face rejection and self-doubt. However, you must overcome these emotions and think big. Everything you do is impossible until it is done – if you think with the right mindset, the mindset of an entrepreneur, you can expand your company and have more of an impact. Thinking big can be scary but is necessary to grow a company to a large scale and change the lives of others.
● Surround yourself with successful people
If the traits and ideas listed above seem difficult to attain, you aren’t wrong. However, if you can surround yourself with equally passionate and determined peers, you have nothing to fear. Rather, in a group, you can teach and motivate each other. Everyone has their own values and skills, and, if you have successful friends, everyone can contribute to and help each other. Some high schools conduct competitions to help enhance a drive amongst young teens and to help them develop entrepreneurial skills through such competitions.
● Make quick decisions
While this may seem the most daunting to some, making quick decisions faced with little or insufficient information is an unfortunate necessity as an entrepreneur. However, with experience and practice, these decisions will become easier and easier. Don’t worry if you’re completely flummoxed at first – you’ll grow to enjoy the rapid changes in your job.
Related: Factors Influencing Entrepreneurship Development
Entrepreneurial Mindset
Talk about the characteristics of their mentality: they are focused, surrounded by successful people, not afraid of failure, don’t care what others think of them, are decisive, are humble, and they think big.
Every entrepreneur is very different, and it’s that unique set of skills, talents, and characteristics that allows them to bring their vision to reality. Take a look at this research which describes the 3 winning mindsets which great entrepreneurs have in common. They all possess many similar overarching characteristics – in addition to the traits mentioned above, they are focused on their goals, surrounded by successful and supportive peers, aren’t afraid of the possibility of failure, don’t worry about the opinions of others, are decisive and confident, exude humility, and, most importantly, always think big.
If you don’t think this describes you, don’t worry, programs like Beta Bowl can help you maximize your potential.
Conclusion
The traits listed here may seem daunting – no one is perfect, and few possess all the traits to be a ‘perfect’ entrepreneur. Luckily, no successful businessperson arrived at their success without change, growth, and in most cases, an entrepreneurial transformation achieved through learning, doing, and actively improving. To emulate and reach the success of others, you will have to train the way you act and think. The strategic, decisive, and innovative thought processes of entrepreneurs is what separates visionaries from employees. If you don’t think you possess the right characteristics or ideas to be an entrepreneur, you shouldn’t give up – rather, you should get ready to grow.
Alt Text Entrepreneur Motivation
If you are looking to enhance your entrepreneur mindset, contact Beta-Bowl today and sign up for their virtual sessions.
