Top 3 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

Over the last few years I’ve worked with dozens of very successful entrepreneurs. For the longest time I tried to figure out what they had in common that made them so successful. They all had very unique personalities. Some were charismatic and friendly. Others were to-the-point and callous. When it came to their businesses, their management style and approach was also very different. Asking them didn’t help either. Some would say it was hard work and others would say they were just lucky. It wasn’t until that I stopped looking at their business philosophies that I realized that while they all had very different personalities, they all shared 3 characteristics that propelled them to success.

Meticulous Planners

Successful entrepreneurs are meticulous planners. They have a plan A, B, and if need be, a plan C. I’m not saying every minute of your life needs to be planned out, but improvising as you go along isn’t going to work. It’s the equivalent of taking a road trip from New York to Los Angeles when you don’t know the roads, and you don’t have a map. You might get there, but chances are you won’t. The same applies to the business world. The odds are already against you, so there’s no point in decreasing them any further. Planning allows you to respond to problems quicker, if and when they arise. It also allows you to evaluate how you’re doing, and adjust accordingly if need be.

So how do I improve this?

1. Business Plan

if you don’t have a business plan, now is the time to do it. It’s the foundation of your business. Consider it the road map. Without it, you’re driving blind. It’s probably one of the most important steps taken when first starting a company, but it’s often the most ignored by new entrepreneurs. The business plan is how you can get investors, loans, and government grants. It also allows you to set benchmarks and goals. This way you can see if you’re falling behind, on time, or ahead. It gives you a clear picture of the health of your business.

2. Contingency Plans

Large corporations have plans in place in case of disasters or problems often associated with their given industry. This sector of the business world is called risk management. Individuals that work in these departments spend their entire time assessing, evaluating, and planning for every conceivable problem.

For example, at Garcia-Alexander we run web servers for the websites of a lot of our clients. If the servers were to fail, all of our client’s websites would not be available on the internet anymore. This would not only affect us, but it would have serious repercussions to our client’s bottom line. This is a common problem in my field, so we have contingency plans in place to prevent this exact scenario from happening. Should the servers fail, we developed a backup system to keep everything running. While it would be ideal, it would give us enough time to fix the problem.

The same applies to your business. Once you have identified the most common and expensive problems in your industry you can create a risk management plan to deal with it when it occurs. It will save you a lot of headaches and money in the future.

3. Scheduling

Have a set of goals for the day scheduled. This one may seem like common sense but like the business plan it’s rarely used by new entrepreneurs. Deciding what to get done as the day goes along is not only poor planning but a lot of time is lost. Your time is the most valuable asset available to you. Wasting it is the same as throwing away money. By setting your goals for the day the night before or the morning of, you’ll not only find that you get more done, but you get it done quicker.

Specific Goal Oriented Mindset

Another major characteristic that successful entrepreneurs share is their specific goal oriented mindset. In other words, they not only set goals but they make very precise goals. Instead of saying “I want to start an Italian restaurant in New York” they are more likely to say “I want to start a casual Italian restaurant in Brooklyn that serves Naples style pizzas”. There are a lot of benefits from this type of mindset. By have specific goals, they are able to spend their limited resources and finances better. Since they know exactly what they want to do, less effort and time is spent achieving that particular goal.

So how do I improve this?

The only way to improve this is practice. Try to implement this mindset into everything you do. Big and small goals alike, you want to make them very precise. Eventually it becomes second nature to you and your business will benefit from it.

Discipline

The first few days of an entrepreneur’s quest to financial independence are often exciting and they are extremely motivated. Yet, as time goes on it gets harder and harder to maintain their focus. What makes the successful entrepreneur stand out is their discipline. Good days, bad days, they still treat their job as if they have a boss that will fire them if they don’t show up or if they slack off. Having your own business has its rewards, but it also requires a lot of hard work.

So how do I improve this?

Start small and focus on one thing at a time. Often time’s people try to stay discipline in everything they do. This is unrealistic and often times impossible. Instead of fixing everything at once, focus on one or two things you want to be more consistent with. For example, if you want to cold-call potential clients or customers, focus on doing it at the same time everyday for the same amount of time. As you get better with it, you can take on more and more things.