1. Achievement orientation
In successful entrepreneurs, the need to achieve their own goals translates into a great capacity for work and the tenacity and perseverance necessary to stay on course. But this ability should not be confused with the initial enthusiasm of the entrepreneur setting up a business. They often fail because they plan little. Or they have problems to maintain the business because they are people who are always starting things, but do not know how to maintain them over time, if they do not put someone else in charge of the business.
How to develop it
Your tenacity and perseverance will be tested from the first moments as an entrepreneur. In order not to get blocked, you have to think about winning small battles, not trying to win the war. Small achievements help achieve big goals. Think, for example, how you would eat an elephant. Many people will immediately say that it is impossible to eat an elephant. An achievement-oriented person will say little by little. Of course, if you plan well and divide it into parts, you can surely eat it.
2. Need for independence and initiative
All the experts say that it is impossible to become an entrepreneur when you do not have initiative. Moreover, race entrepreneurs have so developed the need to create something of their own that they know they are going to be entrepreneurs before even knowing what business they are going to start. But many other entrepreneurs simply look to their business for a way to do the work they love. This profile of entrepreneurs loses the enthusiasm and drive necessary to achieve success when problems begin. They are people who have started a business because they wanted to be independent, but they had not appreciated all the sacrifices that that decision entails, and they realize too late that they are not willing to assume that price.
How to develop it
The first thing you should do is identify what is the barrier that is holding back your initiative, in order to design the most appropriate strategy for your problem. It may happen that the initiative is held back by habits that limit your orientation to action, such as the tendency to analyze everything excessively, the loss of vision of your business, a lack of clear priorities or the tendency to be too perfectionist with the results. Or that it is due to causes beyond your own control, such as the lack of capital or the necessary support to carry out the business. Try to develop your initiative by promoting habits that facilitate decision-making, even in the most complicated moments. For example, get used to analyzing the cost-benefit of your decisions on paper and jump into the pool when the risk is not high. You should also get used to planning things by setting priorities and avoiding tasks that deviate from your goals. Organize a short, medium, and long term agenda and write down the small achievements to regain your confidence in your project. If you have lost the initiative because you are no longer clear about your business idea, try to recover your vision, identify what things still excite you about it, and analyze if you have the means to achieve it. If you can’t identify the way to start it, you are chasing an unattainable dream. If you have lost the initiative because you are no longer clear about your business idea, try to recover your vision, identify what things still excite you about it, and analyze if you have the means to achieve it. If you can’t identify the way to start it, you are chasing an unattainable dream. If you have lost the initiative because you are no longer clear about your business idea, try to recover your vision, identify what things still excite you about it, and analyze if you have the means to achieve it. If you can’t identify the way to start it, you are chasing an unattainable dream.
3. Eagerness to improve and learn
Curiosity is a personality trait of many entrepreneurs. If you are one of those who are always looking for new challenges, if you enjoy learning and continually try to overcome your goals, you have one of your best strengths there. The curiosity of the entrepreneur is used to find new lines of business, new markets, and even to start new companies completely different from each other. But it also happens that some successful entrepreneurs become self-limited due to an excess of confidence that makes them close to the ideas of others. We remind them of a Chinese proverb that goes like this: ‘when the student is ready, the teacher appears.
How to develop it
Learning is closely related to self-knowledge and the ability to accept criticism. In this sense, the first step to improve is to accept that you do not know everything. Learn to identify the beliefs that limit your vision of things and accept your mistakes. If you don’t, no learning is possible.
Routine is another of the main traps to improve learning ability. In order not to restrict your mind, get used to looking for new ways of doing things and remember that everything can be improved. Feed your intellectual curiosity by collecting all kinds of information, even that which is not directly related to your business.
Detecting your own limits is one of the keys to self-confidence. In personal learning, the point of view of others is also key. Try to boost the critical spirit of the people you trust and analyze in which areas you should improve.
It enhances other skills directly related to the ability to learn, such as creativity, the ability to accept mistakes, and communication with others.
4. Intuition and vision of the future
Intuition and the ability to anticipate the future are two essential values in today’s markets. All entrepreneurs have to face the litmus test of solving problems with minimal information at some point in the beginning or development of the business. Or they are forced to make key decisions for the future of the business in times of maximum uncertainty.
Don’t anchor yourself to the past
These two abilities, which are often considered innate, have a lot to do with how we deal with problems. It is very common that when problems arise, we wonder why I have not done this? These types of questions anchor us to the past. By contrast, questions of the type what for? help us to position ourselves in the future: why am I going to do this? What do I want to achieve?
How to develop it
To improve intuitive thinking, you must get used to analyzing the market and your company from an overall vision. If you stay in the small details, you are limiting your ability to anticipate the future. But remember that being carried away by intuition does not mean that you have to give up gathering as much information as possible before solving a problem. Or that you make important decisions without analyzing the consequences. The key is to learn to simplify the information, to be able to detect the most important ideas to explain complex situations, and to try to identify relationships that are not obvious at first.
5. Self-confidence
“If you think you can as if you think you can’t, in both cases, you are right.” This well-known phrase by Henry Ford reflects very well the importance of the self-confidence of its promoters in the success or failure of a business. If you think you can, you may well succeed, but if you think you can’t, you will fail. And that does not mean that the entrepreneur has no doubts about his business.
Here you will read the 100 Ways to Become a Millionaire.
Where I’m going
Self-confidence is especially tested in times of crisis. You must be clear about what you want to achieve and how you are going to do it. And be aware that the path is made by walking because many things will not turn out as you had planned. If you are confident, your fears about what will happen tomorrow are overcome. If not, you sink.
How to develop it
Self-confidence is learned, starting with improving self-knowledge. You must stop to analyze what your successes and failures have been based on, to detect where your limits are. Many people do not trust themselves because they do not know who they are, they fall into defeatism, and they depend a lot on the opinion of those around them.
Self-confidence is reinforced by the successes achieved. Dare to take on challenges and write down your successes, along with an explanation of the causes that made them possible. This information will help you make the right decisions when you face similar situations again. Do the same with mistakes, to avoid repeating them.