22 Characteristics of Entrepreneurs

Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Here are 22 characteristics that set successful entrepreneurs apart:

1. Commitment and perseverance

Starting a business venture requires total personal sacrifice.Entrepreneurs put a lot of physical and mental effort into developing their ventures.Total immersion into business by entrepreneurs can overcome obstacles and setbacks.Commitment is demonstrated by their intense dedication to the job.To overcome the business challenges of surviving in the start up, stay alive and finally grow means not giving up Entrepreneurs work long hours and regard their firm by far as the most important element of their lives, with possible exception of their families.The stronger commitment has enabled some entrepreneurs to overcome difficulties, which defeated other people who treat those difficulties as impossible to solve obstacles.Commitment also compensate for personal shortcomings.   

2. Determination to finish a task quickly, succeed and grow

Small business entrepreneurs’ expect quick and concrete result from their investment of time and capital.Most of them can singularly focus on a task and continue diligent effort until the task is finished and success accomplished. Most entrepreneurs can shut out the outside world such as television, radio, idle conversation and solely focus on the task at hand.This single mindedness can often lead to people to assume that entrepreneurs are unfriendly, rude and/or self centred because they often do not involve themselves in their surroundings and the people around them.However, it is this ability to be determined to succeed and grow that allows entrepreneurs to finish the task at hand.

  3.Need for self-achievement and motivated

Entrepreneurs are ambitious individuals with a strong passion to achieve.They have a strong need for achievement, far stronger than with the average owner manager.Running own business is a lonely affair without external push to motivate and encourage you.Therefore one has to be self-motivated. Entrepreneurs respond to challenges with enthusiasm. Achievement for the individual owner means different things depending on what type of person they are.

4. Personal goal set 

Entrepreneurs tend to set themselves clear and demanding goals.They are self-starters who appear to be internally driven by a strong desire to compete to excel against self-imposed standards.So they benchmark their achievements against these personal but challenging goals.

5. Opportunity orientation

Most entrepreneurs in exploiting change for profit, constantly search for new opportunities and are seldom satisfied with the way things are at any moment in time.They seek out opportunities to make money.  Often they see opportunities while others see problems.On the other hand, some of the entrepreneurs see opportunities everywhere and have problems following through on any one before becoming distracted by another. Some get bored by the routines and controls; they see other market opportunities and go for the excitement of another start up. Others become serial entrepreneurs, moving to set up and sell on one business after another. Successful entrepreneurs focus on opportunity and let their understanding of it guide other important issues.As businesspersons they are goal oriented in the pursuit of opportunities and they set ambitious but realistically doable goals.The ability to keep focused on the end result and the ability to continue pursuing that end is a common characteristic of successful entrepreneur.This enables them to focus their energies, to selectively sort out opportunities and to know when to say No! The goal orientation also helps them to define priorities and provides them with measures of how well they are performing.

6.Initiative and responsibility

Entrepreneurs do not need to be told what to do. Effective entrepreneurs actively identify the tasks for themselves and then follow them through without looking for encouragement or direction from others.They are willing to put themselves in a situation where they are personally responsible for the success or failure of the operation.They take control of the situation and then accept the end results. They do not rationalise the situation in an attempt to blame the lack of success on someone else or some other event.

7. Persistent problem solving

Entrepreneurs are problem solvers.Moreover although they are persistent, but are realistic in recognising what they can and cannot do and where they can get help in solving difficult but unavoidable tasks.

8. Seeking Feedback

Entrepreneurs are characterised by inquisitiveness. They are never satisfied by information they have at any time and constantly seek more.They are in particular interested to know how they are doing and how they might improve their performance. They actively seek out and use feedback to learn their mistakes.It is however, noticed that in some Tanzanian firms for example in some banks suggestion boxes are well and visibly placed. The challenge is whether really customers have time to propose and whether the few suggestions gathered are seriously used to correct mistakes.

9.Foresight

Foresight has to do with the ability to see the future as it might be.Entrepreneurs have the ability to see how ideas could be turned into product.In order for entrepreneurs to make changes to products and production process, they must first possess the foresight and insight to see how those changes will impact the future. 

  10.Internal Locus of Control

This has to do with the extent to which an entrepreneur believes that he/she can exercise control of the environment and ultimately his/her destiny.Successful entrepreneurs are convinced that they can control their own destinies hence tend to believe in themselves.They do not believe that fate, luck, chance or similar forces will govern the success or failure of their venture. These are attributes of external locus of control. They believe that their accomplishments and set backs are within their own control and influence. They take personal responsibility. In extreme cases this trait can lead to certain negative behaviours. It can show itself as a desire to maintain personal control over every aspect of the business.That can culminate preoccupation with details, overwork and stress.It also leads to unwillingness to delegate and mistrust to the subordinates as the business grows.

11. Tolerance for Ambiguity 

True entrepreneurs are willing to live with far greater level of uncertainty.Generally they do  not succumb to uncertainty. Start up entrepreneurs face uncertainty compounded by constant changes that introduce ambiguity and stress into every aspect of the enterprise. 

12.Calculated Risk Taking.

Coupled with the ability of the entrepreneurs to live with uncertainty is their willingness to take measured risks.The risks could be personal or financial. Financial risks means that the entrepreneur could loose all his or her money and personal assets should the venture fail. Failure could also mean that a person loses his/her status in society.Most people are generally risk averse hence they try to avoid risks and insure against them. Setting up own enterprise is risky and entrepreneurs are more willing to take more risks with their own resources than most people.Risk taken by an entrepreneur is for change to make a new product or change to make a production process work more smoothly and efficiently.They also risk their reputation and personal standing if they fail. However, entrepreneurs are not extreme risk takers hence they tend to minimise risk whenever possible.They decide to participate in a venture in a very calculated, carefully thought manner by avoiding taking unnecessary risks.Nevertheless, people who hesitate to take risk whenever necessary do not fit the characteristics of an entrepreneur.

 13.  Integrity and reliabilities 

help build and sustain trust and confidence.They are important for small business entrepreneurs’ success.In the case of Tanzania it is known that some retailing entrepreneurs  tend to get trade credit support from wholesalers mainly because of trust that was built overtime.

14.Resilience

Not everything goes right all the time.Entrepreneurs need a willingness to accept failure, learn from it and act boldly in the shadows of doubts.They use failure as part of the learning process towards achieving success.This learning process is repeated until there is satisfactory outcome.Entrepreneurs do not accept failure, but see failed attempts as temporary set backs on the road to success. They tend to act first and learn later from experiences of their actions.The trial and error nature of becoming a successful entrepreneur makes serious setbacks and disappointments an integral part of the learning process.For that reason most entrepreneurs have the attitude to keep trying until they succeed.They do not get disappointed, discouraged or depressed by a setback or failure. Many of the entrepreneurs believe they learn more from their failures than from their earlier successes.Thus they do not tend to see problems as obstacles but rather as opportunities to solve as part of the drive towards success.

15.Proactive 

Entrepreneurs tend to be proactive in searching for opportunity rather than being reactive.They are pro active in a sense that they actively seek out opportunities rather than waiting for them to occur by chance.They act quickly and decisively to make the most of the opportunity before somebody else does. They are seen as restless and easily bored. They can easily be diverted by the most recent market opportunity and often seem to do things at twice the pace of others.

 16.Creativity and Innovativeness

Innovation and creativity are considered as hallmark of entrepreneurship.Creativity is about developing new ideas, products or services.It is associated with the creation of a product or process that is useful, correct, appropriate and valuable.It has to do with the ability to see the end result of a production change in order to make the production process run more smoothly. In other words, creativity sees a need and the end result of efforts.Innovation on the other hand, refers to doing something differently to the way others are doing it presently.It can mean an improved service or product, a new means of producing an existing product or a new way of getting the product to the consumer.It is the prime tool that entrepreneurs use to create or exploit opportunity.It consists of ability to seek new ways to do things or solve problems. Entrepreneurs as an agent of change bring about new resource combinations.Entrepreneurs tend to be both creative and or innovative.They do things in new and different ways.Creativity and innovation means that the venture will have competitive advantage in the market.Briefly put, to create is to bring something into existence, while to innovate is to bring novelties The two traits are often used complimentarily.

17.Vision

Vision is the picture of the new world an entrepreneur wishes to create.It is a picture into which the entrepreneur fits an understanding of why people will be better off, the source of new value that will be created and the relation that exists.A vision is a mental image in that it is something that an entrepreneur carries around in their head.Entrepreneurs know where they want to go.They have concept of what they want to achieve.They have the ability to be in the right place at the right time guided by their vision.Timing is everything. This is part of the fabric of their motivation.Innovation that is ahead of time can lead to failure. Innovation that is late, results in copycats products or services that are unlikely to be outstanding successes.

18.Self Confidence and optmision

This is a belief in one self. It has to do with being confident in your own judgement and ability to start and run up your business.More precisely, optimism implies the belief that actions will lead to the best possible event or outcome,Most entrepreneurs have own confidence that their efforts will yield success,They are sure enough of themselves and their abilities to honestly believe that they can and will succeed at the tasks.   They believe that if they work hard enough and push the envelope of success, they will break through and succeed.Although entrepreneurs often face obstacles they believe in their ability and are confident in overcoming such obstacles.They have a self-belief that they can succeed.Nevertheless, the self-confidence attribute can be overdone and turn to an exaggerated opinion of their competence and even arrogance. Thus, there is a need to balance the need for it against the dark side of it.

19.Independence 

Independence has to do with a need to be your own boss.Entrepreneurs enjoy the freedom that comes from doing their known thing and making their own decisions.They are constrained by existing systems and challenge established procedures and assumptions.Thus they often produce something new rather than modifying what currently exist.    Entrepreneurs' frustration with rigid bureaucratic systems coupled with a sincere commitment to 'make a difference'' adds up to an independent personality trying to accomplish tasks on own way.However, independence means different things to different people.It may mean controlling your own destiny, doing things differently or being in a situation where you can fulfil your potentials. It has been said that once you run your own firm can not work for anybody else.

20.Team building 

The desire for independence and autonomy does not preclude the entrepreneurs' desire to build a strong entrepreneurial team.Most successful entrepreneurs have highly qualified well-motivated team that helps handle the venture growth and development.In the Tanzanian context it is understood that some entrepreneurs employ relatives who do not fit competence and motivational requirements of their ventures. Nepotism has been often been cited in the literature as one of the reasons for venture failure.

21. Leadership 

This reflects the personality of the lead entrepreneur.Consequently it can change from authoritarian to participative. However, the skills required are the same. These include the ability to select appropriate team members, communication, mediation, negotiation skills, motivation and empowerment and sharing of credit for achievement with team members and/ or employees. 

22.Assertiveness 

Assertiveness means a commitment to outcomes.Entrepreneurs are usually clear as to what they want to gain from a situation and are not frightened to express their wishes.