5 Ways to Become a More Successful Entrepreneur

Looking for ways of becoming a good entrepreneur?  You’ve got a winning idea for a business, but you aren’t sure if you are ready to be an entrepreneur. Maybe you are afraid to leave the safety and stability of a steady paycheck or maybe you just don’t know if you have what it takes.

Either way, you are not alone. 

I think almost everyone at one time or another has had a great idea for a business, but not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. So how do you know if you are ready to become a good entrepreneur? How do you find ways of becoming an entrepreneur?

Stick around because I will lay out the five must-have characteristics would-be entrepreneurs need to succeed.

Ways to Become a More Successful Entrepreneur

You’ve got a ton of small business ideas, but you aren’t sure if you are ready to be a successful entrepreneur? Here's how to become a good entrepreneur.

1. Self-Directive

Entrepreneurs take the initiative and organize their own work. As an entrepreneur, you are the boss and the employee so you have to both motivate and monitor yourself. At the beginning of any entrepreneurial venture, you’ll wear several hats as you schedule and attend meetings, manage projects, prospect clients, develop and market your product or service, manage your accounts and finances, and so on. Being self-directed is essential to getting it all done.

Can you make your own decisions, take responsibility, hold yourself accountable, and get the work done on your own?

2. Get Disciplined

Entrepreneurs have discipline because starting and running your own business takes time. A lot of time. You have to be willing to work long hours, make sacrifices, and sometimes say no when you want to say yes. But you also have to know when to take a step back from work and give yourself a break. Many entrepreneurs put in a lot of hours and develop the [very] bad habit of overworking. Then relationships suffer, they burn out, or worse, lose their drive. Successful entrepreneurs have the discipline to create a balance that works for them.

How well do you manage your time? Can you create a sustainable schedule that will get the work done? 

3. Be Flexible

There is a lot of trial and error in entrepreneurship so you have to be flexible, make adjustments and adapt. The marketplace is constantly changing and evolving so successful entrepreneurs must be able to change and evolve with it. And some point in time, you may have to pivot from your original business plan, and the most important part of the pivot is the willingness to do it. Too often people get so attached to their ideas that they will stick with a bad idea, even though a small or major pivot would be the difference between success and failure.

Are you flexible, and able to adjust and adapt as needed?

4. Be More Reflective

Becoming a good entrepreneur means you must be able to self-assess to improve and be more effective. Reflection is an essential component of both personal and professional growth. You will also get a lot of opinions along the way from peers, friends, mentors, investors, and clients. Those opinions are important, even when you don’t want or like them. That doesn’t mean you follow everyone’s advice, but you have to listen, weigh it, and consider your options.

Reflection should be a daily practice; it can be meditation, prayer, or journaling. It can be brainstorming, mind mapping, or free writing. Whichever you choose, you must be willing and able to be reflective, critical of yourself and your work, and consider how others input may benefit you.

Are you able to self-reflect and identify your own strengths and areas of growth? Can you admit when you are wrong? Can you handle constructive criticism or critical feedback?

5. Be Persistence

Being an entrepreneur requires you to persist. When there is no money, you persist. When there are no clients, you persist. When you feel totally alone and lost, you persist. Successful entrepreneurs persist even when they feel like they have failed. The entrepreneurial journey can be a rough road and there will be times when you feel like there is no point in going on, or people will tell you it’s a terrible idea, or you will tell yourself it is a terrible idea. What do you do? You can read some inspiring entrepreneurial books or get advice from like-minded individuals…But no matter what, you must persist.

From self-development to business best practices, here are ten books to help you along your way:

• The 4-Hour Workweek
• The Lean Startup
• How to Win Friends & Influence People
• The Millionaire Fastlane
• The $100 Startup
• The Entrepreneur Mind
• Crush It!
• Zero to One
• Think And Grow Rich 
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

These books will help you find something that will not only resonate with you and inspire you to aim higher but will also guide you through that process as well. You should strive to keep your mind positive and optimism high and these books will help fuel that.

Here is a quote I keep close to me:

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”  -Calvin Coolidge

Can you persist in order to become a good entrepreneur?

Closing Thoughts

So if you have a great idea for a business and these five characteristics you are off to a great start. If you struggled with some of these questions, it’s okay. If you are truly ready to be an entrepreneur you’ll take this as a challenge and develop the characteristics you need to succeed. If you need some tips to get your ideas flowing, here are realistic small business ideas for men or women.

Need some more advice on ways of becoming a good entrepreneur? You can view my Ted Talk below:

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