This is a subject of research and analysis of many professionals and institutions. It is very possible that we cannot expect to have a person with all features that make them successful. But, the combination of the most important factors can help you to build and manage successful business.
You can read about these factors that can make you successful small business owner here, but if you want 87 tips and recommendation to become an entrepreneur you can find them in the following post: How to Become an Entrepreneur.
Following factors, or features of successful entrepreneur are based on my research before several years in which I have included more than hundred entrepreneurs.
Now, let’s continue with the main subject of this post.
15 Entrepreneurial Success Factors
The most critical and most important factors that can make an entrepreneur to become a successful entrepreneur are:
- Willingness to take action. This is the first and most important factor for each would be and current entrepreneur. All other factors presented below, is not important if you don’t take a real action. Actions are something that lead entrepreneurs to the success. Without them, they are nothing.
- Knowledge. Entrepreneurs are persons who must have superior knowledge about specific business issues for business that they start.
- Creativity. You must be creative persons if you want to be unique and with the power of continuously improvement of your business.
- Skills. Each entrepreneur and each business will need different entrepreneurial skills that in some cases can be crucial for business success.
- Intelligence. You must be intelligent to manage all possible situations and solve the hardest problems that will be a constant in your business life.
- Patience. You must be patient and ready to continue even if you lose the first battle, because the war is not finished. It’s only the beginning.
- Persistence. Persistence simply is a refusal to give up from something, or ability to keep your actions against your personal feelings that you’re not ready for these actions. Feelings and motivation didn’t produce results, but the action is something that will produce it.
- Teamwork. Nobody can achieve anything alone so this is true also for an entrepreneur because they’re not a “Superman”. They must be team players for their own and business success.
- Calculated risk. This is truly one of the most important questions: Are they taking enough risk? Yes, each business startup is in some level risky. However, more important is how a successful entrepreneur takes a risk? The word calculated risk is the most appropriate word for this feature.
- Self-Confidence. Self-confidence is a really important and key factor. I think that nobody would be an entrepreneur if don’t have self-confidence that he knows how to start and manage their own business.
- Experience. Sometimes experience is in category not must have as a factor, but it is something that will increase business potential energy. They must employ all present and previous experience they have into the business that they are building.
- Talent. Talent is something inborn in an entrepreneur. Sometimes talent can be replaced with knowledge.
- Honesty. Honesty is important in every case, but sometimes honesty, being real can be the biggest enemy of an entrepreneur in some complex conditions.
- Connections. More connection means more possibilities for building a successful business.
- Luck. Luck is a psychological factor. Some people can say that they don’t have a luck. And indeed there are some “lucky people” who just accidentally found the right place at the right time with the right idea. However, it is a small percentage and cannot be included as a serious factor for success.
Why The Number One is most Important Factor?
First, all the factors listed above without willingness to take action represent a potential of an entrepreneur. Actually, this is the business potential energy stored in them that can and should be converted into kinetic energy, which will perform the job. More about business potential energy you’ll be able to read at:
- What is Business potential energy?
- The concept of business potential energy?
- 10 Basic Business Elements with Business Potential Energy
- Entrepreneurial Skills – Source for Business Potential Energy
All factors are important, but none of these factors will make them to be a successful if they don’t take appropriate action. For example, the knowledge and creativity can’t help you to become a successful entrepreneur if you don’t make the first step to start your business.
I know many people who have the knowledge and creativity, are skillful and intelligent, and persistent and patient… But these people are not entrepreneurs, they are working for another company or public services. They’re not entrepreneurs not because they’ve lack of knowledge or they are not intelligent, or don’t possess other features of the success, but because they don’t take the first step, action to become entrepreneurs.
Therefore, in that hierarchical structure of entrepreneurial success factors as the first feature or as the foundation for the success I put the ability to take actions.
What Would be the Profile of a Successful Entrepreneur?
Profile of an Entrepreneur – Superman would be:
Ready to take actions build upon a knowledge and creativity while combining the skills and intelligence, which is patient and persistent, have the ability to work in teams, take risks, but not any type of risk and have self-confidence and experience, while it’s honest, sometimes lucky, and they have great connections that can help them in better doing business.
Anyway, all factors or features are important because they’ll increase business potential energy of entrepreneurs, and thus the overall business potential energy.
About Dragan
Does attention to detail not figure somewhere in this list? It should I suggest, as does the ability to accurately proof read…."bellow"
…which you have now corrected I can see, which is another valuable trait….being able to accept criticism and make adjustments
Thanks Adrian,
Maybe I need to include your two proposals for the list for the next research.
Nice article and every one willing to be start business should read it.
nice and interesting blog. these factors are really important for successful entrepreneurship.
Taking action is probably the best and most important success factor of all. great post thanks
Thanks Jacob. Without that first step there will be nothing more to talk about.
Patient for me is one of the very best thing to do in doing a business..great blog
Thanks Pauli,
I agree with you that patience combined with the action steps will give the results.
Good post thanks Dragan, It’s amazing how many times you let ‘qualities’ of yourself slip over the years, taking time to re-establish yourself and identify where you have slipped is vitally important!
Great website theme as well, very easy on the eye! I’m a web-designer by trade and great to see people presenting their information well.
Keep it up bro,
Paul