Top Characteristics of an Entrepreneur

By Sue Pearce

As you step out of the box to become independent as a sole business owner, you must realize that it takes a very special, determined individual to achieve the success of entrepreneurial ship. There are many factors to consider before you take that first step. A successful entrepreneur should have the following traits to be successful.

Sacrifices & Passion - Sacrifice and Passion go hand in hand when looking at being your own boss. You need the passion in your business or the aspect of building your business from the ground up simply because you will be sacrificing your family like and potentially taking a cut in pay to succeed. The question is: Does personal satisfaction outweigh personal monetary gain?

Determination & Tolerance - You will need to be the kind of individual that once you decide to do something, you will do it and nothing can stop you. When you are faced with sever setbacks, you will need to be able to pick up the pieces and start over again. Utilizing a bad situation by accepting failure without admitting defeat and turning those experiences into positive benefits is a must. You really need to enjoy tackling a task without knowing all the potential problems realizing that these projects may take 5 to 10 years to complete successfully. The question is: Does your concentration level allow you to focus on a single subject for extended periods of time?

Self-Confidence & Small Ego - To truly succeed, commonly seeking the advice of people who are older and more experienced than you will be a must. Don't worry about what others think of you, you'll need the self-confidence to surround yourself with people whose skills, background and knowledge complement your own. Your ego must be checked at the door to allow the growth to bring you the success. Learning is power and power is success. The question: Do you feel good about yourself despite what others may say?

Uncertainty & Ambiguity - This aspect speaks to a 90/10% rule. Research is a necessity before you start your business and during the course of your business however, the rule of thumb is that we will only ever gather about 10% of the information we will need in a short period of time to base our business decisions on. Being a procrastinator or continuing to do research, will only delay our start up. You will need to set clear goals and objectives for yourself constantly think of new ideas and come up with more than one solution to potential or existing problems. The question: Do you tend to make suggestions on how to improve things at your current job?

Volleyball Player or BASE jumper - If we were to look at any successful entrepreneur, you will see that they tend to be more like a "Base Jumper" rather than a Volleyball player. On a sliding scale smart business owners know to take greater risks and they can recognize potential startup risks and mitigate them knowing that they still may fail but can overcome those failures and adjust their processes along the way. If you were to look at any new business and speak to the owner, I am sure that they would tell you that their current business differs greatly from what their original business plan indicated. The point is that the people, who take greater risks, adjust to the new information and changing circumstances are still standing. The question: Are you a low risk taker (volleyball player) or high risk (BASE jumper) taker?

Tortoise and the Hare - Just as the old adage states: Slow and Steady wins the race! We have already touched on Sacrifices and passion however, we need to mention finances. As holds true, you need to spend money to make money and until you have got the personal finances to go without a steady paycheck, you won't want to quit your current job. If you rush like the Hare, you may run into financial woes and this will create a loss of interest in your new business due to survival mode having to kick in. Do your startup as a side business and then once you are generating enough cash flow to survive, you can then go full time with your endeavor. The question: Is working long hours to accomplish a goal realistic for you?

Professional Photographer - As a famous photographer Robert Capa frequently quoted, "If your picture isn't good enough, you're not close enough." As a smart entrepreneur, you will need to learn to be like a professional photographer. You need to possess the unique ability to "zoom out" to see the bigger picture for your business while still being able to capture the picture in front of you, that being your startup goals. The question: Can you be a professional photographer and not blame others when things go wrong?

Introvert & Extrovert - As an Entrepreneur, you will need to learn to master both of these personality traits. As defined in the dictionary, an Extrovert takes pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings, such as parties, community activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups. Politics, teaching, sales, managing and brokering are fields that favor extroversion. However, you will also need to be an Introvert in order to realize that you cannot win every battle. Introverts are also characterized as being more analytical before speaking. Both attributes will be needed - extroversion for selling your business and introversion to maintain a strong sense of perspective. The question: Have you previously been involved in starting things like clubs, community organizations, fund-raising projects etc. or do you enjoy being a home body?

Summary:

The question: Do you envision yourself running your own business?

It could be said that entrepreneurship is a kind of creative, irrational rebellion committed in the face of uncertainty. When you initially start out, you may not have that fool-proof plan but as a new entrepreneur, you will need to be confident, sacrificial, introverted and extroverted. Egos will need to be checked at the door, failures need to be viewed as new potentials and not all battles are worth fighting for. You need to be fully satisfied in knowing personally that a job has been done well. Many hats will need to be worn including a Volleyball player, BASE jumper, Photographer and Tortoise.

Not all of these traits are necessary to have in the beginning, nor do they guarantee success, but it will show you whether your profile fits that of an entrepreneur and will highlight what traits and personalities are your strengths and weaknesses to help ensure success.

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An Internet Business Opportunity Entrepreneurs Reality Check - Entrpreneurship

By Joe Borowy

So you want to learn the internet business marketing secrets to make money by starting an internet business? Do you feel like an internet business entrepreneur that is just waiting for the best opportunity to strike it rich with? You know that the internet is a hot money market and you want to get your share! If there's money to be made, you'll find a way to make it! The only things you need are an income source, and the resources to market it. Once you have them, it's all downhill from there!!

...Right?

Well, let's take a brutally honest approach to analyzing your hopes of being an internet business entrepreneur. There are thousands of other entrepreneurs out there just like you who are just waiting for the chance to start their own internet business and make an insane income from the internet. That's alright though, because any good internet business entrepreneur knows that there is always a way to make money out there.

The beginnings of any entrepreneur's business are what ultimately what define their long term success. This not only applies to any successful internet business entrepreneur, but to any entrepreneur in history. That's right! I'm not even speaking specifically about our modern culture! Throughout human history, entrepreneurship has been always centered on one basic, broad concept. We hear all too often today, but rarely give it a second thought. Here is the golden rule for any entrepreneur, whether an internet business entrepreneur, a small business owner, or perhaps even an entrepreneur who is looking for the chance to start a business.

Entrepreneurship comes down to the ability of finding a need of the people and filling it.

We all know this is common knowledge. However, what happens all too often with internet business entrepreneurs is that they get caught up in the hype of a last chance offer or internet business opportunity, and forget to question if it fits the definition of entrepreneurship. Now, I'm not saying you can't be successful with these things. The problem is that entrepreneurs get hyped up in thinking they're all set for wealth because they have the best internet business program out there. They know that all they need to do is execute the pre-written plan they were given to achieve success. They may very well make money with any given internet business opportunity. Then, after a little success, they tend to convince themselves that they have become a true internet business entrepreneur and have accomplished exactly what they set out to do originally.

Well, if they were successful, what's wrong with thinking that?

The problem is that they have diluted the idea of being an internet business entrepreneur so far that it would be unfair to even consider them an entrepreneur. They may have had some success, but were they really an entrepreneur? This is where the men separate from the boys.

They are not entrepreneurs they better fit the definition of an Opportunist.

So what? They were successful right? What's the difference anyway?

The difference is this: Entrepreneurs find the need and fill it. Opportunists fill the need, but weren't the ones to find it. Now, when someone hears the word "opportunist," it usually carries a bad connotation. This is not the case. Opportunists are simply different than entrepreneurs. No one ever said they were less successful than entrepreneurs.

If you don't agree, think about the very famous, successful man we all know is without a doubt the world's greatest opportunist. Who would that be? Here are a few hints. He didn't find the need, but he knew two entrepreneurs who found the need. He even worked for the entrepreneurs who filled one of the biggest needs in history. He didn't even invent the product that filled this need, but most people who use this product don't know that. Do you know who it is yet? Here are a couple obvious hints. To this day, his products are inferior to his competitors', but he still leads the industry. He made his wealth through quality marketing, not a quality product. If you still don't know, here is the giveaway: He is the richest man in the world! Bill Gates, of course! Bill Gates is the greatest opportunist in history. But he still wasn't an entrepreneur.

So what? He's the richest man alive!

Yes, he certainly is. But that doesn't make him an entrepreneur. Steven Jobs and Steven Wozniak are the real entrepreneurs of the Computer Industry. They both are successful, but they were caught off guard by an opportunist with a vision. They could have very well had a virtual monopoly on computers to this day, but an opportunist stole it from them.

Alright...Well what's so good about being an Entrepreneur then?

Well... Umm... it sounds good to say you're an entrepreneur? No, that can't be it. Uhh... Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur? No, that's not it either.

The brutally honest truth is that being an entrepreneur is not all that it's played up to be. It involves a high risk of failure, and the bottom line is most people aren't going to take that chance. Also, it's good to remember that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being an opportunist. Sure, you'll have to factor in your own ethics. But, speaking monetarily, there is nothing wrong with being an opportunist.

With almost every entrepreneur we know of, there are opportunists that follow. Michael Dell founded Dell Computers on the idea that people would want computers built to their custom specifications. He was and still is very successful with this. Soon, Hewlett Packard, Compaq, Gateway, and many more adopted his principles into their business models. Many people would label what you now know as opportunists to be entrepreneurs.

Many people who declare themselves "internet business entrepreneurs" are really internet business opportunists. Many successful network marketers would call themselves entrepreneurs, but they are really network marketing opportunists. The real entrepreneur is individual that came up with the idea of network marketing. He found a need for a business model that would utilize ambitious individuals who had no product to sell on their own, but still sought a way to earn an income through marketing a product.

Entrepreneurship is one of the many subjects of common knowledge that few people think twice about. There are thousands of people out there who say want to be entrepreneurs that don't even know how to define "entrepreneur!" If that entire group was to eventually find success in internet business or any business at all, the chances of the majority of them becoming a true entrepreneur are very small. I would estimate that about 98% of them, if successful in the long run, are opportunists and not entrepreneurs.

Any given successful entrepreneur knows the concept described in this article all too well. That's most likely because at some point, they lost some aspect of business to an opportunist who picked up on what need they are filling and how they are doing it. Steven Jobs and Steven Wozniak would be able to describe in detail the shear frustration of this.

So if you really do believe that you want to be an entrepreneur, think about the golden rule. What is the need you will fill and how will you fill it? If you can come up with some answers for those two questions, you very well may be on your way to success. Don't forget to get a patent, trademark, and/or copyright though!

*On a personal note, I will take a shot in the dark and say that you're probably wondering what right I have to speak so bluntly about this subject. Maybe you're wondering what my experience and qualifications are. Perhaps you're ever curious about my own entrepreneurial endeavors. I'm not going to come out and spill the details of my entrepreneurial endeavors, but take a good look at this article and the information presented, and how it is presented. Maybe you can figure it out!

If you liked this article, read my previously published articles at [http://SearchWarp.com/swa15519.htm] and- Please visit my website http://www.SuccessForFreedom.com to check out the honest opportunities I offer. I am building a team of dedicated, driven, and honest people who want to make a solid income working from home. We are building a community of honest network marketers, so please come join! Hear what other honest people have to say about working from home! http://www.SuccessForFreedom.com

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How to Become Successful Online - The Simple Secret 99% of Online Entrepreneurs Ignore

By Ian Ross Hollander

Who else would love to earn $100K a year or MORE doing work that truly makes you feel fulfilled? Are you sick and tired of trying every online marketing strategy under the sun with NO reward in site? Do you jump from idea to idea without ever really following through one ONE single thing? The truth is, for the vast majority of online entrepreneurs, the biggest challenge which keeps us back is NOT needing to learn more ways to make money, but rather, to apply what we DO know in a logical and practical way to add value to the world around us.
Let me give you a quick example ...
I was reading a story a few minutes ago about Sarah Blakely, the founder of the product "Spanx", and how just this week Forbes magazine listed her as the youngest woman to ever become a self made billionaire.
She did it NOT by trying a million different things and looking for the easiest opportunity to make a billion dollars.
Instead, she saw a problem in the world (actually in her own world, first!), conceptualized a solution and then set out with a fierce and ferocious focus to add value to the lives of millions of women (and men) around the world through innovation.
Of course, most of us aren't going to make a billion dollars. But that isn't the goal. The goal SHOULD be about adding value, and doing something that you truly love and that honors your own unique gifts and finding a way to turn the value you offer others into value for YOU, as well.
Have you ever heard the Einstein quote about insanity? Insanity, he said... was doing the same things every day and expecting a different result.
Yet, most online entrepreneurs that I know DO those same things everyday that aren't working... and expect that they're eventually going to get rich anyway.
I want to challenge you to try something different:
Write down 3 things that you are REALLY, really good at.
(I don't care if it's cooking, yoga, tennis, credit repair, blog building, meditation, bible study, etc)
Write down 3 ways each of those 3 things can be translated into value in the world. (coaching others, teaching, training, etc)
Spend a few days looking at what other thought leaders, gurus or online experts are doing in the field right now to make money.
Pick ONE thing of the 3 that you really feel you have the greatest chance to stand out in.....and build your business around offering massive value to those who share your passion in that one thing.
All you really need to be hugely successful is a community of people who share a passion, good content of your own, AND a valuable offer to make to those who want to advance their education, understanding or experience in the niche that you have real expertise.
It really IS that simple.
But you have to have a structure to your business that includes REAL world offers, and doesn't rely only on affiliate programs, or contextual ads, or SEO, or that sort of silliness.
Because that's not about value.
And those rarely work on their own.
But do what you truly love with an inspired eye on making the world around you a better place....and do it with passion and persistence, and the PROFIT is almost always close behind!
Want the SECRET to earning 4 figures in ONE Day WITHOUT Tricks, Gimmicks or Guru's? Click HERE and I'll give it to you 100% Free!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ian_Ross_Hollander


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