Entrepreneurial characteristics, attributes.

The key entrepreneurial characteristics.

I have many of these entrepreneurial characteristics, some well developed, some not. Not all of them are active all of the time; you can take the application of a characteristic too far. Many entrepreneurial characteristics are dependent on each other. As an entrepreneur, you have to balance your key entrepreneurial characteristics, getting the most out of them to be highly effective without going over the top.

The entrepreneurial characteristics listed below are not characteristics a person is necessarily born with, or entrepreneurs have exclusive genes. But they do have an aptitude for those qualities that make up the entrepreneurial persona. Many of the entrepreneurial characteristics are not easy to learn, but they are not impossible.

The following characteristics are in no particular order, but they are the key entrepreneurial characteristics. Try to acquire most of them, as they will make you more effective without being overly ambitious.

• Dreamer.
• Visioning capability.
• Connecting the dots.
• Action Orientated.
• Confidence
• They know they’re research is proper.
• Tolerance of ambiguity.
• Implementing ideas.
• Planning.
• Creativity.
• Innovative.

You will hear entrepreneurs repeatedly using action words, such as change, alteration, upheaval, transformation, revolutionise, transform, remodelling, a new method, modernise, upgrade, and let’s try it. Innovation can be viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, technologies, and customer service and experience.

Entrepreneurial characteristics can be summed up in this ‘Entrepreneur’s Credo’.

Where was this when I needed it? Like so many entrepreneurs, it took me many years to understand the characteristics of a true entrepreneur. If you can study and develop these characteristics, your business will grow more profitably and become more sustainable, even if you find some difficulty with a few.

Written in 1776 by Thomas Paine

“I do not choose to be a common man,
It is my right to be uncommon. If I can,
I seek opportunity, not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen.

Humbled and dulled by having the
State, look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk.
To dream and to build.
To fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter an incentive for a dole.
I prefer the challenges of life.
To the guaranteed existence.
The thrill of fulfilment.
To the stale calm of Utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence.
Nor my dignity for a handout.
I will never cower before any master.
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect.

Proud and unafraid.
To think and act for myself.
To enjoy the benefit of my creations.
And to face the world boldly and say.
This, with God’s help, I have done.
All this is what it means to be an entrepreneur.”

Quotable quotes.

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer”. Nolan Bushnell

“Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service. It is capable of being presented as a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practised. Entrepreneurs need to search purposefully for the sources of innovation, the changes and their symptoms that indicate opportunities for successful innovation. And they need to know and to apply the principles of successful innovation”. Peter Drucker