According to John, entrepreneurs possess ten unique qualities, which differ from those characteristics of a business owner. These qualities are valuable, but can also present challenges for those in an entrepreneurial environment. These qualities are: optimistic, energetic, different, enthusiastic, urgent, engaging, resourceful, decision-makers, patient, arrogant.

Below, these characteristics will be explored in greater depth…

 

Optimism is also known as positivity.  An optimist will see the best in all situations and has a hopeful outlook. Optimists can see their future successes and often have a deep faith in humanity. Those who are business optimists are usually opportunists. They look for new opportunities, new endeavours and new business partners to start future business ventures with. However, being optimistic – and confident in one’s ability – can border obsession. John argues this phenomenon is psychotic. In other words, an entrepreneur can be so off-the-dial optimistic that they are psychotic too!! They have 2 scoops of confidence, passion and positivity.  They want to succeed so badly, they can believe their venture is the only thing in the world that matters.  Psychosis is not always a bad thing, as long as it is managed and rationalised by an equally passionate and motivated business owner.

 

Being energetic is an important part of being an entrepreneur. Indeed, there will be times that are tough, a lot of late nights and many endless days. Entrepreneurs need to use their passion; transforming it into energy – energy to motivate people, energy to work tirelessly and energy to multitask. Without energy, no one will understand the need to create their venture, or the urgency to make it a reality. Entrepreneurs seem to have more than their share of energy…. Often, more energy and get-up and go than most people.

 

Entrepreneurs are different. They are cut from a different cloth than many people. They need to think outside the square and are often unique in their approach. Entrepreneurs know they will not be successful if they follow the path of the common herd. They would rather pave a new track for others to follow them. 

 

Enthusiastic… Entrepreneurs are pathologically enthusiastic about what they do. They believe what they are doing deep down in their soul and they do their best to convey that to others around them. They are quick to change and quick to get started and often wonder what is holding others back!! Let’s do it now!!!

 

Urgent:  is the need to do something immediately. Entrepreneurs have a huge sense of urgency. If it can be done right now, why wait another minute? The current project is an important task, or a pressing endeavour. An entrepreneur feels that each task they need to do is imperative – it needs to be done without delay, and until each task is completed, they may feel uneasy. Without love, passion or motivation, important tasks will never be completed. 

 

Engage: Communication is a major part of an entrepreneur’s job. They need to be able to let others know their plans, show them their plans and get them to implement their plans with the same enthusiasm they would if it was their own venture. Due to this, entrepreneurs need to be both engaging and decisive. They are often able to attract and hold the attention of others with insightful discussion. 

 

What is unique about entrepreneurs is that they are able to hold the thoughts of many relationships in their mind at one time and make useful sense of seemingly disconnected thoughts and connect the dots to make something useful. They can hold many thoughts in their mind and see the relevance and inter-relationships of each of them. Connecting the dots in a meaningful way leads to motion, and motion moves projects along.

 

Resource: Entrepreneurs are resourceful. They are able to make something out of nothing or very little. They are able to bring together resources in very creative ways that many other people would not think about and get the resources to work together towards the goal. They see the moving parts and their relationships. They use things others would not, and leverage their contingencies (leverage what they have) in order to make a venture more cost-effective. 

 

Decision: Entrepreneurs are very good at making decisions. They know that no decision is a decision and that the capacity to interpret information quickly and make a decision is the difference between life and death of a project. They usually are not the type of people who procrastinate or dilly dally. Quite the opposite!!

 

Patience: Entrepreneurs can be impatient. They love an opportunity, even if it is not necessarily a great one. So, listen to the man when he says ‘wait.’ Patience is a virtue and something that good entrepreneurs have learned to master. It may take a lot of waiting, a lot of patience and a hell of a lot of hard work, but your business will more likely be successful if you patiently watch for patterns and then make the most of those patterns.

 

Arrogance: Entrepreneurs are by nature arrogant. They consider their ideas to be very good and they know how to make them work.

Not everybody has the characteristics of an entrepreneur….. do you think you have some of these characteristics? Who do you know around you who has them?

 

Good-luck, Ida and Judy out!