What makes an entrepreneur successful?

Is there a common trait all successful entrepreneurs share or is it more about individual personality?

When you study a small selection of the twenty-first century’s most prolific entrepreneurs, you’ll notice 8 similar traits that stand out in each of them.

Learning from The Best

By isolating common traits found in those who have been successful on their own entrepreneurial path, it’s possible to incorporate such mannerisms into our own entrepreneur mind-sets. After all, if it works for Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos then it must be worth a try!

1. Successful Entrepreneurs Are Passionate

Without a doubt, all successful entrepreneurs have passion and plenty of it.

It’s this passion that inspires them to create their own unique product or service. This passion is obvious in their work and the results they derive. With this passion comes a belief they’ll be able to offer something unique, or they can do something better than anyone else.

Without passion, there’d be no drive or motivation. Passion is a huge reason why they became entrepreneurs in the first place. It gets them up in the early hours of the morning and pushes them to work firmly through late hours of the evening to succeed, without veering off course.

2. Successful Entrepreneurs Are Determined to Succeed

Almost every successful entrepreneur has, believe it or not, experienced some form of negativity regarding their chosen path. However, they’ve also chosen to ignore pessimistic comments, lack of confidence and the sheer hate of those around them. Likely using it to their advantage.

The successful entrepreneur has become determined to prove others wrong and works hard to achieve the last laugh! Many say what they’re doing goes against the grain, but this only fuels them to reach that end goal. Where most people say it will never be done, a successful entrepreneur buckles down and through sheer determination, proves otherwise.

3. Successful Entrepreneurs Are Self-Starters

It goes without saying that all successful entrepreneurs are self-motivated. They’ve had to be from the very beginning of the entrepreneurial journey. There’s no employer breathing down their neck or micro-managing at every stage of their work. They are that employer!

Successful entrepreneurs make an extra concerted effort because they understand no one else is going to do it for them. When successful entrepreneurs encounter a problem, they’re fully responsible for solving it themselves. This dynamic trait often makes them a force to be reckoned with.

4. Successful Entrepreneurs Are Confident

Successful entrepreneurs need a huge amount of confidence to make their way in any industry. The confidence to speak up, promote their cause and sometimes work on what many feel is impossible requires an inner confidence. Above all, the confidence to believe in their own abilities goes without saying.

Assurance gives a successful entrepreneur the ability to move forward and continue going it alone, even when the going gets tough because they don’t stop to doubt their efforts.

If you want to see a great example of healthy entrepreneurial confidence, follow Elon Musk on Twitter.

5. Successful Entrepreneurs Are Not Afraid Of Failure

Almost every successful entrepreneur has encountered failure. Whether big or small, understand that failure is an essential component of the entrepreneurial route because it’s all about taking risks. These are not careless risks, they’re definitely calculated, but the successful entrepreneur knows when to take them and when to hold back.

More so they fully accept the fails that may arise when such risks don’t go according plan. The difference is they have at least tried and aren’t wondering what if? Successful entrepreneurs take their failures on the chin, scrutinize them, learn from them and then move on, job done.

A great example is when Steve Jobs was fired from his own company in 1985 only to return in 1997; subsequently turning it into one of the worlds most profitable businesses.

6. Successful Entrepreneurs Have A Vision

Successful entrepreneurs often have a vision only they can see. At times this vision may seem to others as madness, or completely unattainable. But there’s no denying that the most successful entrepreneurs are usually the ones who spot the opportunity others have either overlooked or deemed undeserving of their time.

A huge part of being a successful entrepreneur is having an unquenchable curiosity. This curiosity can only be satisfied by attempting to recreate their vision and staying ahead of current markets. At the same time not being afraid to act upon those ideas.

7. Successful Entrepreneurs Respect Their Peers

Contrary to popular belief, successful entrepreneurs are people persons! Though the mainstream image of an entrepreneur is solitary and going it alone, the most successful entrepreneurs know that to achieve their objectives and the greatest of success, they must work alongside and with others.

They build effective and long-lasting relationships. These entrepreneurs realize a solid support team and network of contacts exponentially increases their chances of accomplishment. In fact, most entrepreneurs will need to build their own team at some point in time, and the most successful of them will have their full support every step of the journey.

And if you’re looking to team up with talented designers, developers or marketers, definitely check out AwesomeWeb.

8. Successful Entrepreneurs Continually Evolve

The successful entrepreneur never stops learning.

Whether it be formal education, vocational training or hands on experience, every opportunity is a chance to enhance wisdom. The most successful usually have a thirst and a hunger to learn as much as they can. Knowledge gives them a head start and an advancement in the industry because they know that with knowledge comes power.

Arm yourself with as much information about the goal you want to achieve, and then read everything into it, test everything available to you and work on expanding knowledge upon the areas you didn’t initially know much about. The entrepreneurial path is a constant learning curve for all those who effectively navigate it!

If you look closely, you’ll notice each of these traits relate to one another. If you possess all these core characteristics, you’re that much closer to emulating the success of those before you.

Success by choice, not by chance!

-David Aston

Author Bio: I’m David Aston, Entrepreneur and Founding Nomad of AdventureHacks, Inc. My mission is to inspire adventure on the ground, in the water and through the air!