Career Trends: 11 Mindset Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs

Edition: September 14th, 2021
Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS

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• Excerpts from article by Kate Hancock , published on Entrepreneur.com

If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us, it’s that there’s no certainty on the time that we’re employed. We’ve seen companies shut down while others were forced to let go of even their most valuable employees to stay afloat.

But at the same time, being out on your own and starting your own business is more than just being your own boss. You need to have that entrepreneurial mindset that will allow you to succeed in this day and age.

You don’t have to be a graduate of any fancy business school or go through a lot of seminars and conferences to have that mindset. You just need to reflect and get to know yourself first.

Here are 11 traits of an entrepreneurial mindset. How many of these do you think you have?

1. Ability to be positive

• When it comes to running a business, it pays to have a positive attitude.
• The way you act around challenges and obstacles will reflect on the way you do business. This also affects how your employees will see you.
• If you cringe the moment you face a setback, your employees and the people around you will lose confidence in you.
• Having a positive attitude allows you to tackle problems head on.

2. Openness to challenges

• Businesses are unpredictable, just like in real life.
• You have to be prepared for what’s to come.
• As an entrepreneur, you need to be able to take everything and roll with the punches.
• You need to be able to adapt to the changing environment of businesses.

3. Curiosity of a child

• Businesses run on intricate cogs and wheels, and it’s always a wonder to see how different parts work together.
• When you investigate how things work and how to look at things from a different perspective, you tend to become curious.
• This sense of inquisitiveness will allow you to come up with varying solutions to your business problems, even before they happen.

4. Power of persuasion

• Being able to persuade people into buying your products is one thing, but persuading your employees that your solutions are effective is another.
• That’s why it’s important for any entrepreneur to have this ability to persuade people, whether it’s about a sale or proposing a solution to a problem.
• The key to persuading people is to be an effective communicator, and it’s more than just selling.
• When you’re an effective communicator, you know how to drive your point across. You know how to deliver your message on more than one platform, be it on your social media page, YouTube channel or your blog.

5. Creativity

• In line with problem-solving comes your ability to figure out ways to solve an issue from multiple angles.
• But creativity is also an important factor in how you innovate your products and services.
• When entrepreneurs are creative, they go way beyond what they want to sell or what they want to solve.
• Remember, some of the most successful businesses and companies in the world didn’t start out from just one product.

6. Self-motivation

• Being hardworking isn’t enough, but as an entrepreneur, you need to be self-motivated even when all seems lost.
• Self-motivation is also affected by your positive thinking.
• The more you think that you can power through the problem, the easier it is for you to motivate yourself.

7. Resiliency and tenacity

• Businesses are never without their times of hardship and difficulties.
• There’s always going to be one of those days where all seems lost, but if you think about quitting — don’t.
• Take the time to rest, recharge and get back on your feet to try again.
• Tenacity and resiliency in the face of adversity are your two biggest driving forces to succeed in any industry.
• Look at Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Ray Kroc. If they gave up at any point in their entrepreneurial journey, they wouldn’t be the people they are now.

8. Courage to take ownership

• Accountability is often a trait that gets ignored or forgotten by a lot of business owners.
• As a business owner, you have to understand that everything is, and will be, ‘your fault’.
• It’s you who’s going to give the go-signal to do this and that. It’s you who’s going to decide what to do and what not to do.
• Ownership of your actions means you’re not only taking possession of the business, but also the responsibilities that go along with it.
• When you recognise and own up to the happenings of a business, you become more driven to make your business thrive.

9. Being receptive to ideas & feedback

• It’s tough persuading customers about your company’s vision, but it’s another thing to be receptive to ideas from others.
• As an entrepreneur, you have to be receptive to feedback and criticisms towards your business.
• A good entrepreneur is always open to new ideas and criticism because they want the business to succeed.
• They won’t always figure things out on their own, so it pays to have a few people from the outside looking in and providing feedback.

10. Passion to help

• It’s all about being able to help people and making a difference in their lives.
• This is why some businesses are built around this passion – to help people.
• When you are passionate, you are genuinely motivated to come up with solutions and ideas for your industry and for the people around you.
• When your business stems from this passion, it will continue to use that as its fuel to continue.
• So long as you’re driven to make things work in order to pursue the greater cause, your business should do fine.

11. Empathy

• Empathy is often a trait that gets overlooked by business owners.
• There are many of them who don’t really know what’s going within their workforce because they don’t take the time to find out.
• Business owners who are empathic about their employees will never lose.
• You just can’t expect your business to survive if you don’t help your employees.

Times are tough for any entrepreneur, and one of the keys to surviving is your mindset. If you have the passion and drive to become better and help people become better, then your business will continue to thrive.

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(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)

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