Top 5 personality traits of an entrepreneur

There has been a lot of self reflection over the last 12 months as we’ve all had to adapt to a vastly different world. From lockdowns to social distancing, working from home, virtual meetings, redundancies and restructuring, it’s certainly been a unique year.

Here at iOB Business, we speak to lots of people all over the world who are at a crossroads in their professional lives. The pandemic has given people the opportunity to reflect and reassess what they would like to do moving forward.

For some people, this has resulted in looking for a new role whereas others have opted to start a business. The reality is, there is no right or wrong answer to how you choose to develop your career. Not everyone is cut out for the corporate world and not everyone is ready to become a business owner.

A lot of research has been conducted on whether being an entrepreneur is due to nature or a tendency that has been nurtured. The truth is, it’s probably a combination of the two as most entrepreneurs have certain traits that make them natural leaders but then their skills are nurtured in their environment.

However, this weeks blog is not about answering definitively whether being an entrepreneur is nature or nurtured, rather we wanted to focus on the top 5 personality traits of an entrepreneur.

Why does your personality matter as an entrepreneur?
Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely place, especially at the start when you are first launching a new business. Most business owners don’t have the resources to build a big team from day one, hence they need to exhibit different skills at different times.

For example, it’s not uncommon for an entrepreneur to be a marketer, sales professional and customer support agent all in the space of one day. Therefore, having an adaptable personality that allows you to seamlessly blend into different situations is crucial.

As a business owner, you will invariably face ups and downs. Challenges and opportunities are the norm for most entrepreneurs and it’s this very reason that gives most leaders an immense sense of satisfaction when they strike success.

Having the right type of personality and traits can go a long way to making sure that you execute on your vision and ultimately succeed.

So here are our top 5 personality traits of an entrepreneur:

1. Vision
The first personality trait that we believe you should have as an entrepreneur is a clear vision. Going into a business is a big commitment and therefore it’s important that you have a clear vision.

This allows you to understand what you need to do in order to execute on your vision. For example, if you start a Digital Agency where you aim to help local businesses with digital transformation, you need to have a clear vision on what type of clients you would like to work with.

This will allow you to identify the types of clients you’d like to help and the most ideal prospecting methods to secure those clients. Having a vision will impact every part of your business and also ensure you continue to make progress, even in the face of challenges.

2. Self confidence
The next personality trait you should aim to develop is self confidence. Now, not everyone is naturally self confident and as humans, there is always a tendency to doubt ourselves.

However, when it comes to being an entrepreneur, it’s important that you have self confidence. This will help you commit to your decision and not get distracted when things don’t go as planned.

For example, self confidence is key when you are working with clients. It’s vital that you exhibit the right skills and confidence to give your clients the reassurance to work with you. Furthermore, self confidence allows you to have a positive mindset that enables you to focus on your success.

3. Passion
We have all heard the saying that when you follow your passion, a job or business simply doesn’t feel like work. This is invariably true because any business that you operate will require time and sacrifices in order to succeed. Having a real passion for what you do will make the hard work worthwhile.

For example, if you are not passionate about your business, you will look for excuses or procrastinate when you encounter a challenge. However, if you are passionate, you won’t mind trying to devise creative solutions or tackle problems head on because you are operating a business that you genuinely care about.

4. Resilience
The penultimate personality trait we’d like to discuss in this weeks blog is resilience. If you look at most successful entrepreneurs, they have overcome challenges and likely failed many times before they ultimately succeeded.

Being an entrepreneur requires you to have resilience and not let the highs and lows of business affect you. For instance, if you close a big client it’s important not to rest on your laurels, but instead move forward with building on this success.

Similarly, if you come up against a problem or issue, it’s important that you learn from the experience and make sure you put the right things in place to overcome the challenge next time.

5. Flexibility
The final personality trait that we’d like to focus on is flexibility. Being an entrepreneur requires you to be adaptable and react to different situations. Having flexibility in your personality will enable you to pivot when required.

If you take the last 12 months and the pandemic as an example, many business owners have had to be flexible and make changes in order to survive. For example, we’ve seen more business owners than ever before look to technology solutions as they’ve realised that traditional marketing methods simply won’t work in the ‘new normal’.

Having flexibility will give you the chance to make subtle or drastic changes, dependent on the situation, in order to succeed.

Summary
As we have seen throughout this weeks blog, there are certain personality traits that are important as an entrepreneur to help you achieve your goals. A combination of vision, self confidence, passion, resilience and flexibility are great traits to possess because the life of an entrepreneur encompasses highs and lows.

To find out how you can avoid some of the common pitfalls when launching and scaling a Digital Agency, please contact a member of our team.

Until next time, take care.