Are you seriously thinking of starting your own business? Then it could be a good idea to honestly assess the suggested requirements presented in this article before launching into it. Starting a business is a life-changing decision. This article could help shed some light on traits and characteristics required to strengthen your chances of success.
1. Consider whether you have enough passion to run a business
A desire to get away from the regular working world can be a good motivation to start your own business, but this desire alone is not enough. You have to be excited at the prospect of “doing business”. Being passionate about baking cakes is not the same as being passionate about running a bakery.
To be successful in business you don’t necessarily need to be passionate about the product you are selling or the service you are providing but you do need to be passionate about the business of “doing business”.
2. Be realistic about whether or not you have the necessary technical skills or business talents
Just being able to do something may not be marketable enough to convince customers that you will make a good supplier or convince bankers that you are a bankable business owner.
You will also need to demonstrate sufficient business skills or qualifications to start this business? If not, do you have a partner that does?
3. Assess whether you have the necessary characteristics of an entrepreneur
Qualities you must have are perseverance, a strong desire and willingness to take the initiative, competitiveness or successful cooperative strategies (preferably a bit of both), self-reliance, a strong need to achieve, self-confidence, and good physical health (optional if your disability isn’t relevant to the business or gives you an edge in support, or at least relative to your disability) in order to succeed as an entrepreneur.
You will need all these characteristics if you are to succeed in starting your own business.
4. Be prepared to live with failure
If not, you won’t thrive trying to own your own business.
Eighty percent of small businesses fail within the first 5 years!
So, if you are starting a business obviously you want to see yourself in the 20% that succeed. Keep in mind that most successful entrepreneurs crash more than one small business before building the one that works. Just don’t give up – that’s bigger than whether you had a failed trial. Know when to let it go and build something new with the resources you still have.
Never, ever consider the possibility of failure. Most small business failure occurs because of mismanagement – weak general management, weak financial management, or weak marketing capabilities. So you can increase your chances of success by strengthening these areas. Can you learn to spot your mistakes before they’re critical and improve your skills?
However, just in case the worst case scenario occurred, could you live with that failure and start again? Those are the majority of successes. Perfectionists who can’t endure failure aren’t cut out for it. Ability to get up again is the most important personality factor. One way to look at this is that any problem is a failed trial that taught you something. Any success is a well earned achievement.
5. Consider whether you have good people skills.
Good people skills will be required in networking, negotiating, selling etc.
You will need the ability to work with customers, suppliers and of course employees.
The most successful business owners have a high ‘emotional intelligence’ in addition to strong technical and business skills.