Venturing out on your own takes a big leap of faith, a touch of crazy and a whole lot of hard work. Being a business owner can be terrifying, invigorating, intimidating and challenging all at the same time. If you’ve decided that you’re tired of working for someone else and want to be your own boss, you need to be sure you’re the right type of person who can make it flying solo.
Being your own boss definitely comes with many benefits as you and you alone will be in control of your own destiny and income stream. But before you quit your 9 to 5 gig, you need to know whether or not you’ve got what it takes to be your own boss. Here are some specific personality traits and skills that will go far in helping you succeed as a business owner.
Character and Integrity
You must have a strong character and a good dose of integrity to make it in the dog-eat-dog business world. If you’re a real go-getter who understands it will take a whole lot of sweat, blood and tears to make your business work, you’ve got a good thing going for you right from the start. It is not easy running a business as you are going to encounter all types of problems that will pop up out of nowhere. But if you stand strong and stay the course no matter what obstacles come your way, you can overcome the problems and issues you face as you build and grow your business.
Market Knowledge
In order to succeed you’re going to have to know your industry and market from the inside out. You may already have this knowledge due to your past experience. If that is the case, then great as half the battle is won already! If you don’t know your market well, get busy learning all you can about it by listening to industry experts and by researching all there is to know about the field you’re thinking of joining. You also need to know what your targeted customers’ needs are. Can your business help meet these needs in an affordable and unique way?
A Dynamic, Social Personality
Because business owners are communicating with others all the time including staff, customers and vendors, it’s imperative that you have good social skills. You must be able to influence and motivate others. You also need to know how to evaluate people and their suitability for meeting your needs. Of course, it would be best if you actually like being around people because as a business owner, you’re going to be dealing with all types of people on a daily basis. If you feel that your social skills are not up to snuff, consider taking a course online that teaches you how to better communicate, show empathy and be a team player wherein you take everyone’s needs and interest in consideration when making big decisions.
The Ability to Stay Calm
Even if you have great social skills, being nervous and anxious most of the time will only set you back instead of take you forward. This is why you should have the ability to remain calm when things don’t go as planned. When you’re able to relax in tough situations, you’ll be better able to make the right decisions to get things back on track. Plus you’ll be able to build rapport with others when facing crisis situations which will only assist in solving problems quickly rather than allowing them to snowball out out of control.
Instinctual Leadership
Leadership is the ability to get staff, customers and other stakeholders to buy into your vision or dream by consistently demonstrating that you have their best interests in mind. When making important decisions that will affect others, a good leader listens and considers what others have to say so that the best decision is made that will move the business forward. Being a good leader also means you have to learn how to say no without feeling guilty. You’re going to be challenged by your own staff, customers, vendors and others you deal with regularly so you have to demonstrate consistent decisiveness when making hard decisions on a daily basis. While listening to advice and keeping an open mind is great, at the end of the day, it will be your decisions that will set the agenda.
The Ability to Think Outside the Box
In the business world, visionaries are anything but naive. Instead, they are innovative individuals who have the ability to think outside the box to find solutions that other people cannot. You will face problems and have issues to overcome nearly every day. By using your creative intuition, you will be able to overcome these obstacles by tapping into your ideas and unique solutions. Not every problem has a black and white solution so open your mind and think of solutions that best resolve the issues and problems you face.
Flexibility
It is inevitable that you will occasionally face a situation that requires some long, hard and practical thinking. By sticking to your original plans that don’t correspond to what is actually happening, you won’t be helping your business move forward. In order to succeed in the business world, you’re going to have to show some flexibility when interacting with potential partners, contractors and staff. Nobody likes working with stubborn people who seem as though they’re wearing blinders. Instead, people appreciate working with others who are understanding, flexible and able to adapt when things don’t go as planned.
Dedication
Being a business owner requires a whole lot of dedication as no successful entrepreneur makes it by doing things halfheartedly. You have to be prepared to dedicate a significant amount of your time and effort into keeping your business running smoothly. Be ready for many long workdays and sleepless nights. A successful business owner has the ability to make the most of his or her schedule without it interfering with their work-life balance. This type of person knows how to stay focused and on track when handling daily, weekly and monthly tasks.
The Ability to Think Ahead
As a business owner, you cannot live entirely in the moment. Rather, you will have to always be thinking ahead. You also must consistently be preparing and planning for tomorrow even when tomorrow comes. Instead of spending too much time basking in your successes, you need to continually move forward in order for your business to grow.
