The Top 5 Characteristics That Make Outstanding Entrepreneurs

What aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from those that have ‘gone before’

I have personally had the pleasure of mentoring over 3,000 entrepreneurs over the past five years. One of the common themes and questions that I get asked time and again, is what makes for an 'outstanding' entrepreneur and who should aspiring entrepreneurs turn to for knowledge and inspiration.

When we say the word ‘entrepreneur’ it may conjure up lots of different words and associations in your brain.

Each entrepreneur has their ‘hero’ person in business, the one person with which they associate themselves with the most on their own entrepreneurial journey.

Learning from great entrepreneurs is now easier than it ever has been, due the accessibility and visibility of brands and influencers online.

But who should you learn from?

Who is worth aspiring to be?

Names such as Oprah Winfrey (Harpo Studios) and Michelle Mone (Ultimo), to Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Bill Gates (Microsoft) often crop up time and again, but what makes these people so very successful?

Have they been born with a certain set of skills and an innate drive to succeed?

Or was it how they were nurtured in the early years of their lives within their families?

Perhaps it’s a combination of all of these things.

Let’s take a closer look now at their characteristics, behaviours and attributes. Are there any characteristics that they share, that perhaps an aspiring entrepreneur could cultivate?

The answer is of course YES.

So, in this article, I am going to examine some of the key characteristics of successful entrepreneurs along with some of their business quotes, in order that you can better understand and cultivate their tactics and behaviours to becoming an even more outstanding entrepreneur.

So, what’s the first characteristic…

1.    They are purpose driven innovators

"Going from PayPal, I thought, well, 'What are some of the other problems that are likely to most affect the future of humanity?'

Not from the perspective, 'What’s the best way to make money?' which is okay, but, it was really, 'What do I think is going to most affect the future of humanity.' – Elon Musk

Successful entrepreneurs tend to be great innovators with a purpose much larger than themselves.

When we think of innovation in contemporary entrepreneurship, Elon Musk does spring to mind, with his creation of the companies ‘Tesla’ (Electric Vehicles, Solar and Clean Energy) and ‘Space X’ (Aerospace Manufacturer and Space Transportation).

But innovation isn’t just about space travel, it’s often innovating via designing a product or service to create a new business ‘space’ in a market that is perhaps already saturated and full of competition.

A market where there is already existing competition can still be very lucrative with the correct niche market, so this should not be underestimated.

An example of this kind of innovation, is the amazing story of the first female self-made millionaire in America.

In the 1900’s Madam C J Walker founded a manufacturing company making hair care products and cosmetics. There were other products in the market, but through innovation and creating a niche market for black women, she successfully dominated the market. She was also a renowned philanthropist and used her money and funds ‘for good’.

Even though her competitors had more mature companies and an established market offering.

Simply inspirational, whether a past or present company, innovators push the boundaries, challenge competitors and change things.

2.    They are team players

“When you build up great teams, it’s fun work” Bill Gates 

Whilst a great idea can be started from the kitchen table, back room or garage, it won’t get far if there’s only you at work, on the product or service offering after the initial start-up phase.

The next characteristic that successful entrepreneurs share, is that they believe in playing as part of a wider team.

Hiring people who are brighter and more successful than you could be intimidating, but top- level high performers know that having the right people in the right role is key to the growth of a company and being successful.

Microsoft is built on amazing teams of engineers through a clear purpose and shared vision of what the company wants to achieve and then putting the plans for this in place to ensure success.

Building great teams is the responsibility of the founder of the company and hiring the right people for the right roles at the right time is key to the success of a business.

A great insight from Bill here on teams and how to have fun too.

3.    They have passion for what they do

“Discovering your passion in life is a tremendous gift” – Gary Vaynerchuk (VaynerMedia)

Our next success attribute is true of all successful entrepreneurs.

They are passionate and often obsessed with what they do and they are also grateful that they get to choose what they do every single day. It’s a gift.

If you watch a contemporary entrepreneur online, it’s hard not to be carried by the energy that they have for their business and their market of operation.

The best example of a brilliant entrepreneur who shows energy and passion is Gary Vaynerchuk (VaynerMedia). He is known for his energetic commitment to helping the start-up and small business community and he shares this energy through his knowledge online through social media channels.

The key thing that Gary advocates is passion and energy for action and ‘doing’. He believes that action and ‘execution’ is more important than planning, procrastination and ‘perfection’. It’s how he’s built his media empire.

In business, when opportunities need to be seized often with little or no knowledge to hand for a founder, it’s important to have passion and to act quickly to take decisions.

I love the passion shown by Gary! Check out his work.

4.    They have a positive mindset

“I will never give up, I never have, even when times have been terrible.” Michelle Mone – (Ultimo)

The mindset that Michelle Mone has is entrenched. She will never give up.

Successful entrepreneurs invite and embrace failure as part of their everyday lives, they are not threatened or intimidated by failing, in fact, they embrace it.

As entrepreneurs, we all know the pain of having to address lots of conflicting priorities and it’s pivotal that you embrace failure and have a positive mindset.

Michelle’s quote shows that no matter how bad things get in business and life, it’s just a temporary thing and eventually things do improve. It’s just a case of holding on mentally through having the correct mindset until a situation passes.

Being positive means surrounding yourself with people that help you to improve and not being afraid of asking for help and support when needed. It’s also sometimes about driving through your decision, when others have left the room and your self-belief is low, but you know that you are right.

At times like this, taking a break and getting a second or third opinion can be invaluable. Monitoring your mental health is very important, so make sure that you are well rested in order to make important informed decisions.

Never, ever give up! You could be closer to that breakthrough in business than you think.

Great advice here from Michelle.

5.    They are abundant networkers

“Surround yourself only with people that take you higher” Oprah Winfrey

This quote from Oprah is insightful for two reasons.

The first reason is that without great people and teams around you, a business will ultimately fail.

Secondly, because having people around you helps to increase your knowledge and skills base exponentially. Having a large network also increases the opportunities that will come your way in business, meaning that the money comes to you much faster than only having a few contacts.

One person cannot be good at everything, in fact, most people would admit that they have skills in one or perhaps two areas and after these skills are identified, you hire for all the rest of the skills gaps in your business. This is how a company grows.

Surrounding yourself with people that are further along their business journey is critical to your success as an entrepreneur.

Someone once said that ‘you are the sum of the five people that you spend most time with’.

Take a look around you as an entrepreneur, are your surrounding yourself with inspirational people such as those mentioned in this article?

Make sure that you are consciously editing your circle of influence and aiming to connect with people locally and globally that you admire that are ‘further ahead’ on the journey than you are and watch your success increase.

So, that’s our 5 Top Characteristics That Make For Outstanding Entrepreneurs.

What do you think?

If you have any comments or links that may help others on their start-up and entrepreneurial journey, then please add them in comments, it would be great to get your views here:

More about the author:

Becky Lodge is one of Sky News 100 Women, advocating gender parity in start-up and business both in the UK and globally and is the Founding Director of Little Kanga Ltd (www.littlekanga.co.uk).

Her brand ‘StartUp Disruptors’; is a global online brand and start-up community of over 2500 entrepreneurs and start-ups. Supported and sponsored by Uber, Funding Circle and Transmit Startups (www.startupdisruptors.co.uk) the community provides mentoring, connections, networking, fund raising links for investment and loans, community and resources for just ￡19.99 per month per member with no contracts or tie-ins.

Born in inner city Leicester in 1971, her grandparents were born in the mining valleys of south Wales and grew up shoe-less, visiting soup kitchens in order to survive as children. They worked hard and afforded her mother an education in teaching; allowing Becky to follow in her mother’s footsteps to advocate for sectors of society that may not have a voice.

She was the first UK marketing mentor to be recruited by Faster Capital Venture Capital in the UK to provide mentoring and support to tech and digital/creative start-ups around the world. They are a Dubai based fund (please contact Becky for more details).

Becky is also a Founding member of Notion Capital Venture Capital’s #FiftyFifty pledge to gain more parity in Venture Capital funding globally. She is an investor and mentor to fast, high-growth companies and is considered the flagship voice for start-ups in Portsmouth and the wider Solent area.

She is a future thinker and innovator who is recognised as being the leading authority in Portsmouth for ensuring that the start-up and small business voice is heard whilst helping early-stage start-ups to succeed and thrive.

Guest lecturer in operational sales management at the University of Portsmouth Business School and renowned international speaker on gender parity in STEAM markets, Becky has been described as ‘one to watch’ in business. A published author writing for a plethora of publications and business magazines, she has been featured on Sky News.

Her book to help early stage start-ups to grow is available on Amazon (close to selling out again!) and is available for download on Kindle here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-Build-Rollerskates-Birds-start-up/dp/1527214664

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