Qualities of a businessman: what qualities you need to have for successful business development. Character traits and personal qualities of an entrepreneur What business qualities an entrepreneur should have
Private entrepreneurship has long ceased to be something new and unusual. It has firmly entered the lifestyle of many people. There is even an opinion that all people are entrepreneurs to one degree or another, the difference is only in the level and quality of the actions performed. What is the secret of success and efficiency, what qualities should an entrepreneur have in order for his efforts to bring maximum benefit?
A lot of articles have been written on this topic, a huge number of films and television programs have been shot. A textbook image of a successful entrepreneur has been created, a type familiar to everyone from commercials, which for some reason is impossible to meet in real life. Let's try to understand what is necessary for a successful business, what qualities, habits and skills are necessary for a person who has decided to open his own business.
Who is an entrepreneur
By definition, an entrepreneur is a person who carries out a certain activity, the purpose of which is to make a profit. This is a general idea, since there is a very specific occupation, which is called so - an individual entrepreneur (IP), under this name he is registered with the tax authorities and carries out his activities.
The definitions quite clearly indicate the type of activity, but do not give any idea of what a person should be like for successful entrepreneurship, what are his character traits, personal qualities. According to the type of character, modern psychologists conditionally divide humanity into two parts - employers and employees. The former have the makings of a leader, bright organizational skills, and are not afraid of responsibility and difficulties. The latter prefer a more calm and measured life, leaving other, more active people to be nervous and responsible for everything. The first group is the entrepreneurs. They are ready for a constant change of events, have a high resistance to stress and the ability to follow their goals in difficult changing conditions.
An entrepreneur must possess a number of business and personal qualities
Entrepreneurial activity can be characterized simply - the constant solution of emerging problems. Efficiency and success depend on the ability to quickly delve into the essence of the problem and find the best way out of it. If a person does not know how to choose the most important, urgent matters and quickly put them in order, he will not see positive results. A developed intellect helps in this. Human thinking should be directed to finding solutions, calculating options and choosing the most successful of them.
It is important! People who are prone to long-term depression, long experiencing their failures, will not be able to be successful entrepreneurs. You should not deceive yourself, but there is no need to reflect too much about the unfavorable outcome of any action. Thomas Edison, who once said: “I don’t have bad solutions, but there are 10,000 ways that don’t work,” can serve as an example of this attitude towards one’s search.
Equally important is gaining and maintaining a reputation as a decent and honest person. The business is full of scammers, people who live by deceit, practicing dark methods and schemes. Entrepreneurs need to think about the future. Any dubious action will repel business partners from him, and it sometimes takes decades to restore a reputation. You should always remember this and weigh your actions, whether momentary success is worth the opinion that others will have.
In addition, a true entrepreneur is a person who constantly questions existing rules and dogmas. The search for non-standard solutions should become commonplace, because, following ordinary methods, it will never be possible to go beyond the usual norms. This is not about extravagance or the desire to impress others with something unusual, but about a creative and non-standard approach to performing well-established actions. The ability to look at familiar things from a new angle is a valuable and useful ability that allows you to get high results where no one is trying to look for them.
Qualities of a successful businessman
The success of entrepreneurial activity largely depends on the qualities, characteristics of the character and type of thinking of a person. Anyone can become an entrepreneur, but few will be able to achieve positive results, and only a few will be able to become one of the most successful businessmen. The rest will not have enough motivation, interest, excitement and other character traits. Success comes to those who do not wait for it, sitting still, but actively and purposefully moving towards it.
Communication skills and the ability to negotiate with partners help in doing business
What qualities should a successful entrepreneur have? Let's take a closer look at them.
Personal
Among the most useful character traits are:
- Curiosity and interest. The need for constant exploration of the world around us is an innate property of every person. For some, it fades over time, while others experience research excitement all their lives. This feeling is one of the engines of a businessman, forcing him to always ask himself the question: “What will happen if? ..”.
- The ability to analyze events and compare them with each other. This quality allows you to find cause-and-effect relationships, to predict the further course of events.
- Resourcefulness. An important and useful quality. The ability to quickly find the right solution in time pressure allows you to solve suddenly arising issues and avoid unexpected problems.
- Courage. This quality helps to save time, which some people spend on reflection and fear. At the same time, the presence of courage should not negate reasonable caution and the ability to make informed decisions.
The success of a person largely depends on the personal qualities of a person.
Many more useful qualities can be named, since entrepreneurship combines a lot of areas and professional features that require people of a variety of character traits.
Business
Among the most necessary business qualities are:
- High organizational skills. This is one of the most important properties that allow you to effectively and economically distribute responsibilities and draw up a specific plan of action.
- Sociability. The ability to establish communication, find a common language with any interlocutor allows you to negotiate with difficult partners, organize a positive exchange of information.
- Practicality. An important feature that allows you to optimize costs and reduce waste of resources.
- Flexibility. The ability to accept the point of view of the interlocutor and find opportunities for compromise.
- Honesty. This quality is highly valued among ordinary people, and in business it is of the greatest importance. A decent partner ensures the successful conduct of business for himself and others.
- Purposefulness, the ability to determine the main task. This property increases the efficiency of actions and reduces the time required to resolve issues.
- Confidence in your strength. This quality allows a person not to be distracted from work in order to indulge in doubts. A confident entrepreneur energizes others and organizes more efficient and productive activities.
The ability to work in a team is one of the conditions for success
In practice, there are rarely people with a full set of these qualities. Usually there are two or three of them, but this is enough for the successful conduct of business. The main thing is to use what is available correctly. The ability to accurately know your strengths and apply them with the greatest efficiency can also be attributed to the important and necessary qualities of an entrepreneur.
In fact
The textbook image of an entrepreneur draws a certain standard, stereotyped type of a strong-willed, unbending and persistent person. In practice, the situation is somewhat different. In life, we know many quite successful entrepreneurs who have completely different characters, who are completely different types of people. Moreover, some of the character traits necessary for the successful conduct of business are practically absent in these people. What is their secret?
It is important! Real, living people do not always have the full set of skills and qualities necessary for successful entrepreneurship. But despite this, they just get down to business and start working. They solve all emerging problems as they come, without trying to predict their appearance in advance.
As they gain experience, they acquire the necessary skills, the ability to anticipate crisis or dangerous situations and avoid them at a safe distance in advance. Paradoxically, sometimes the ability to completely turn off fantasy and look at things with a strictly realistic look helps. This helps to understand the true meaning of the situation, discover key points and develop responses.
Business qualities are not always innate, so it is important to develop them
The main feature of the inner world of an entrepreneur is not only in the properties of his nature. In the words of one of the business psychologists, an entrepreneur is a person who never leaves his job. It was noted very accurately - you can close your office and go home, but responsibility, current tasks and problems will always accompany a businessman, regardless of his location. The hired worker finishes the working day and is completely distracted from his professional duties.
It is important! An entrepreneur has to constantly think about his business, look for the most favorable ways to solve problems, find the best ways of development, options for expanding activities. It is this state that most fully characterizes the inner world of an entrepreneur - constant, unceasing concern for his business.
For people with an unstable psyche, such tension becomes a source of neuroses, and sometimes somatic diseases. Therefore, it is important to be able to be distracted, disconnect from your worries, so that after a break you can see them with a fresh look.
Video: what an entrepreneur should be
In conclusion, it should be noted the most important property of human nature - the ability to acquire and develop appropriate skills. A person knows how to cultivate the necessary character traits in himself, only sufficient motivation, desire or an urgent need are required. The ability to force oneself to act as the situation requires, despite one's own laziness or innate caution, is most often developed under the pressure of circumstances. Rarely are there people who are so collected and strong-willed, in whom the ability to lead oneself is an innate, not an acquired skill.
You can develop the necessary qualities in yourself only by constantly analyzing the situation, choosing the most correct and effective from several options. Personal growth, the development of the most valuable properties will expand the horizons and make the work better and more successful.
Related posts:
No related entries found.
I want to immediately draw your attention to the fact that there is no complete set of qualities that every entrepreneur should possess. After all, there are different kinds of activities. We have already considered this issue in the article:.
It is clear that a freight carrier or a taxi driver must have some abilities, and a programmer or accountant - a little different. It is easy to guess the scale of thinking of the owner of a large industrial enterprise.
However, all entrepreneurs have the following in common:
Decisiveness - readiness and desire to act
It's easy to talk about business while sitting at a table with friends, holding a glass of beer in one hand and a salted fish in the other. We are all businessmen in words: “Now, if I had money, then I could easily open a chain of grocery stores in the city, as Vasya Pupkin did!”
Listen to people, so everyone is ready to open a business, but only something interferes with everyone. One has no money, the other is in poor health, the third is lazy, the fourth does not allow the wife, the fifth does not have time for "all this nonsense."
But these are excuses. In fact, many are simply afraid! After all, everything is stable in their lives now. Yes, they have a small salary, but it is stable. Yes, the boss got them, but he provides them with daily work. What to expect from your business? Where is the guarantee that everything will work out? After all, there is a high risk of being left with nothing!
It is the risk of being left with nothing that is for many people the main deterrent from decisive action.
And that's good, my friends. This is a kind of natural selection - when only those who are not afraid to take decisive action and achieve their goals go into business. Actually, that’s why I have no doubt that absolutely all entrepreneurs are determined people who are silent at the table and, smiling, listen to “loser speakers”, and the next day they simply go forward to the intended goal.
Stress resistance
Why do most newly created firms close in the first year of their existence? And I'll tell you why. It is clear that you need to calculate risks, study the market, work on developing your young business, etc. But these are standard rules that are known to almost all novice entrepreneurs. And most of them “calculate, work and develop”, but still burn out. Why?
But because they can not "take a hit." In business, as in boxing, fights often end after one well-placed knockout blow. Often, but not always. There are fighters who get up after a knockout, continue the fight and win the fight. The names of such fighters become known to the whole world, it is they who enter the history of world boxing.
Similarly, in the business environment, the reason for closing a business can be: a series of failed transactions, a sudden "arrival" of regulatory authorities, powerful pressure from competitors, the financial crisis in the country and other stress factors.
Young and fragile companies are the most vulnerable to such powerful targeted strikes. The outcome of these "fights" depends on the stress resistance of the entrepreneur and his team. Unfortunately, most are simply not ready to take hits and counterattack. Therefore, we have such deplorable statistics on the number of closed young companies.
self-discipline
The entrepreneur does not have a “good uncle” who will give a kick in the ass at the right time and make him work. And therefore:
You can't build a business without self-discipline!
Remember that "the fish rots from the head." If you are sitting in your office and, picking your nose, chatting all day long with friends in Odnoklassniki, then do not expect selfless work from your subordinates for the benefit of the company - this will not happen. People feel weakness very subtly and know how to use it for their own purposes.
Moreover, when you are just starting to raise your business, then no one will work except you. And therefore, if already at the start you have problems with self-discipline, then my advice to you is to close your business as soon as possible and immediately look for a job - so you will have a chance to at least go bankrupt with minimal losses. All in all:
An entrepreneur without self-discipline is like a musketeer without a sword!
The ability to see the goal and the end result
Here you go past a dilapidated cowshed. What thoughts pop into your head? Maybe they are: “Here, they brought the country, bourgeois! Everything worked before! And now? The farm has been destroyed! Cowsheds are all dilapidated!”
Thoughts, of course, fair, justified, but what's the point of them? How does the entrepreneur think in this situation? Well, for example, like this: “Hmm, a cowshed ... I wonder how many thousands of bricks you can actually get from it if you take it apart? So, I’m urgently going to the chairman now and suggesting that he sell me this building for materials!”
Or this option: “Wow, cowshed! The walls are in place, the roof, however, is slightly leaky, but this is nonsense. But it is only five kilometers from the city. It is enough to invest a little money in it: patch up the roof, make access roads, connect all the necessary communications and you can open some kind of production or simply rent out the premises. I am urgently going to the chairman of the collective farm and organizing a cultural holiday for him in the bathhouse!”
The entrepreneur always sees the ultimate goal, and also has a step-by-step algorithm for achieving it.
At that moment, when a simple layman looks with a dull look at a dilapidated cowshed, the entrepreneur is already counting the profit from a successfully created business based on this real estate. The whole algorithm of actions is already ready in his head, and the final result is in front of his eyes.
The presence of "chuki"
This paragraph is a continuation of the previous one. Only now the "chuyka" does not lend itself to logic.
"Chuika"- this is the ability to feel at an intuitive level the prospects or futility of a future project.
Many people know how to build algorithms, but only a few have a "sense". But here it should be rightly noted that this quality is not necessary in all types of entrepreneurial activity. Usually, "chuyka" is in demand when launching innovative projects - those that are still unknown on the market.
If, for example, you are planning, then a special “feel” is not needed here. It is enough just to study your successful competitors and start acting in a similar way. Nevertheless, I have added “sense” to the list of necessary qualities, since I believe that the success of many entrepreneurial endeavors depends on its presence.
High responsibility
A successful entrepreneur is a responsible person. It has long been customary to trust the merchant's word. For if the merchant made a promise, he will surely fulfill it. Even if the situation changes and the deal turns out to be unprofitable for the merchant, he will work at a loss, but he will definitely keep his word.
Nothing has changed these days:
Responsible Entrepreneur- an attractive figure for potential partners and customers.
Trust me, you can offer your customers the lowest prices and the highest quality products or services. But, if you have a reputation as an irresponsible businessman, then the buyer will give preference to your competitors with high prices and low quality products. Because everyone wants to deal with a reliable partner!
Organizational skills
You should always remember that it is unrealistic to do a successful and promising business alone - you need a close-knit team of like-minded people. And you have to create this team.
It is not enough to find intelligent specialists. They still need to be made part of your project. They must feel that they are not just functional units with a specific list of job responsibilities. They should merge with your project, become the creators of its history, cheer and empathize with everything that happens, and rejoice in new victories from the bottom of their hearts. Of course, to create such a team, an entrepreneur must have organizational skills.
Well, friends, here we have considered the main qualities that an entrepreneur should possess. And now I propose to talk about.
At first glance, it seems that absolutely anyone can start their own business with start-up capital. However, investment alone is not enough. You need to have certain character traits that will help you most successfully implement your own business.
These qualities include the following:
- responsibility;
- purposefulness;
- skill to work in team;
- observation;
- creativity;
- determination;
- sociability;
- flexibility of thinking;
- innovation.
As a rule, not many businessmen fall under the portrait of an ideal entrepreneur.
However, if a person lacks one or another quality, but you want to run a business, this does not mean that you should refuse to implement your own project. In the process of becoming a business, many qualities in oneself can be developed. The main thing is to constantly improve yourself.
Most small businesses close within the first year of starting their business. Most often, the reason for the failure of the project lies in the short-sightedness of the businessman himself. Erroneously organized company management and irrational expenses sometimes lead to the fact that the company does not have enough resources to remain in the market for goods and services.
What character traits contribute to business success?
A successful businessman must have such personal characteristics as:
- the ability to coordinate their activities with the work of subordinates;
- openness to constructive criticism;
- susceptibility to innovation.
Since starting a business implies that a novice entrepreneur communicates with people most of the time, an important factor in the success of a businessman is sociability, openness, the ability to listen and hear a partner.
The ability to negotiate is fundamental to the development of your own company. This quality will expand the circle of potential customers, find the most profitable suppliers of goods and services, which will significantly save resources.
The list of qualities that a person who wants to open his own business should have is quite voluminous. But the most important point of business success is a deep self-confidence. If a person does not believe in himself, then it is not worth saying that his company can develop successfully.
Most millionaires did not have a large start-up capital. However, their self-confidence allowed them to find the most suitable project in the current economy and effectively manage the enterprise.
It would seem that this is a rather banal and simple question. We seem to know well what a real entrepreneur should be. Any more or less educated and experienced person will immediately name a dozen qualities that help to conduct business and build a successful company. But is it really that simple?
To begin with, nevertheless, we will give the traditional list of personal qualities of a good entrepreneur.
- Independence of thought.
- Emotional stability.
- Working capacity.
- Creativity.
- Willingness to grow and develop.
- Propensity to risk (considered).
- Ability to plan.
- Self-discipline and intrinsic motivation.
- Ability to independently acquire new knowledge.
- Purposefulness.
- Ability to make business contacts and communicate.
- The ability to "ignite" people, leadership qualities.
- High intelligence.
- Sufficient experience.
- Good speed thinking speed.
You can add a couple more useful skills, but in general this is the main thing. I repeat, we all somehow know that it is these skills and personality traits that are useful for a person who decides to plunge into the world of business. If we can’t quickly compile such a list, then we intuitively attribute to the image of a successful person precisely these “tactical and technical characteristics”.
Why do I insist on emphasizing the fact that these qualities are well known to us?
Yes, just because the above list is a stereotype.
But the first of the mentioned qualities is “independence of thought”. Stereotypes get in the way of doing business successfully. You need to get rid of them.
So the main property of an entrepreneur is that he earns good money. Everything else is husk. And all sorts of people can make money. A couple of millennia ago, a merchant had to be a great negotiator, he risked his life every day, he had to cope alone with a hungry caravan in the middle of the desert or the crew of a ship in the middle of the sea.
And now the world has changed.
Have you heard of a book called "Nerds Do Business"? Great title and true.
To succeed in building your own business, it is not necessary to meet all the requirements traditionally attributed to business people.
At least because:
- A person can only have a part of the competencies. The rest can be embodied in other team members.
- Different fields of activity require different skills and even attitude. For example, the same decision-making speed is not always important and necessary. For the sake of the right decision, you can “slow down”.
- A unique station wagon with a full set of advantages is an extreme rarity. And there are thousands of working businesses around.
In other words, a gloomy programmer and a brilliant salesman can earn a million with equal success.
Why were all these mnogabukaf?
Just so that the reader does not seek to first “pump” the missing competencies and character traits. To understand that a beautiful person is not a profession. That you need to start doing business, and then the quality will catch up.
At the moment in our country, many people want to open their own business, but do not know where to start and how it works. Should you, as a businessman, hire a friend, are you ready for this, do you have the money to start a business, and much more. In my article, I highlighted 10 main points that future businessmen should think about - these are their qualities.
- Readiness. A real businessman is always ready! This is such a state when you understand that you want it, when you determine that you want to work for yourself or work day and night for some uncle and pray that this uncle does not cut your salary. You are ready to dedicate yourself to your business, but are you ready to face challenges head on? When you live the idea of a business, breathe it - then you are ready to start your own business and become a professional in it. After all, in business as in war, the strongest wins.
- Confidence. A real businessman is confident in himself, his business and his success! In business, confidence is the key to your success. The business you want to open must be successful, otherwise there is a high probability that your business will go bankrupt. You must definitely tell all those interested, all colleagues, friends - YES, I will do it. I will definitely do it. Then you need to take the business idea by the tonsils. If you're not ready to say that, if you're not sure, don't even try. In your brain - the brain of a real businessman - there must be a fixed idea, know-how, creative solutions. At the same time, saying to myself - it seems to me, I think that I will do it - this will not work. NO. NO! NO!!! A businessman must burn with an idea, he simply must, and only when you are sure of your business idea for all one million percent - then take it, and it will undoubtedly bring you business money in the future.
- Business plan. A real businessman always has a plan of action ready. You simply have to write a business plan or its "skeleton" - the basis. A business plan is a concise strategy that you can easily move forward with. A businessman who decides to start his own business without a business plan is making a big mistake! Because without a plan of action, you will not be able to take into account all the main points for the development of your business. You, as a Businessman, must know your customers, be able to see the big picture of the business. No matter how silly it would look - write everything that you think is necessary in this regard. After all, a business plan is not a clearly planned schedule, but points for the development of your business. The most important thing is to follow these points and there will be no problems.!!
- Friends. A real businessman is friends with friends, and does not hire them. And you also do not take friends to your staff. You will quickly realize your mistake if you do. Friends will not fit into positions like hired workers, friends will not cope with the work assigned to you. Friends will want more than the rest - they are friends!!! Friends will drag your firm down and you won't be able to fire them out of a sense of duty. If you hire a friend, you will make a big mistake and most likely be doomed to failure. Don't take your friends into the business. Of course, you can cooperate with them, but do not take them on your staff. You need to keep your distance. Don't let them near you. You are the director, you are the boss, you are the boss. You can not switch to "you". This will elevate you in relation to your employees, and they will feel a great responsibility to you as a businessman and to your business.
- Saving. A real businessman is economical! They impose on us the opinion that a company is when there is a corporate culture, when there are European-quality repairs everywhere, white walls, new furniture and cool equipment! All wrong! Save! No fancy equipment needed! Everything is minimal. Why offices for workers?? Basement and computer. Here are the realities of business. Everywhere you need to save, save! Everything should be kept to a minimum, but if there is an opportunity to move to a three-story building in the center, don't slow down!!! Only in this way you will be popular and at the initial stage you will be able to save some money for the promotion of your company.
- Thrift. A real Businessman understands that it is easier to make money than to keep what you have earned! Don't spend all your money - that's the law of business! If a company brings in good income, don't get used to it and don't try to have the company work for you while you do nothing. It could just be some kind of luck, temporary success, or just a bad client! If you have a firm, you need better clothes. The car is tougher. You will be chasing after it. In this pursuit, you will forget about business, etc. and so on. And remember - "it's easier to earn than to save." Your main task is to increase your capital, and not spend it as soon as possible!
- Awareness. A real businessman is an expert in his business, he knows it inside and out. You must know your field of activity and be selective in it. Must understand what your business is and how it works. It's great if the company's field of activity is your favorite. If you understand this, you are more likely to succeed.
- Honesty. A real Businessman understands that an honest business lives longer. If you are a good partner, you can be relied upon. At the same time, you fulfill your obligations on time, you do not let anyone down, you do not throw anyone away. Your business partners will stay with you, not go to others. They will repay you in kind. Do not throw and will not be thrown! You said - you did. Hold on to the words and partners to reach out to you! But all the same, do not forget that in business they can “throw” and “dissolve” anyone. Caution never hurts, always be on the alert.
- Responsibility. A real businessman is aware of the full measure of his responsibility to his close people, partners, employees, clients, and the state. Business needs money. You must realize that this is a huge risk. You should not take money without realizing that this is a huge responsibility! From this, marriages are broken, friends are lost, loved ones turn away. If you take money, you must give it back. Please understand that being a businessman is a huge responsibility and a huge risk! Do not borrow if you are not 100% sure of repayment.
- Enterprise. A real Businessman is initiative, sneaky and resourceful. You must be "not an employee", you must be a Businessman with a capital B. You must organize the business, put it on its feet. You must lead people and be an example for others. An entrepreneur should be seen in your face, feel it in conversation and in your deeds. You have to see business ideas and take everything you need from them. You must be the inspiration for your colleagues. You must be enterprising and provocative in relation to the team.
