20 Characteristics of Highly Successful Entrepreneurs

Have you ever wondered what separates highly successful entrepreneurs from everyone else? Not every entrepreneur achieves success, but those who possess specific characteristics of entrepreneurship to help them on their journey toward success.

Here are 20 characteristics of entrepreneurship practiced by highly successful entrepreneurs. See how you match up and use your learning to improve your performance.

1. Creative

The first characteristic of entrepreneurship shared by successful entrepreneurs is creativity. By nature, entrepreneurs love to create. Whether this means using their talents to invent some never-before-seen gizmo or finding a better and more efficient way to do something, these individuals have an innate ability to tap into the power of the imagination to make life easier, enjoyable, or more prosperous for those they serve.

2. Passionate

Imagine having a deep burning love for something and wanting nothing more than to be surrounded by it daily. To the regular onlooker, it may only be a simple service or product, but to the entrepreneur, it has become an integral part of life. Their first thoughts in the morning are about the “work” they will do that day, and they go to bed thinking about ways to improve the following day.

Highly successful entrepreneurs do not even view their business as work in the traditional sense; hence, finding the word in quotations above. They love what they do. It is no longer work. It is fun. It is life. It has become a part of who they are at their very core. There is never a dull moment when you do what you love every day.

3. Confident

Another characteristic of entrepreneurship is confidence. The individual is the brand in many cases, especially with service-based businesses and solopreneurs. Regardless of industry, putting yourself out there every day takes a lot of guts.

Consider these names: Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Martha Stewart. All have enjoyed incredible amounts of success. Each has received tremendous praise for their respective works.

But it isn’t always praise and accolades. These business moguls have also received their fair share of criticisms and hardships significantly earlier in their careers. Despite the many early struggles and conflicts, they kept going forward, and only after years of hard work were these leaders able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. If these individuals failed to have confidence in themselves and their ability, they might have given up, and we would never have heard their names.

4. Self-Motivated

In general, entrepreneurs are go-getters and achievers. Those that are highly successful epitomize this character trait. They are thinking big ideas, setting things in motion, and trying to make life better for those they serve. But they also realize that their ideas will only come to life if they do the work to make them happen.

Highly successful entrepreneurs have a burning desire to get results and can utilize specific drivers to keep going the extra mile. They do not require a cheering section to stay energized. These individuals allow their purpose and passion for fueling their actions until they claim victory.

5. Self-Disciplined

Far too many entrepreneurs spend too much time worrying about the company’s well-being and too little time looking after their health. It may seem obvious, but failing to take care of your body and mind through wholesome self-discipline will surely be your downfall sooner rather than later.

The human body can only deal with so much stress, and the long hours that most entrepreneurs work will inevitably be their undoing unless some downtime is scheduled.

Take some time to familiarize yourself with self-management techniques that enable you to make the most out of your downtime and productive hours. Take caution not to approach your rest like a business endeavor. Far too many entrepreneurs don’t know how to go into “off mode” and refuse to gain the wholesome self-discipline required to force themselves to take a break.

Remember that too much stress can destroy your abilities to make it as a successful entrepreneur, and soon you’ll be approaching self-management with a new appreciation for its importance.

6. Organized

For many entrepreneurs, life is a take-it-as-it-comes adventure, wherein they roll with the punches instead of planning things well ahead. This is a dangerous path, as countless business endeavors have failed due to a lack of foresight.

Furthermore, rapid changes to the market conditions you’re operating in can seldom be weathered without ample preparation. So focusing on your organizational skills will surely help you later down the line.

Nevertheless, most entrepreneurs struggle with honing their organizational talents because they’re so caught up in the daily grind of running their company from the big-picture perspective, which seldom, if ever, permits you to plan the nitty-gritty details of your commercial future. That’s why it’s essential to set some time aside for planning or consider hiring an assistant to help you manage your hectic schedule.

Hiring someone to keep track of your calendar, meetings, and other crucial deadlines isn’t always easy for entrepreneurs trying to cut down on the operational costs of doing business, yet having a dedicated professional help you bolster your organizational talents will pay off in the long run.

You won’t be able to model the way for your employees without adequate organizational skills, so don’t let them fall on the back burner as you seek commercial success.

7. Visionary

A defining characteristic of entrepreneurship that all highly successful entrepreneurs share is the ability to see with vision, not just sight. This means peering into the future and visualizing what will be, seeing it in the mind as if it were already a reality.

Just as the master mason can visualize the magnificent cathedral while standing in front of blocks of stone or the artist can see the beautiful portrait before the first brushstroke, the visionary entrepreneur can realize the profound impact of their work long before it comes to fruition.

8. Goal-Oriented

Successful entrepreneurs know the importance of focusing on their goals. They know how to set reasonable goals, and they can channel their attention and efforts toward attaining them. This characteristic is not exclusive to entrepreneurship, and all endeavors require you to be goal-oriented to be successful.

Every day we are bombarded by countless shiny objects and distractions trying to steal our attention. These entrepreneurs know how to avoid distractions and have mastered the self-management skills needed to be productive and get things done. As a business owner, achieving company goals is a primary responsibility. Realize that nobody is going to do it for you. If you want to succeed, then you must be willing to put the necessary attention and energy towards achieving your company’s goals.

9. Specialized Knowledge of Product or Service

Stepping into the world of entrepreneurship means making the conscious decision to make your business the central part of your life experience. Successful entrepreneurs do not have the luxury of simply clocking in and out daily, nor do they want to. To have a prosperous business, it is essential to have specialized knowledge in your given area of expertise.

The most successful entrepreneurs immerse themselves in industry news to further their understanding, stay on top of trends, and get the edge over competitors. These leaders are constantly learning to be of more outstanding service and higher value to their customers.

10. Risk-Taker

Going into business for yourself is risky because there are no guarantees. Even if your business is just a side hustle right now, a significant investment of time, money, and resources can strain personal and family relationships.

Despite the possible risks, entrepreneurs are willing to stay the course because they know the potential for reward is much more significant. Some entrepreneurs even regard this as a thrilling experience in the way a rock climber might scale the side of a mountain.

11. Decisive

Many people dread being forced to make an important decision. After all, what if you mess up and the consequences of your poor choice continue to haunt you for years to come?

While it’s perfectly natural to fear making a crucial mistake whenever a significant decision must be made, entrepreneurs who find themselves incapable of being decisive when it counts the most are inevitably leading their business towards failure.

As the leader of the enterprise, it’s your role to make the tough calls when the budget starts dwindling, and the deadline starts approaching. Some things can and should be delegated to others, but when it comes to being a decisive leader, all would-be entrepreneurs need to stand up and learn to be powerful.

12. Curious

Entrepreneurs have a desire to solve problems. They know that people have pain points and struggle in certain areas of life and are looking for solutions. A deep level of curiosity helps entrepreneurs find these valuable solutions.

In addition to solving problems, entrepreneurs also want to help find better ways of doing things and design more effective methods that yield more significant results. They study how things work and then dream up ways to improve them.

A few years ago, if you wanted to rent a movie, you had to get into your car and drive down to the local Blockbuster to pick one out. But then, a few folks got curious and wondered if there was a better way to rent movies. Netflix was born, and the rest is history.

13. Flexible

As noted above, there can be many uncertainties in business, so entrepreneurs need to be flexible in their approach.

Famed success author Zig Ziglar said,

“Be firm on principles but flexible on methods.”

Essentially, while being firm on what we want, we should also be flexible with how we attain it. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to adjust the course, take a detour, or try various approaches to find the best way to move forward.

14. Optimistic

SmallBizTrends found that only 80% of all small businesses started in 2014 made it to their second year. In those early foundation years, this rate decreased dramatically and dropped to a staggering 56% survival rate by year five.^[1] Considering these statistics, it is evident that there is no guarantee for business survival, let alone achieving massive success.

Knowing that the odds are against them, how do the most significant achievers maintain such a high level of optimism? Whether innate or learned behavior, winners know that having an optimistic outlook will bring more opportunities and take them further than drudging in pessimism. They believe things will work in their favor because they are confident in their skills and trust that they have the ability and resources needed to overcome obstacles that come before them.

15. Analytical Problem Solving

Far too many entrepreneurs dismiss the importance of analytical problem solving because they mistakenly believe that crunching the numbers is best left to someone else. True entrepreneurs, so this logic goes, focus on big-picture scenarios and don’t allow themselves to get bogged down crunching the numbers.

In reality, however, analytical problem solving is a vital characteristic of the successful entrepreneur because we now live in a data-driven age were collecting and analyzing tidbits of information is an essential part of most commercial activities.

Whether selling insurance, designing new software, or working in various other sectors, analytical problem-solving skills will help you make sense of the ever-growing flurry of numbers that permeates the business world. With big data analytics becoming an ingrained part of the market, these analytical skills will only become more critical for the long-term well-being of your entrepreneurial pursuits.

Yes, even entrepreneurs need analytics,^[2] so don’t shun what you don’t understand if you want to earn a profit someday.

16. Empathy

Most businesses don’t start because people want to turn the world into a better place, but rather, in the pursuit of profit so that you can earn an honest living.

For many entrepreneurs, honorable intentions and helping people must come second to profits because a failure to earn a buck means bankruptcy and an inability to help anyone ever again.

Nevertheless, it would help if you didn’t allow profit motives to consume your entire entrepreneurial personality, as those business leaders who find success most easily are empathetic and capable of connecting with people on a deep, emotional level.

Empathy is worth speaking about because it’s something most entrepreneurs lack. By honing your empathic abilities and opening yourself up to the experiences of others, you’ll quickly find an ability to cultivate deep employee loyalty to your commercial cause. Furthermore, your workers will understand that they can approach you as a friendly source of inspiration when they’re down rather than treating you as a harsh boss to be avoided whenever there’s bad news.

Genuine empathy is good for business because it humanizes your otherwise robotic commercial operations and gives customers, workers, and investors plenty of reasons to have confidence in your leadership abilities.^[3]

If you’re struggling to lure in new customers, your inability to exercise empathy could be the root cause of your issue. Given that so many entrepreneurs work with heart, making it an essential characteristic of your personality is a fantastic way to stand apart in the marketplace while luring in the best and brightest of workers.

17. Communicative

You don’t have to be a business mastermind to understand that a solid communicative arsenal is needed to survive and thrive for long in the cutthroat commercial marketplace. What too few entrepreneurs realize, however, is that some forms of communication are more valuable than others. Interpersonal communication must rise above all else if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Interpersonal communication is face-to-face communication, which is crucial to remember. There’s such thing as technologically intermediated interpersonal communication, wherein you talk face-to-face over video services. Still, the real deal entails you and the person you’re communicating with seeing one another in the flesh.

Entrepreneurs who don’t actively labor to refine their interpersonal communication skills will find themselves struggling to succeed in several crucial commercial areas, including employee recruitment and retention.

You may think your employees dread a face-to-face sit-down with the boss, but the truth is that human beings need human contact to remain happy, healthy, and productive. Introducing yourself to your workers in a typical human fashion and frequently engaging them face-to-face will bolster your ties while making it easier for you to read body language and other vital cues lost amid tech-intermediated communication.

In other words, remember that digital communication skills aren’t the only thing that matters.

18. Delegate

Another critical characteristic of entrepreneurial success is the ability to delegate, as even the savviest business owners can’t do everything alone.

Suppose you’re incapable of learning the hidden talents of your employees so that you can delegate specialty work to them when the need arises. In that case, you’ll fail to maximize your workforce’s potential, something all successful business owners must do sooner or later.

Delegating isn’t always easy for entrepreneurs, especially those who started from the bottom by themselves before clawing their way to the top of the dogpile. But a failure to let someone else take control now and then can lead to stress-related burnout.

Avoiding burnout is essential if you want to make it as a business leader, as there won’t be anyone ready to take your company’s reins if you suddenly find yourself overworked and incapable of leading.

Learn how to cultivate talented workers and turn them into clever managers, and your job as an entrepreneur will be much easier than if you tried to do everything yourself.

19. Resourceful

Along with being flexible, another characteristic of entrepreneurship is being resourceful. Successful entrepreneurs can think outside the box to solve issues. These people are the MacGyvers of the business world. They might not always have the exact tool for the job, but they will always use ingenuity to get the desired results.

20. Persistent

The last on this list of characteristics of entrepreneurship is persistence. Successful entrepreneurs do not let up, and they will never give up either. They will keep going until they win. Once they win, they will keep going until they win again and again.

The most successful entrepreneurs understand that it is impossible to win every time, but they continue to move forward because that is the only way to ensure future victories.

Sir Winston Churchill once said, “Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm.”

Final Thoughts

Take some time today to consider how these characteristics of entrepreneurship rank in your life. Can certain areas be improved upon and further developed? If so, determine how to advance these areas so you can achieve more outstanding successes in business and life.