Reprinted from Utah Business Online Magazine:
10 Key Traits of Successful Small Business Entrepreneurs
by PR or Business News Wire
Stephen R. Covey, author of best-selling books "The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness" and "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," has identified 10 key traits found in all successful small-business entrepreneurs.
"Every large business that is now successful was once a small business. All small business entrepreneurs have experienced significant failures in business, but they have learned from their failures," says Covey, vice chairman of Franklin Covey. "They confess to having had several painful and costly failures in a previous endeavor or early on in their current venture. But they learned that they had to persist, focus on the demands of the market and figure out another way to make it happen."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 56 percent of all small businesses fail within their first four years. Covey, who has not only been through the process of starting but also successfully growing a small business, has consulted with small, medium and large organizations about how to create and sustain business results over time. In addition to learning from failure, Covey identifies the following 10 traits commonly found in successful small business entrepreneurs:
1. Value teamwork. Successful entrepreneurs recognize that it takes a team to produce success. They know it is never just one person who is responsible for the success of any business venture. They are gracious, appreciative, humble and give people the credit they deserve.
2. Are willing to change. They understand that change is inevitable, and they understand how to adapt to the changes around them in order to make their business grow.
3. Surround themselves with diversity. Successful entrepreneurs maximize the productivity of their business by hiring people who make their own weaknesses irrelevant. They see other peoples' strengths as opportunities rather than threats.
4. Communicate effectively through feedback and active listening. They give instruction and feedback in a manner that empowers people rather than belittles them. In return, they are willing to listen and accept feedback from others.
5. Have a vision and plan for reaching their goals Successful entrepreneurs know what they want. They have identified what is most important in order to achieve success and are not willing to sacrifice what is most important for what is merely important. They have created a strategic plan that defines how they will achieve their most important goals and by what deadline.
6. Proactively seek opportunities Entrepreneurs do not sit and wait for opportunities to come their way. They are proactive and prepared for anything that comes along.
7. Are tireless, ceaseless, determined workers. To avoid becoming workaholics, successful entrepreneurs are highly effective during all of their working hours and know when it is time to go home. They seek balance in all aspects of their lives.
8. Understand that removing barriers is a necessary event. They are not afraid to terminate an employee who is the wrong person for the job, or if they simply resist the changes pertinent to company growth.
9. Are high-energy people. Entrepreneurs reach into the depths of their souls to find the energy they need to keep going and growing. Their energy is enough to motivate and inspire others to join or stay with the new venture.
10. Continually nurture the entrepreneurial spirit by taking risks and learning from mistakes. They willingly take risks and learn from others' as well as their own mistakes. Entrepreneurs make decisions quickly and effectively by avoiding the bureaucracy and structure commonly found in large organizations.
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