Entrepreneurial Traits By Tai Goodwin

Some people know from their very first job, that working for someone else isn’t for them. Some of us are forced into entrepreneurship either through lay-off or impending infrastructure changes. Then some of us are led on a professional journey full of twists and turns before we that no job will ever allow us to live our purpose in a way that’s meaningful to us.

However we come to this exhilarating yet anxiety-laden fork in the road, we come to a place where we have to decide: Do we pursue our entrepreneurial passion or settle for and in the cube?

No one forces us into launching a business. More than likely people will try to talk you out of it, especially when you have what’s considered a “good “job. In fact it’s very easy to keep dreaming of being your own boss – many people talk about starting a business, fewer actually go from dream to action.

Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy. Before you start the process, it makes sense to consider whether or not you really have what it takes.

Are You Willing to Take Risks, Sometimes Really Big Risks

Are you willing to risk everything you have on your business? Sometimes that’s what’s really necessary in order to get your venture off the ground. Many entrepreneurs have had to sell their homes to fund their business. Some have had to leverage enough of their corporate equity that they’d lose control of their own company if anything went wrong, in order to fund the next stage of their growth. To really succeed in running your own business, you’ve got to be willing to take risks. Sometimes those risks will feel humongous, but you’ve got to be willing to take them anyway.

Can You Listen to Advice, While Making Your Own Decisions?

An entrepreneur needs to be able to listen to people who have more experience, their peers and their customers. An entrepreneur needs to fully and deeply understand their market, their customers, their current situation, their problems and their potential solutions. That said, no matter how much experience your advisors have, you ultimately have to be the one to make the decision. An entrepreneur must be willing to call their own shots, sometimes even if it goes against what their advisors who have more experience suggest – if that’s what your gut tells you to do.

Can You Trust Your Instincts Especially When it Comes to People and Deals?

A business person needs to be able to trust their instincts. The two most important instincts they need to possess and be able to rely on are their instincts about people and their instinct about business deals. Ever get the sense that you just can’t trust someone? Or the sense that you genuinely want to do business with someone? Do you trust these instincts? When a business proposition is presented to you, do you have a strong internal compass that tells you “yes” or “no”? The best business decisions are not made solely on numbers and projections. Although those are important, the real decision often comes down to whether or not your instincts tell you go forward. Your instincts will usually be right.

Are You Oriented Towards Action

Great entrepreneurs are action oriented. “Ready, fire, aim” rather than “ready, aim, fire.” Instead of spending two years writing a business plan and conducting market research, a real entrepreneur just goes for it. They take the results they get from the real world, rework their plan in real time and keep moving forward. MBA-types who study businesses hypothetically without actually building businesses tend to think about business a lot. Entrepreneurs on the other hand are much more apt to just do something and see what the results are. In order to really create results in the world, you’ve got to be strongly action oriented.

These are some of the most important aspects of succeeding as an entrepreneur. Do you have what it takes? If you think the answer is yes, then you’ve got an incredibly exciting and potentially highly lucrative journey ahead of you.

Learn more from and follow at @TaiGoodwin