What Defines a Successful Small Business Owner?

There are many people in the world pondering on starting a small business, with tons of amazing ideas, but few people essentially go out and do it. Many people think and think about it until all of a sudden they are fiftyish, still with that terrific idea, but no business. 

“One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves. You don’t choose your passions; your passions choose you.” - Jeff Bezos 

There is no question it takes a specific type of person to be an entrepreneur. It is certainly not for the faint of heart and it takes ambition to succeed. You also need strong nerves, motivation, and a great deal of will power to continue to work at it despite setbacks you will undoubtedly have to deal with.

It is understood, that it takes specialized abilities. Furthermore, you cannot just be good at what you do. You must be very good at it before you even think about starting your small business. So, supposing you have those technological skills, what else do prosperous entrepreneurs have in common? 

I would think being determined, self-disciplined and a go-getter must have some top qualities. If you want to own a business so you can stay in bed in the morning or you think you might not have to work forty hours a week, you should rather stick with your 9 to 5 job. The reality is you will be working much more than forty hours a week for quite a while, and most often with hardly any money to show for it.

There will not be anyone directing you what to do, how to do it, and ensuring you meet the due date. I am sure you know customers commonly want everything done now! You will need make decisions, and be disciplined enough to work at it daily, no matter how discouraged you might be.

In addition, the reality that you are your own boss means you should be self-directing too. It also means you should be capable to prioritize and organize well, meet deadlines and be able to work until the job is done, whether that takes fifteen minutes or eighteen hours a day.

How well do you cope with stress? How do you tackle uncertainty? Successful entrepreneurs have to deal with both well. Managing a business is stressful at the best of times, and can be extremely stressful when things are not working out. Things are seldom certain. That major client you have that you think is so devoted could simply decide to go elsewhere for no reason that is apparent to you.

Are you able to make short term sacrifice for long-term gain? It may be tempting, for instance to take the initial thousand dollars your company earns and spend it on clothes or on your house or your car, but is that necessarily the best thing for your small business? On the other hand, should you be leaving the money in the firm and using it to grow your business? 

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

Along with those specialized skills we discussed earlier, most entrepreneurs have to be a jack-of-all-trades, at least at the starting point. Let us say you build the best darn widget in the world. Pretending you already leased space and have all your equipment, the very first thing you might want to do is find vendors for the components you will need to put it together. Then you will have to hammer out a deal, so now you are a buying representative as well as a manufacturer.

Clients are not going to arrive out of the blue, so you have to identify ways to let consumers know whom you are, where you are, and what you can do for them. That implies you also need to understand something about promotion and marketing. You are required to keep appropriate records, so you are a bookkeeper too. Furthermore, you are accountable for all your small business' financial decisions, so you are going to have to know something about finances. You will perhaps have to answer the phones and schedule appointments, which mean you, are also a secretary.

Since you possibly won't possess all those abilities and you probably can't afford to hire someone to do most of those jobs, you're going to have to be willing to learn new activities and be able to pick them up quickly. You won't see any direct money for these tasks either. Are you happy to put in the hours it requires to learn these skills and execute them without seeing prompt results? 

Finally, stalling and owning a business don't seem to go well together. If you're the type of person who tends to put off until the next day what can be done today, you might not be suited to be a small business owner.

No one is the ideal entrepreneur. I doubt it whether there is a person with all the personality traits we've talked about. Nevertheless, you should be willing to take a sincere look at yourself. You should have some of the characteristics I have mentioned and you have to know how to compensate for areas where you are weak, but that is a subject for another time.

Why are you waiting? The first step is making the decision. Quit just thinking about it and just do it. Do not wait for tomorrow or next week or next year. Do it today!