My experience in the corporate world has revealed to me what it takes to make it in business. I advise that you get prepared before venturing into becoming a business owner. There are five germane characteristics that entrepreneurs must have in spades in order to be successful in business.

Drive
It has been proven that self-motivation is important and fundamental to success. It has to be an inherent quality that keeps pushing until success is actualized. An entrepreneur without a potent drive is as good as being a man in business without the business in him. The business must be in you. Why do you need to have the business in you?

To be candid, successful business has in one way or the other faced the aforesaid challenges but they were able to come out strong because of the drive in them to rise whenever challenges pull the business down. Not having the push and the inner strength to keep moving irrespective of the challenges posed envelopes business. If you want to be successful in business, what drives you must be beyond what can be seen.

Focus
You hit the target when you stay focused on what you want to achieve. At times, it doesn’t come easy or so fast. You sometimes need to endure the pain with the end in mind. People who think that businesses are developed in a day end up jumping into misfortune but those that stay focused become rooted in the intricacies of the business and end up commanding a formidable presence in the future. Business is a long game.

Patience
In business, being patience is not synonymous to time wasting. It simply means waiting sensitively for your chance to win the first client, albeit one pound order order or your first million pound contract. Being patient sometimes means you have to be brave, if you believe in what you are doing and can hold your nerves then success will come.

Determination
Determined entrepreneurs go through the storm and come out stronger. You need to build the capacity for determination and self-belief. An entrepreneur need to be conscious of the fact that he or she is not a spectator in whatever industry he operates but a contender for the biggest share in the market. To be truthful, growing business isn’t going to be easy. It requires doggedness and undying passion to succeed. Let nothing pull you down, this is the point where most would pull out – the week will falter at this point, stay staring and you will prosper, keep pushing and never look back.

Discipline
Discipline is the reason why some are successful and why others fail. An entrepreneur must be ready to differentiate his or her person from the business. Business shouldn’t be mixed with emotion. Having what it takes to separate both worlds is the definition of discipline. Your time is one the most important factors here, there will be a period where you need to be living and breathing the business, putting your social life or time with the family on hold for a period is going to be a sacrifice you will have to make, this is all relative to how successful you want to be, but you need to be prepared to spend many late nights, weekends and holidays working on your business. Its a good idea to have Kpi’s here. Kpi or ‘key performance indicators’ will allow you to take your foot off the pedal and get your life back once you have reached a per-determined point of success. Its no good being a successful entrepreneur if you don’t have time to enjoy it.

Self discipline is crucial when it comes to the company profits. Don’t mix your personal income with that of the business, its all too easy in the early stages when you start to see a profit to take money from the business for personal activities. You may decide that you’ve worked hard for months now and its time to increase your salary or take out money for a family holiday. Personal restraint is crucial here, can you afford for you to take out any profit?, its important that your business is liquid and has enough cash flow especially in the early stages, a lack of it is why 80% of businesses fail in the first 6 months. So be disciplined, miss this years holiday, don’t buy that expensive item you have been promising yourself for all those late nights and weekends in the office – concentrate on the business and this time next year when you have turned the corner to success you won’t need to ask yourself if you can afford it or not.

Dean Williams

Dean Williams is a design and marketing blogger working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building brands through quality print marketing. If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk