subject: The Personality Traits of an Entrepreneur [print this page] If being an entrepreneur were easy, everyone would be doing it. The odds are if you are an entrepreneur, then you have already determined this for yourself. But the fact remains that being an entrepreneur is not for everyone, as it does involve a degree of risk and uncertainly. Thus, one has to wonder what are the qualities of someone that wants to roll up his or her sleeves and jump into the unknown?
Behind every entrepreneur is someone that is willing to fail. This fact is so intimately intertwined with the entrepreneur that it is usually overlooked. However, the simple fact of the matter is that within every entrepreneur is someone that is willing to risk failure and in the process risk embarrassment. This is easier said than done for most people, and this willingness to fail is at the core of every entrepreneur.
Of course, this does not mean that entrepreneurs are not scared of failure, it simply means that entrepreneurs are the kind of people that are willing to take an idea, find a manufacturer in China and begin producing a product without being 100% sure that it will be a smashing success. This is not to state that entrepreneurs should blindly launch endeavors without any knowledge of the risks or without any idea if success is an option. Savvy entrepreneurs calculate the odds and decide if it makes sense to move forward.
A smart entrepreneur is someone that is able to assimilate information, make assessments and analyze that data in hopes of calculating the risks behind a given endeavor. They may not be certain of a given outcome, but they have at least a rudimentary idea of the odds of success. Therefore, they at least have an understanding of the potential outcome. From the outside looking in, the entrepreneur may seem like a gambler, but a smart and savvy entrepreneur is making a calculated guess that if proven correct will yield a lucrative reward. In this sense, a sharp entrepreneur is an investor. It is this ability to see the big picture and move ahead accordingly that can make all the difference in the end.
