5 traits of an entrepreneur

Jakub attended the Introduction to Entrepreneruship course. As part of the course, the task is to write a blog post about entrepreneurship. Now we would like to share Jakub’s thoughts with you, which five factors does he see as important traits of an entrepreneur.

2. Persistence

Have you ever heard that failure is good? No matter if one is an employee or an employer, during their career they will always encounter ups and downs. There will be moments when everything will be perfect, and different times when one will fail. What is special about entrepreneurs is that they don’t stop at failure. They learn from it and work with new strength to overcome it.

According to studies ^[4],[5], only one in ten start-ups survives in the long term. When one thinks about setting up a company, they need to think realistically. During a lecture on the HUBS course, Anssi Rantanen said that he had set up several companies before he succeeded in his current one^[6]. Therefore, for a successful business creator, persistence is a key trait.

3. Learning

For an entrepreneur, life is a constant change. Every day they discover new challenges and need to find ways to overcome them.

Starting start-up creators need to learn how to do things they have never done before. They must fit in roles they have no experience in. They need to constantly develop to be able to face new arising challenges.

Entrepreneurs who have their business going and profitable, need to constantly adapt. With rapid changes in the markets, they always should be up to date.

4. Listening

Of all start-ups that fail, as many as 35% do so, because of the lack of the market need^[5]. This means that nearly 1 in every 3 start-ups fail because founders didn’t perform deep enough studies before starting. In her lecture^[1], Tanja Haapamäki emphasizes the value of asking and listening to potential customers at every stage of business development. She says that entrepreneurs should verify their idea as often as possible.

But listening is not only about customers. It is even more important to listen to people around you. When talking to people about your idea, always listen with an open mind. As Steve Jobs once said, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”.

5. Searching

Everyone is different. With different sets of abilities and predispositions, the path to success will be different. For one entrepreneur the best way would be to go all in. Taking big risks to achieve success in a short time span. For others, it may be better to bootstrap the business and develop it as a part-time idea.

It is crucial to find one’s own way of doing things. It may often require trying different things. During the introduction to entrepreneurship course, many successful business makers gave lectures. They all had different stories and experiences, yet they had one thing in common. They looked for the best way for themselves.