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What is THE "Key Trait" of a Successful Entrepreneur
What is the one thing that differentiates successful entrepreneurs from everyone else?
© David Newton 2007

Can you think of what makes an entrepreneur successful?

What is the one thing that differentiates successful entrepreneurs from everyone else? And if it's good, can we get it too?

Talking with business owners around the country as I do on an almost daily basis, the topic leads to what makes people build great businesses. How did they really get there and why does it look so easy when you hear them explain it?

Have we been missing something here?

Is it so clear to us, that when we are told, that it's mere simplicity of this "Key Trait" makes us even "feel dumb" for asking what it was?

Let me tell you what it is first:

It's the ability to be a Self-Starter

That's it. Are you scratching your head now?

Do you feel like school kid at exam time?

Yeah, well I admit it is a pretty dumb thing of me to say this .... about what I reckon .... is the number one trait of Successful Entrepreneurs. But hey, you don't have to look that far for any evidence do you?

Let me explain a little here ...

Most of us can think of a time when we watched a TV Show like "The Inventors" and saw a short story about somebody who dreamed up an idea, and we see them on TV telling us they are now making millions from it. Yet, the idea was so simple, we probably had the same idea ourselves a year or a month before okay?

Or we may have heard a mate of our who 'silently left their job' and now runs a very successful business. Or...

We may have passed a block of land on the way to work. Then one day, its now a huge building. All the while we thought gee that place has possibilities.

But ...

So why are they so successful?

They took action - and you didn't.

Have you ever heard the saying: 80% of success is simply showing up!

You have? It's a saying that conveys the essence of what being a "Self-Starter" is all about.

You see I often hear what a lot of people do when they talk about the future of they lives, their business hopes and their vision of the future. It's just this. Only a tiny few dare to follow through on their aspirations. The rest have alibis or excuses.

What's the opposite of being a Self-Starter?

Here are a few possible causes of NOT BEING a Self-Starter:
- No passion about life
- Apathy about the world in general
- No vision for the future
- Blaming others for their lack of results
- Low Self Esteem
- "A day late - and a dollar short"
- Being a follower - but not a leader
- No desire for a better world
- Bitterness and inaction

Yet all the while here are the causes of BEING a TRUE Self-Starter:
- A passionate life and living it
- Walk around with a smile on their face
- Dream all the time about creating
- Self Confidence and Persistence
- Being willing to take a Chance or a Risk
- Willing to lead a group to victory
- A desire to change the world
- Feelings of good will and harmony with people

When most people look at a business owner who is successful they often see only "the outside" of that person. Such as the life that person leads, or the holidays that person takes and the good things they have. It's "the inside" they can't see. They miss the effort and planning, the "guilt edge determination" that person had to make the life they live now - err umm - look so pitifully easy.

Self-Starters:
- Don't give up that easy
- Try new things all the time
- Sometimes they act a bit "Looney"
- Create ideas all the time
- They day dream about being a success
- They get out and "network their socks off"
- They learn and get good at planning

So what are you doing towards your own business planning? Have you simply dropped the bundle and left your dreams on the shelf?

Here's how to 'fire up' your business plans ...
- Go to a business breakfast or luncheon - get talking
- Have a coffee during the day and write out your ideas
- Talk with a business friend about what you're working on
- Run a "test advert" and put up a "capture page" on your website to find out what people think about your business idea
- Run a seminar, or give speeches - put out surveys at the end of them ...gain some feedback
- Get out there and see what other business owners are doing in your idea area - lookout for the unusual - take some notes
- In my case I normally carry about with me my notepad and write ideas, plus I have my PDA with me at all times. That way I can write down my ideas, and do a spreadsheet on it, ... you guessed it - while I'm even at the beach!

The main thing is to see what feedback is about your idea and what you need to do to kick it off.

Part of "Being a Self-Starter" is about being enthusiastic and if you're enthusiastic others will desire to be involved in your plans and ideas. You won't need to work hard at gaining support, it will literally follow you. Your enthusiasm (or the lack thereof) will govern the outcome of your success in your business as in life.

So, what are you going to do now?

Get going, get out and make your plans and dreams come true!

60 Minute Trader


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