Characteristics of entrepreneurs

Here are the 10 characteristics of most entrepreneurs:

• You are driven by motivation and ambition
• Highly disciplined
• Leadership, planning, and management skills
• You are proactive and take initiative
• Learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others
• Realize that success is the only option
• Willing to exploit new opportunities
• Knowledgeable of the subject matter and willing to learn more
• You prefer the excitement of risk
• You are committed no matter the obstacles

Attributes of Successful Entrepreneurs

To the right you will find a list of attributes that many entrepreneurs share. I believe though that although all of those can be found in many entrepreneurs, successful entrepreneurs usually have the following five attributes.

• Ambition - The desire to succeed is a key attribute determining the success of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur must be passionate about what he/she is doing and truly believe in the success of the venture.

• A Vision - An entrepreneur doesn't just have ideas, he has a vision on how to make an idea a success - a plan for actually implementing the idea.

• Creativity - We often hear about "thinking outside the box" but as an entrepreneur, this is a particularly important concept because as an entrepreneur, you want to provide solutions beyond the ordinary ones - as an entrepreneur you strive to have extraordinary ideas.

• Intelligence - This one is a bit misleading since there are all sorts of intelligences. There's the traditional IQ intelligence which is called logical-mathematical intelligence and there's interpersonal intelligence which is the ability to interact well with others, among others. I believe that the required intelligence differs based on the industry.

• Risk taking - An entrepreneur usually has a higher risk tolerance than the average person - he takes calculated risks and this really sets him apart from the average person.