Surveys Show that Entrepreneurs Often Share Certain Characteristics Irrespective of their Origin

After going through multiple interviews and a whole range of surveys conducted on successful entrepreneurs in different fields who came from different countries and backgrounds, a few common characteristics have been established.

It is to be noted that there are also plenty of dissimilarities between them, too, but where there are similarities, they are definitely distinct and profound. It would be impossible to source every one of the surveys and interviews used to deduce the features, traits and characteristics, but this link details a very useful number of them with some accurate observations.

High Intelligence is a Constant

The definition of the term “smart” is variable, but intelligence is a somewhat quantifiable concept that IQ tests are meant to determine, but this is not without lenient abstractions and severe limitations of their own. Nevertheless, if smartness and intelligence were considered to be one and the same, almost every successful entrepreneur is smarter than the average human being.

In fact, in the higher tiers of success, where the billionaires of the world sit with a significant percentage of the entire world’s wealth in their possession, their IQs are most likely in the Gifted or Genius category. Even in the lower tiers of millionaires and multimillionaires, the average intelligence is significantly higher than the average person.

Higher Education Was Common Even in the Ones Who Did Not Complete It Initially

It is a misconception that most successful people didn’t go to college – at least not for those in the developed part of the world and on the right side of the law anyway.

While Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates are common examples that many cite to exemplify that college education is not necessary to be a successful businessman, it is to be noted that both of them did attend college for a while and displayed multiple signs of being the prodigy that they were even at that time. Many of the tools, partners and concepts they needed to sharpen their intellect and get the ideas that led to the eventual massive success were also aspects that they were introduced to in college.

On the other hand, almost every other entrepreneur had or has at least a college degree in business, science, technology or finances, to which they even attribute a lot of their success. According to the advice of the same entrepreneurs, those who have a business idea in their head already should seek to mature and culminate that idea after or even while completing their higher education.

However, the relevance of the degree course or program is perhaps more important than the “graduate” label. For example, those with a prominent business idea should be seeking out online MBA courses if they wish to complete their education while working on their entrepreneurial venture at the same time.

The flexibility allowed by your course, such as the adaptable schedule of the online MBA courses from the UK’s own Aston University, can potentially be the make or break difference between success and failure. Thanks to online MBA courses, computer programming courses, online engineering programs and multiple other types of internet-based professional degrees from the top universities around the world, anyone with a sharp mind and a potential idea can become an entrepreneur today, regardless of their city or country of origin.

The Ability to Pursue a Target through Tough Choices

Hardships come in different variants, and although some entrepreneurs did push through very hard economic circumstances, others had to make tough choices on fronts on a different scale.

Some of them chose to give up on a lucrative career as a tech professional to build an entirely new sector of business that they did not even know was actually possible. Some even gave up on family businesses to take a completely different route, while others decided to go against the norms and pursue an avenue of business that no one from their background had any experience in. It’s not as much about money in the beginning as it is about making the tough choices. Clichéd as it may be, chasing a vision or dream is key to entrepreneurial success.

The Ability to Work in Isolation

Entrepreneurial success often hinges on highly independent and even isolated personalities. It is to be understood that, more often than not, successful businessmen are also extroverts and have excellent people skills, but it seems to be their ability to work alone and independently for hours at a stretch that sets them apart from the excellent PR professional.

They Seek Guidance from Those They Respect

It may not even be relevant to the field that they were working in at the time, but in accordance to what most of the successful businesspeople said, they did seem to seek guidance from a teacher, friend, parent or mentor. This was usually regarding various aspects and wasn’t always related to their immediate work. Respect is the most common adjective used by them to describe the ones they choose to consult in times of need.

Failure is Not Seen in the Same Light as Others

Leaving aside clichéd idioms, failure did not come very often to most successful business personalities, but this may be because they saw their minute failures as a stepping stone or a learning curve rather than a failure. Their ability to build on that failure, by learning from their mistakes, is a crucial aspect that is often missing in most of us.

A point to remember would be that there are exceptions as well, but exceptions are not usually taken into account while drawing a generalised assertion. Also, it is possible to follow some of the traits, features and actions of the successful businesspeople mentioned and to see success in one’s own endeavours as well. After all, many of the things we have discussed are not always inborne specialties. As mentioned already, the successful entrepreneurs we look up to often had someone they looked up to and followed themselves.

One of the first stages of learning involves following, so it is best to treat the information here as a guide rather than observations of certain businesspeople that were deemed to be successful from Day One.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.