July 23, 2006

Small Business Success - What it takes
Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach


How do you know if you have what it takes to be successful in your own business? When people ask why your “cut out” to be a business owner how do you answer?

There are ten personality traits that successful business owners possess – at least to some degree. Read the list below and see how many of them apply to you:

Willingness to Sacrifice — Are you willing to accept the fact that you will be the last one to be paid? Are you willing to sacrifice your free time to your business? Are you willing to give up vacations, holidays, time with the kids, ball games and birthday parties?

Service Orientation — Do you have what it takes to deal with suppliers, customers, employees, lawyers, accountants, government officials, and everybody who calls on the phone and walks in the door? Are you willing to ask your customers for feedback and then adjust your business based upon what they say? Are you willing to spend time with the last customer of the day even if it means working after closing time? Can you come to win-win agreements with everyone mentioned above?

Leadership Ability — Are you willing to be the “go to” person for your business? Can you be the person who will lead a team to the promised land? Can you come up with the answers when others ask tough questions?

Business Intelligence and Creativity — Do you have street smarts and common sense? Can you make lemonade out of lemons? Can you anticipate problems before they arise and to take preemptive steps to avoid them? Can you “rearrange” solutions from other businesses or areas to meet the demands of your customers?

Management Ability and Organization — Do you have what it takes to manage relationships with your customers or clients, with your employees, with your suppliers, with your accountant and lawyer, with your banker, and with your family? Can you manage all of them at once….when you tired and hungry and when your worried about something else? Can you keep track of everything that’s going on in your business? Can you set priorities and get things done? Can you develop systems to automate the repetitive tasks in your business?

Optimism — Can you see the silver lining in each dark cloud? Can you keep your family and employees “pumped up” about you business and your ideas? Will you start each day looking for the possibility that it could be the best day you’ve ever had?

Persistence – Can you keep coming back for more even after you have had several setbacks? Do you believe that each time you you attempt something you learn and grow? Is it in your nature to come back over and over again until you get what you want?

Competitive Nature – Do you have to win? Are you the kind of person who needs to be the best at everything? Does competition bring out the best in your creative ability?
Sales Orientation – Can you sell yourself to others? You are you business. Can you convince others to work with you, buy from you and help spread the word about your business? Northing happens in business until somebody sells something. As an entrepreneur that somebody is you. Are you comfortable with that?

Confidence – Do you believe that risk is placing your future in the hands of someone else? Can you take on a difficult challenge head-on with the feeling that you will be successful? When the going gets tough do you instinctively feel that you will become stronger from the experience?

If one or more of these traits is not second nature to you, don’t fret. During the next two weeks we will be discussing each of them in detail. We’ll talk about ways to leverage your current skills, knowledge and experience to make up for a lack of strength in one or more of these areas.