You may be excited by the idea of starting and running your own business. The stories of entrepreneurs who started with little or nothing and became billionaires are intriguing. But this doesn’t happen for the majority of entrepreneurs, and many went through great difficulties before starting their businesses. Steve Jobs experienced bouts of failure, and Oprah Winfrey was born into poverty. The encouraging message from this is that anyone can make big things happen, but the question is: Are you up for the challenge?
There are a lot of questions to ask yourself about your approach to situations and your character before you decide to strike out on your own. Some are more obvious and often discussed in this context while others are not as common but equally, if not more, important.
1. Your relationship to money. When you start a business, you will be lucky if you break even in your first year. If you’re planning to make a product, that requires a large outlay of money. Service businesses might require less. However, both hold a similar risk of not getting a return on investment for several years, if ever. Are you driven by the idea of making a lot of money for yourself or of growing a business into something that generates money? If you’re stuck on that question, consider whether you’ll be uncomfortable if you’re not receiving a steady paycheck.
2. Your approach to the idea of failure. Everyone is afraid to fail, but you should clearly identify what type of failure it is that you’re afraid of. Great entrepreneurs are “afraid of failing, but they’re even more afraid of failing to try,” writes Adam Grant, professor of management and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, in a LinkedIn post. Will you regret not making an attempt? Or will you regret trying and potentially failing? That should tell you whether you’re prepared to be an entrepreneur.
3. Your outlook. No one is truly comfortable with uncertainty, but people approach it differently. We may feel excited by the prospect of not knowing what the next year will bring in life or work, or we may feel anxiety at the very thought. This is going to tell you a lot about whether you feel the need to know every answer before striking off, which is impossible. Or it will tell you how you react to disappointments, of which there will be many as a business owner.
Everyone maintains a certain degree of doubt and negativity, but you’ll need to assess if you primarily see things as opportunities or roadblocks. And if you run into those obstacles, are you going to have the stamina to go forward toward more ambiguity?
4. Your inspirations. There must be a reason behind your considering entrepreneurship. What about it excites and motivates you? For example, you may seek money, ownership or creativity — or all of those. Are you a determined person who will do whatever it takes to get something done and make something happen?
5. Your work style. This can be a hard trait to consider if you’ve always been working for someone else. If that’s true, think of an example where you have been in charge of a project, leader of a group or captain of a sports team. Do you enjoy leading the pack or being a part of the pack? Do you perform better when you are delegated to or delegating to others? A lot of people jump to the conclusion that they prefer to be in charge and tell people what to do. But you need to think about this one seriously because these are two distinctive types of people. If you aren’t sure, you need to think about it. While it’s not always the case, people who like to lead typically build more successful ventures.
6. Your nature. When you run a business, you will be doing things that you may have never expected. At least in the beginning, you are doing product or service development, marketing, writing, advertising, negotiating, sales and building relationships with clients and vendors. Do you enjoy all of these things? If not, you may need a partner who likes the things you do not. Do you like meeting new people and talking about your endeavors? You must build relationships if you want your business to succeed. Are you comfortable with outreach and with being turned down?
Jumping into entrepreneurship isn’t something to take lightly, as there are many things to consider before you do. At some point, you have to stop the questioning and business planning to take the plunge. You can’t know all the answers when you start up, but you do know yourself. You need to be honest with yourself and talk to others if necessary about these aspects of your character to decide if entrepreneurship is right for you.
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6 Character Traits to Consider Before Becoming an Entrepreneur originally appeared on usnews.com
