Nine Traits of Entrepreneur

Nine Traits of Entrepreneur

Integrity and Reliability

An entrepreneur’s integrity and reliability are crucial factors to success. These two attributes established good personal and business relationships among partners, investor, creditors and customers.

Integrity is an uncompromising adherence to doing what is right and proper or a “fine sense of one’s obligation”. The entrepreneurial experience is far more fulfilling when the entrepreneur understands that the core purpose of the business is to create value for interested customers. It is clear that relationships are critical and integrity is essential to success. An entrepreneur has to know that money is important, but it cannot be the only goal of interest. Excessive focus on financial gain can quickly lead to distortions in business behavior, it certainly is the root that cause of many ethical failings. While reliability is the ability of a system or person to perform, control and also maintain its functions in routine situation as well as unexpected or hostile situation.

For example, Sam Walton who was known as be the industrious had a burning ambition to succeed and always try to get the most out of money. Sam Walton’s book ‘My story’ that made in America has shown that evident. Besides that, he was also a hardworking person who helped his family through his depression, to start his own business from zero. He had changed the field of management for ever. He has the traits of entrepreneurship which is integrity and reliable. Referring to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits bribing foreign officials, Walton said, "Acting with integrity is not a negotiable part of this business. It is our business; we will not tolerate violations of the FCPA or ethical wrongdoing of any kind". Besides that, Walton also emphasize that "if you work for Wal-Mart, there is no grey area between right and wrong. It's either the right thing to do, or it shouldn't be done at all."

Initiative

Next, initiative is the ability to assess and initiate things independently. Initiative is essential to growing a successful business. An entrepreneur must have initiative to seek personal responsibility for actions and use available resources for optimization of objectives. An entrepreneur with initiative is also proactive, knowing the next thing they need to do to start or grow their business. Initiative is important as it will encourage them to identify and seek for opportunities to grow their business from time to time. Therefore, a successful entrepreneur should possess this trait to overcome the changes of business environment.

In 1990, she took initiative to invent a new product and developed the prototype of her Miracle Mop. At first, Joy Mangano was frustrated with the ordinary household mops as she found that they do not last very long and users have to bend down to wring the mops out. So, she discovered a big invention, Miracle Mop which is a plastic mop with easy-to-grip handles that allows the users to easily squeeze the mops without causing their hands wet.

       Initially, she manufactured 100 units of Miracle Mops with her own savings and investments from her parents and friends. Then, she approached to QVC which is a cable television shopping network. They were reluctant to buy 1,000 mops from Joy Mangano on consignment and told her that they actually do not sell mops. Joy Mangano refused to take back the mops when QVC wanted to return the remaining mops. In return, Joy Mangano took an initiative to ask them to let her go on the air to demonstrate by herself about the mops. Finally, she was able to sell 18,000 mops in 20 minutes.

      In conclusion, the initiative trait has led Joy Mangano to success. She seeks opportunities from time to time to expand her business. Finally, her company was successfully selling $10 million worth of Miracle Mop per year.

Versatility                                                                                                 

Versatility means the ability and capable to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities. A versatile entrepreneur will open doors to various opportunities compared to those who aren’t. Besides, a versatile entrepreneur can also be considered as an entrepreneur who can learn about cultures and languages to communicate with customers. This is because it can help to build a strong business relation with clients. 

Luisa Todini is an example of versatile entrepreneur. She is the board of directors of RAI. She also is an Italian national TV and radio corporation. She becomes an Italian entrepreneur well-known in Italy and abroad also. Luisa is a former member of the European Parliament and President of Leonardo Committee. Her target is to promote the image of “Made in Italy” in the world. The members of the Committee include artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, intellectuals. They are supported by National Institutions to promote Italian companies abroad.

The aims of Leonardo Committee are encouraging foreign investments and try to eliminate the urgency to help Italy entrepreneurs who are obliged to close their business because of the crisis. Luisa Todini is a versatile entrepreneur as she is able to change and adapt many different functions in her life. 

Decisive

Decisive is a trait that shows the ability to make decisions quickly and effectively. Being decisive is making the right decision at the right time for the right reasons.  From the strength of a decision, you have the ability to act. So, undoubtedly, decisive is an important traits for entrepreneurial success.

In rapid-growth businesses, entrepreneurs do not have the luxury of time, nor have the luxury of sufficient decision-support information. Getting stuck in analysis paralysis is a business killer. Being able to decide on a course of action, often with limited data, is what make the entrepreneurs successful. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to be able to make frequent decision and take decisive action despite of all uncertainties.  With limited data, entrepreneurs must trust their own instinct and understand that they might fall but they can always recover and correct their mistakes.

Tan Sri Dato Seri Lim Goh Tong was a successful entrepreneur that shows decisive trait. He was a successful wealthy Malaysian Chinese businessman. He was prominent for his vision and courage in transforming Genting Highlands from an unexplored hilltop into one of the world's most successful casino resorts. With a net worth of US$4.2 billion, he was once the richest man in Malaysia.

 When Lim realized that the standard of living rose steadily in Malaysia, more people would prefer to visit mountain resorts for relaxation and recreation after their hectic and busy life, so he decided to build a mountain resort. After doing some research, Lim found that Gunung Ulu Kali at Genting Sempah is an ideal location to build a mountain resort. Firstly, he formed an expedition and started to explore the place. Then, he collected the data on the topography, drainage, soil conditions and other relevant aspects of the region. All the data were very useful in drawing up plans for developing the resort.

At first, many naysayers were skeptical of his decision to turn an unexplored hilltop into a tourist resort upon conceiving this idea. They thought that the idea was really risky and he was foolish to invest large sum of money and time to develop Genting. However, Lim completely disregard all these objections and went ahead with his plan and decision.

With this decisive trait, Lim Goh Tong had successfully made his decision to turn an unexplored hilltop to become a tourist resort regardless of what and how people say. Finally, Lim’s decision is proved to be right as Genting Highlands appears as one of the most successful Casino resorts in the world and one of the primary tourist attractions in Malaysia that attract nearly 20 million tourists yearly.

Time Competence

           Time competence rates in training scenarios are something that are very delicate and also must be watched closely. It is the measure of time spent converting an untrained or group to a one capable of applying the subject matter practically in the workplace with confidence. Obviously, in most cases, time competence rates will therefore have pretty big base numbers, so you have to think on larger digits with lower values. Once you factor this in, determine when the units are too big on upper bound by comparing similar cases studies of successes and failures.

               

             The story of Alibaba indicates a probable example of how a small start-up company can eventually make it huge in the global economy through the Internet in a quick time. This case study discusses the strategies carried out by the firm, and also in the process culls out the important lessons that can guide start-up and aspiring entrepreneurs in the complex world of online trading. The founder of Alibaba company, Jack Ma had successfully using his strength which is time competence to transformed itself over the years, adapting to the changes in and the demands of online business-to business (B2B) commerce. Jack Ma also enhance the power of networking in B2B marketplaces. The company also creating and maximizing a “network effect” that can help attract users and expand business. This can be proved that the number of users in Alibaba (international and China) made the platform the most visited website in the world in two business categories- “E-Commerce” and “International Business and Trade” – based on user traffic for the three months ending on June 30, 2007. Besides that, Jack Ma focusing on the SMEs which is an effective strategy. This is based on the old saying, “There is strength in numbers”. Jack Ma using the time competence by focusing on small businesses that would otherwise be left on their own, the company has created a solid “institution” that genuinely appreciates the situation of SMEs. Jack Ma had competence the time wisely. He knows when is the most suitable time to launch his B2B commerce, and always be alert with the changes.

Perceptiveness

A perceptive entrepreneur can detect and know which ideas are most likely to succeed in him/her life. The entrepreneur who is perceptive able to sense the time when the “window of opportunity” may be opening. In addition, perceptiveness means knows the way to guide or control a business by keeping an eye on political and also economic developments.

Examples of perceptive entrepreneur are media mogul named Ted Turner and hedge-fund manager named John Paulson. They demonstrate that become a successful entrepreneur should being alert to and aware of business opportunities that may arise. Both Turner and Paulson were perceptive because they have the ability in identifying a business gap as it emerged and then decided to act or response on it.

Jeff Bezos also is an example of perceptive entrepreneur. Jeff is able to sense the opportunity early. He sold books through Internet because he can sense the opportunity. Selling by Internet gave Amazon.com a two-year head start over Barnes & Noble. Therefore, Amazon.com was successfully doing eight times the Internet sales of Barnes & Noble in 1998.

Ability to Learn From Mistakes

For a successful entrepreneur, failure is just a stepping stone towards success. A successful entrepreneur must understand that failure is just a part of the game. After that, they must use every failure and every mistake that they make as a learning experience. They must learn from every mistakes and each of these instances can become an opportunity of him/her to become stronger and emerge better in life.

Nick Woodman is one of the entrepreneur who failed during start-ups and able to learn from mistakes. Nick wasn't born a billionaire. He was a “B student” during college. Since he was a student, he is also an avid surfer. He is not interested in studying so he often spend times interfered with his studies.

During the crazed dotcom bubble of 2000, he failed in great style with two online start-ups. However, he is successfully creating the now wildly brand of wearable cameras – GoPro. He cleared his head by going on surf and a long trip after losing the second company. Once he came back, he started to work on a prototype for a camera which can be used by every athlete which us named by “GoPro”.

He said he was so afraid that GoPro will also go away like Funbug and he felt so scared that he will fail again that he was totally committed to success.

Only this time, he becomes a successful entrepreneur. GoPro makes him become one of the youngest billionaire in the world. Now, he is the owner of the fastest-growing camera company in America. Nick Woodman is a good example of entrepreneur which is facing the failure at the start-ups and learns from mistakes. If Nick doesn’t able to learn from mistakes, he won’t be a successful entrepreneur now.

Ethical Consciousness

             Consciousness is the quality or state of awareness, or of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. It has been defined as: awareness, subjectivity, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind. Ethical consciousness is one of the personalities where the person is pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right or wrong in conduct.

           

          As we know, Bill Gates is the Co-Founder of the Microsoft Corporation. He is a good example of an ethical consciousness entrepreneur. In just 25 years, he built a two-man operation into a multibillion dollar colossus and he had made himself the wealthiest man in the world. Actually he accomplished this feat not by inventing new technology, but is taking existing technology, adapting it to a specific market, and then dominating that market innovative promotion and cunning business savvy. In other side, Bill Gates actually is very much interested in doing favor for poor people. He establishes the world’s biggest foundation trust for the charity known as Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is focusing on eliminating disease and helping children’ causes.

           Bill Gates is donating his vast fortune in billion dollar chunks, but this prodigious rate of giving is still not enough to stop Microsoft’s founder from being called s wealthiest person in the world. He has transferred his position to Mr. Steve Ballmer in 2006 so that he can concentrate in charity needs. This shows that Bill Gates is an ethical person, because most of the people would not give up their powers to others and he is also the person with philosophy of giving back to community. He comes forward to help the poor instead of keep all his assets by himself. He had stated that “I am not use money, this is God’s work”, in one of the interview.

              The company’s employees were the sole responsible to compile and understand the business standards. They also have some responsibilities to increase obedience and moral concerns through the established. This existing ethical quality of Microsoft’s Founder motivates other firms. This can be showed that his employees having interests and focusing on contributing their properties with Bill & Gates Foundation for charity purposes. Although Bill Gates is a well-known person for Microsoft, his ethical practices helped to create the brand image of the product and the customers. In conclusion, Bill Gates is the role models for other leaders.

Foresight

Foresight is an action-oriented systematic process that should integrate all types of foresight such as research, technology, competitive, consumers’ foresight at a corporate level. Therefore, this process is not only about the study of the past or current plans and future predictions within a company. These are the only related processes that can help to integrate strategic business processes through consecutive systematic actions in different areas. But these systematic efforts must create anticipative intelligence and functional networks that will enable a company to benefit from the future. These are also as a very important characteristic to an entrepreneur.

            Knowledge or sound judgments into a future situation that may or may not be happen. Through the past experiences with similar event, current knowledge, or simply through intuition, a person can develop a sense of foresight of course they are always looking for opportunities to improve. As an entrepreneur, he or she has to realize that every event or situation is a business opportunity, and has to constantly generating new and innovative ideas. Obviously, the ability of an entrepreneur is to attention at everything around her or him and focuses it toward their goals in an effort to improve and maintain their business. Besides that, ‘Foresight involves extracting the theme from a series of events before they completely unfold, and it is a great advantage in life,” says Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science.

            A person with foresight doesn’t have to experience the entire series of events to know what is likely to happen. In other words, a person can make a best forecast with the evidence available being incomplete. This is seemed like to fly in the face of conventional management wisdom and the most important thing is the call for hard data.

               

            Let take Steve Job’s incredible foresight as an example. Guy Kawasaki once said that trying to understand Steve Jobs is like a bird trying to explain to a fish what it feels like to fly. “He’s on a completely different operating system.” Not only does he continue to introduce revolutionary products ahead of their time, but he also has no problems scrapping technology that he feels is on it death bed. A great example of this is the iPad. You’ve likely heard of him speak of a future where we will carry around tablet computers and speak to our house, in the interview with Bill Gates in the last 10 years. That may be true in Bill’s house, but it sure isn’t reality for Microsoft users yet.