Become a WILDLY Successful Self Employed Entrepreneur

When can you call yourself an entrepreneur? Here’s my philosophy… you are an entrepreneur when you say you are!

There are so many discussions out in internet land on this very topic. The questions are: Is it all about mindset? Or is it when you branch out into your own business venture? Wikipedia defines an entrepreneur as an individual who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on financial risk to do so.

If you aren’t operating a business just yet, don’t worry… My belief is that you can be an entrepreneur in heart and mind while still feeling a little stuck on getting that business going. After all, if I sold my business and went into complete retirement, I would still consider myself an entrepreneur to the core, even though I wasn’t “currently” operating a business.

If this is you, then I say, “Take a risk. Own it and call yourself an entrepreneur. The sooner you just admit it, and start to do something about it, the better off you’ll be.”

The list of traits of a successful entrepreneur I’m about to share are for you, even if you’re a budding wee entrepreneur just learning to take your first few baby steps or an entrepreneurial guru racing through the land of risks, fun and adventure that is entrepreneurship. How to be a great entrepreneur will no longer be an elusive secret!

How many of these characteristics do you possess?

My Top 11 Traits of a Successful Entrepreneur

1. Limitless Imagination

Entrepreneurs are creative by nature and full of imagination. All self employed entrepreneurs possess and value imagination. The founders of google could have worked for any technology company in the world, but they saw a new way to search for things on the internet. They imagined something that didn’t exist and made it a reality (and a verb, for that matter!).

“Imagination is more important than knowledge,”

– Albert Einstein

2. Visionary Genius

This one is tough to teach. I think you can show people how to open their minds to it but then it’s up to them to see it! Any article you read on how to become a great entrepreneur will include vision on it’s list. In some cases, you could be an entrepreneur following someone else’s vision, like in the franchise or network marketing. You still need to have clarity and passion around that vision to make it your reality.

3. Invest in Yourself Daily

Top entrepreneurs read books on entrepreneurship, leadership, self-help and anything else they can get their hands on including newsletters, websites and industry publications!

Self employed entrepreneurs attend business and marketing seminars, workshops and training courses, even if they have already mastered the subject matter of the event. They do this because they know that education is an ongoing process. There are usually ways to do things better, in less time, with less effort.

In short, self employed entrepreneurs never stop investing in the most powerful, effective and best business and marketing tool at their immediate disposal–your mind!!

4. Risk + Action = Self Employed Entrepreneur Success

Swimming with sharks. Taking the highest bungee jump in the world. Running with the bulls. Speaking in front of thousands. Risk!

Entrepreneurs LOVE, or at least embrace risk. You wanna know how to be a great entrepreneur, you gotta learn to excercise your risk muscle and take subsequent action! Mitigating risk is good. Successful entrepreneurs don’t run in with guns blazing all the time. They assess the risk (with a high tolerance level for it) then they take action. Each one may have a slightly different risk meter, but when the time comes; they step out of their comfort zone and take massive action.

5. Tenacity of a Pitbull

Of all the traits of a successful entrepreneur, this may be the BIGGEST of all. They never quit. I mean NEVER quit. Things are going to look unwinnable, obstacles at every corner…. and most would throw in the towel.

Entrepreneurship can be a daunting thing! Do you have what it takes to never, never, never give up? Ever watch a pitbull play ball?

6. Constant Curiosity

True entrepreneurs can’t help but question EVERYTHING. They’re sitting at a hockey game wondering what the demographics are of the audience for marketing purposes. They’re wondering how things work and have to read up on it immediately or just take things apart to look at it. The curiosity is insatiable and drives them to ask why we keep doing things the way we do, come up with ways to do it better, faster, cheaper and take action.

7. Sales Professional

Being a great salesperson isn’t always about the “hard sell.” In fact, great entrepreneurs promote the benefits of the sale and let the service or product sell itself. Do you know how to develop your customers, present them with the right product or service at the right time, and follow up to build your business? Self employed entrepreneurs work on this one until they master it! Check out this great movie clip to see how it’s done.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2XvxDaIwCw[/youtube]

Tommy Boy was trying a little too hard, right? Struggling with this piece, then check out my list of sales books!

8. Technology and Social Media Savvy

All of the most successful entrepreneurs of recent years have used technology to their advantage, from Microsoft’s Bill Gates to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. You don’t have to invent new technology, but using tech trends to save time and increase profit can give your business a huge advantage! Ignoring technology and social media can cost you millions!

9. Unwavering Passion

You don’t have to adore every aspect of your business to be a successful entrepreneur. But it’s absolutely necessary for you to have a deep passion for making your business a success, because this passion will take you through all the crap you have to go through to make it a massive success. Your entrepreneurial journey will be unique to you but you’ll only get to your destination with unwavering passion!

10. Leadership, Leadership, Leadership

Great news is that leadership can be learned and honed and improved. 🙂 You may be thinking I’m self employed and don’t need employees to be successful. That could be true but you do need customers, vendors, team members, partners…. you will cross paths with those who you’ll need to lead so don’t push this to the wayside.

11. Work Hard, Play Hard

I bet you’re surprised to see this one on here. If you really wanna know how to become a great entrepreneur, you gotta know when to play hard and unplug! Taking time to recharge those batteries is important. True entrepreneurs know the importance of keeping that passion alive. The curious, risk-taking adventurous side of the entrepreneur can’t be neglected or it will shrivel up and die! They follow all their passions and live life to the fullest!