What are the qualities and characteristics of a good entrepreneur? What skills do you need to cultivate to be or become a good entrepreneur? How to be a good entrepreneur? The job of an entrepreneur is It requires a lot of qualities, , , and individuals. particularly demanding. knowledge know-how expertise to Yet successful entrepreneurs are not always the ones with the longest list of qualities … is more important than being excellent on one or more points. Mastering every aspect of the business Quality # 1 — Knowing yourself. To know oneself well is to know one’s qualities but also one’s faults. It is also, in a given situation, to be able to question oneself, to accept that one is not at the level and to look for other solutions. It is to recognize that one does not control everything. the entrepreneur can make a skills assessment or rework his CV. In order to better understand his strengths and weaknesses, In any case, he will have to ask the following questions: What can I do well? How am I doing? What do I know less well? What repels me, and why? What are the main criticisms addressed to me? What qualities does my environment recognize in me? What makes me vulnerable? What made me fail or feel bad about my past jobs? The key to success is actually looking for solutions to get around your own weaknesses. Having faults is not really a problem in itself. The management of the papers discourages me: why not to call an independent administrative secretary half a day a week? I do not control the internet well: why not ask a friend to manage the communication online? I do not control the production: why not appeal to a subcontractor? Knowing how to surround oneself, looking for partners or training are solutions. Quality # 2 — Knowing how to listen to others To make the right decisions, to offer the right product in the right place and at the right time, the future entrepreneur must listen, be interested in others, learn about them and their “special interest”. Putting oneself in the place of others to understand their behavior and their speech is essential, it requires a certain openness of mind: one must know their expectations, their behavior, their characteristics. The most complicated will be to access the client’s deep thought, his or her essential motivations, The customers: they can sometimes give good indications on the market, but also bad for you to buy products that they cannot sell; it will be necessary to decipher their language, Suppliers and salespeople: you have to put yourself in their place and try to understand why they act as they do on the market, Competitors: these are people who talk about your business and are likely to bring you, customers. It’s important to understand why they agree to play this game and what they expect in return. Start providing to students for schools or colleges, offer internships, training, etc. they can spread good reviews, also you and your business will get recognized. Prescribers, and partners: recommendation letters it is interesting to ask them their opinion on your way of doing things. But it will be necessary to sort out what, in their speech, is relevant or not. All will certainly not be good to take. Relatives: Knowing others well can what is the share of true and false in what they say, the share of the bluff, the share of irrational? What interest do they have in distorting the truth? decipher their speech: Quality # 3 — Belief in yourself, but not too much. For this, he must know himself well (see point 1) and know the others well to retain the relevant part of their speech (see the previous point). To succeed, the entrepreneur must believe a minimum in himself. it is acquired based on past experiences, failures, and successes. Sufficient trust will allow the entrepreneur to dare to realize his idea, to win against others and to create his place among the competitors. On the contrary, a weak self-confidence will be a hindrance to the decision. Self-confidence is not something innate, too much confidence can lead the entrepreneur to no longer listen to the environment and his entourage, and to rush into the wall … But beware, self-confidence is double-edged: Quality # 4 — Have a strategic vision. To have a strategic vision is to be able to It is to be stable in his ideas, unlike someone who would change his mind all the time. define a long-term strategy (at least 5 years) and stick to it. The stability of the commercial positioning is customers, partners, specifiers, the entourage … This will encourage them to call on you more often. reassuring for everyone: But stability does not mean that everything must always remain frozen. The entrepreneur must feel the right moment to evolve his strategy and positioning, without sending a negative signal. smoothly, Quality # 5 — Stay lucid in all circumstances. Review his assumptions if they are not realistic. Accept the numbers as they appear. Change strategy if it does not give satisfaction, even if you pay the price. Have the courage to decide to stop production if it is not profitable, even if significant investments have been made. Mourning an idea that is not as good as expected. To remain lucid is to accept to face reality. To remain lucid is to keep in mind that It is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. the number one objective remains to live on. (speech of the entourage, partners, customers) and validate or invalidate them by seeking additional information. It’s literally The only way to remain realistic is to listen to the signals of the environment “pinpointing” the situation. To remain lucid therefore is to be constantly well informed, so as not to “dream”, neither to react nor to be afraid. Quality # 6 — Be passionate, without exaggeration. Being passionate about your business creation project or product is a good thing because it’s the But so avoid being led and overflowing by it, at the risk of waking up one morning wanting to stop everything. main source of motivation. passion always ends up, Passion has another disadvantage: It masks the reality, the real problems and the motives of the malaise of the entrepreneur. A passionate entrepreneur will focus on his dream rather than the customer’s dream … a serious mistake. it is blinding. Passion is interesting if it turns into It should not overshadow the usefulness of true listening to the consumer, and therefore lasting pleasure at work, and if it is turned towards others. well-conducted market research. Quality # 7 — Be perseverant … so patient. for a business creator or entrepreneur. These qualities are unfortunately often absent at the start, the leader being too passionate, motivated and in a hurry to fight. Perseverance and patience are essential qualities The entrepreneur must start from the premise that Who can think that a clientele can be built in a few weeks? Some activities may take several years to build a more or less stable clientele. the seed takes time to germinate. Lack of patience leads to On the contrary, the persevering entrepreneur will start cautiously, listen to the signals of his environment, adapt gradually and consider each sale as a positive and encouraging signal. discouragement and a form of disillusionment. Quality # 8 — Being resourceful. this is a healthy quality for a business leader. Never be short of ideas or tools, You have to assume that there is a solution to any problem, Faced with a blockage or a , turnover, development, personnel, production or logistics, someone can help you, advise you or present you with interesting tools. just go get it. difficulty in cash Pick up your phone, activate your network, ask your entourage, ask that we put you in contact. Our economic fabric offers specialists exist in all areas, creators have devised tools for all situations, entrepreneur associations are also there to help you. The Internet is a particularly effective way to identify them (and this site too!). a considerable number of solutions and opportunities: Quality # 9 — Be ready for commercial effort. A good business leader knows that the key to success lies in the The rule is clear: an executive must spend looking for customers or to be in touch with customers. business effort he will lead. 80% of his time There is no point in spending time doing forecast tables or sales growth charts, the priority is going to the field. Yet many business creators consider them to be bad traders and would like to leave this ungrateful job to others, such as commercial agents. But the bestseller turns out to be the leader himself! Quality # 10 — Know how to surround yourself and get help. And yet, there are many who feel they have to do everything, including housekeeping and bookkeeping, to avoid having to hire or just to save money. It’s a miscalculation. Which entrepreneur can think that he can do everything alone? those that generate revenue and that makes The other tasks can be subcontracted: a can keep the accounts, an independent secretary can manage administrative and commercial documents, a cleaning company can intervene punctually. In reality, the key is to keep for yourself the tasks that are strategic, the value of the business. chartered accountant If their heart of the company’s strategy is the marketing and the valorization of a product, the leader will have to devote itself to the commercial aspects and communication, even if to subcontract the production. Quality # 11 — Knowing how to manage priorities. The life of a business executive is a sum of various tasks and responsibilities: relationships with customers and partners, relations with the accountant and the administrations, opening of the mail, management of the treasury, telephone, displacements, passage of orders, receipt of goods, management of unpaid bills and claims, etc. Knowing how to manage priorities consists in not being overwhelmed by everyday life. The objective is to establish a being lucid on the urgency of some files, without forgetting the essential: to keep good hygiene of life, to take care of his family, to know how to say no, to know to get help. Why not acquire tools to automate the least productive tasks? hierarchy between the things to do, Of course, the ideal is to never put off what you can do the same day. Quality # 12 — To know how to decide, to decide. most often not afraid to make a mistake. For example for hiring an employee, changing status or acquiring a machine. Many business leaders are afraid to make decisions, This behavior and can discourage the leader by sending him a bad image of himself. hampers the development of the company To be able to make the right decision, it is necessary to multiply the points of view: to ask the opinion to his confreres, his partners, his suppliers, his accountant or even to his friends. They will certainly have more perspective and their speech will “illuminate” the situation by defusing fears of departure. But it is the lack of information that introduces doubt and fear. Quality # 13 — Know how to manage your time. How long does a business manager have to work a day or a week? Where should he start his day or week? When can he go on vacation? There is no ready answer to these questions. Faced with an incalculable number of tasks and responsibilities, the leader must especially short go to the essential. The implementation of IT tools can automate certain tasks (reminders payment, mailing, bank reconciliation … Excel training is sometimes welcome). gain in productivity and efficiency, in The worst thing for a business owner is having having no time to do anything. This impression can come from difficulty in prioritizing priorities (see point 11), or from too many unlisted tasks that run in the mind of the entrepreneur as long as they are not processed. the feeling of “suffering”, He must rest the mind of the ruler; the latter can also make a punctual assessment of the time spent on the various tasks in order to learn from them. The agenda remains the best ally of the entrepreneur. Quality # 14 — Knowing how to manage money In business, managing money means above all controlling your cash flow. The treasury is the daily judge of the head of the enterprise: the problems of cash will gradually nibble the morale of the entrepreneur until it stops. On the contrary, a comfortable cash flow will overpower the manager. Managing your cash flow requires It also requires to know where the money problems come from (the problem of profitability, increasing ?). rigor, anticipation, and composure. analytical skills, working capital requirement To avoid getting overwhelmed by money problems, the leader will have to implement appropriate computer tools, seek advice from his accountant, and play cards on the table with his financial advisor. Quality # 15 — Know how to manage risks. The environment is constantly evolving: the appearance of competitors, the evolution of regulations, cyclical or geographical risks, risks related to employees or their entourage, changing weather, economic or social crisis, the appearance of new trends, technological revolution … The risks are numerous. The life of a company is never stable and nothing is ever acquired. A good entrepreneur needs to put in place a risk management strategy: .First of all, we must anticipate and the risks in order to anticipate the most critical situations. list Then there is a need to risks, from the most important to the least important. prioritize Then you have to each risk. treat Can the risk be if it happens? circumvented Can we certain risks? What information do I miss to be able to properly deal with this or that? relativize or accept Are there for dealing with a particular risk? What is the cost? Is it possible to pool these costs with partners or competitors? tools or solutions Better to anticipate! Quality # 16 — Be opportunistic. In concrete terms, this means that he must analyze and seize every opportunity to do better than he does today. A good leader has an opportunist side. Being opportunistic means being to changes in the market and the environment. This requires being always well informed, connected to trends, and in constant contact with industry professionals. press or specialized websites, events or conferences, alert systems (Google Alerts for example) … or just word of mouth. curious and open Tools exist for this: Being opportunistic, however, does not mean abandoning one’s strategy abruptly to adopt another. An opportunity must be tested and analyzed before anything else. Quality # 17 — Love to be of service Any business owner should as it is, in fact, his core business. It is also a key success factor because if the customer feels that he is loved for himself and not for his wallet, he will come back more easily. take pleasure in rendering service, To love to serve also A caring and attentive business leader will be more enduring as more satisfied with everyday life. saves money at work. Quality # 18 — Ability to negotiate and measure a balance of power. A potential customer offers to order you for 20 000$ of products, against a reduction of the price of 40%. If you agree, you cross over a large part of the margin. If you refuse, you miss a nice command … What to do? it is necessary to gather as much information as possible on the other part: what are the motivations of the potential customer? with whom am I competing? Is the customer in a hurry? is he used to negotiating this way? why is he negotiating so hard? what is the share of bluff? To negotiate well in this type of situation, To negotiate well means Keep in mind that quality always has a price. Highlight your strengths, do not devalue yourself. Offer additional services rather than lower prices. being sure of yourself and the quality of your product or service. Quality # 19 — Do not be afraid of failure. The most important thing is to understand what did not work, to do better next time. Some business creators have failed several times before they succeed, and no one has been careful with them. To fail is not a shame! Quality # 20 — Be supported. Support from family and friends is particularly important for the success of a business project. it is by explaining his project precisely to his spouse or his children, or by associating them concretely, that they will be able to join and really support it. This requires, first of all, to look for and cultivate this support: The entrepreneur who abandons his family and his children should not expect to receive any support from them … Then, to be supported, it deserves.
