If you’re reading this, I assume that you’re either a) an entrepreneur or b) considering becoming one. If you’re not sure what an entrepreneur is or why you should care, read on.

The Difference Between an Entrepreneur and a Businessperson

An entrepreneur is someone who creates and runs a business. In today’s world, a businessperson can be an entrepreneur; however, an entrepreneur will typically focus more on the nuts and bolts of actually bringing a product to market and less on the business planning and strategy side.

Because entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses from the ground up, they generally have a much different perspective when compared to businesspeople who may have worked for someone else or started a business with an already established market share.

Entrepreneurs tend to approach problems from a unique perspective, often coming up with innovative ideas and new ways of doing things. They’re also driven by a strong sense of what is right and wrong, and they strive to be successful regardless of the circumstances. Finally, entrepreneurs are more comfortable taking a calculated risk rather than playing it safe and playing it by the book. All of these qualities make up an entrepreneur, and they make up for a sometimes difficult job.

The 4 Most Important Traits of a Successful Entrepreneur

To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to embody these four vital personality traits:

• Visionary – Coming up with imaginative new ideas and concepts
• Passionate – Feeling an intense level of enthusiasm or interest in a subject or cause
• Resourceful – Being able to find solutions to problems
• Independent – Being comfortable operating on your own

If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to possess these four traits. Of course, the better you are at embodying these four personality traits, the better your chances are of developing a successful business.

It’s important to note that while all of these traits are important, they aren’t equally valuable. Some of them, like passion and imagination, are more difficult to develop and embody than others, like resourcefulness and independence. If you’re trying to decide which traits are essential to your success, consider the following:

Passion

This is the most important trait to consider because if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to care a great deal about your business. You can’t simply doze off while your business takes care of itself because you have more important things to do with your life than sit at a desk all day. So, if you want to be successful, you need to start caring about your business more.

That being said, you also need to be careful about your passion. If your passion for a particular subject causes you to overlook important details or make careless errors, those will inevitably cost you. For example, if you’re a chemist and you start a business in the chemical industry, it might be difficult to monitor the quality of your products because you’re so preoccupied with what you’re doing. That could lead to you producing low-quality or even dangerous products that end up hurting people or damaging the environment. So, while you want to be dedicated to your business, you also need to be aware of where your dedication might lead you.

Resourcefulness

Often, entrepreneurs have to fight for every inch of the market share they acquire. For instance, a businessperson might have a huge market share in their industry due to spending years building up expertise and good relationships with manufacturers. Then, along comes an entrepreneur who wants to sell a product that is nearly identical to the one the businessperson is already selling, and they have to fight tooth and nail to get customers.

In a case like that, the entrepreneur could be at a disadvantage because they don’t have the established relationships or the resources the businessperson does. To try to overcome that, the entrepreneur has to be much more resourceful – getting the information they need to succeed through alternative means. Sometimes, that means taking a completely different approach to marketing and finding new ways to get the word out about their product. For example, if you’re an entrepreneur who’s trying to sell your product to the car industry, you might have to search for alternative platforms like YouTube or blogs to find potential customers.

Determination

Perhaps the most important thing you need to succeed as an entrepreneur is the will to succeed. You have to be determined to reach your goals no matter how many challenges you face along the way. Just because something is difficult to do doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.

One of the best examples of this is Elon Musk. Consider that he had to create a business strategy that would allow him to survive as an independent CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company. He had to take a look at the industries his company would be operating in and carefully assess the risks. Musk did all of that while still managing to create an empire that extends from space travel to artificial intelligence. To this day, he’s still going strong, proving that even a massive overhaul won’t put a damper on your determination to succeed.

With so much effort going into your business, it’s only natural that you’ll face difficulties. That’s why it’s important to be determined to keep going. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be willing to fight for your business and not give up.

Independence

Finally, some words of advice for those who want to be independent agents or entrepreneurs: Just because you’re doing something on your own doesn’t mean that you have to do it yourself. One of the best tips for new entrepreneurs is to get help from others.

There are plenty of experts who can offer invaluable guidance and support. That way, you’ll be able to take a step back while still managing to maintain control of your business. For example, if you’re trying to create a new product but you don’t have the background or expertise to do so, you could hire some freelance engineers or scientists to help you figure it out. They could give you an independent opinion, making your business decision-making process much smoother and more effective. Sometimes, hiring someone to help you with a task that you’re not used to can be a good idea, particularly if it means getting that task done quickly and accurately. That can boost your productivity and make you much more effective.

There are plenty of examples of this in the business world. Look at what happened when Walmart decided to purchase a significant amount of goods at wholesale rates rather than going through a middleman – it cut out all the unnecessary expenses and left them with more money to spend on other areas of the business. They also bought a significant amount of equipment to streamline their operation and manufacture larger quantities of goods. That helped them increase their productivity, allow them to provide better service, and eventually make them more money.

As you can see, each of these tips can help you become a better entrepreneur. Remember that this is a challenging job, and it can be a lot of work. You’ll need to have a lot of determination, passion, resourcefulness, and independence if you want to be successful. If that’s you, then good luck out there!