东北乔四爷

What are the key success factors that make an entrepreneur become a successful entrepreneur? I will share one list of the most critical entrepreneurial key success factors.

This is a subject of research and analysis of many professionals and institutions. It is possible that we cannot expect to have a person with all characteristics that will make him a successful entrepreneur. But, the combination of the most important factors can help you to build and manage a successful business.

If you want 87 tips and recommendation to become an entrepreneur, you can find them in the post title as how to become an entrepreneur.

The entrepreneurial key success factors or characteristics of a successful entrepreneur that will be presented here are based on my research before several years in which I have included more than a hundred entrepreneurs.

Now, let’s continue with the main subject of this post.

15 Entrepreneurial Key Success Factors

The most critical and most important key success factors that can make an entrepreneur become a successful entrepreneur are:

1. Willingness to take action. This is the first and most important factor for “would be” and current entrepreneurs. All other entrepreneurial key success factors, are not necessary if you are a person who afraid to take real action. Actions are something that can lead you to the success. Without actions, you can’t expect to become a successful business owner. Sorry, it is a fact!
2. Entrepreneurial knowledge. Entrepreneurs are persons who must have superior knowledge about specific business issues for the business that they have started. Your knowledge will increase your business potential energy and in large part will contribute to the success of your company.
3. Entrepreneurial creativity. You must be a creative person if you want to be unique enough and with the power of continuous improvement in your business. The creativity will increase your business potential energy that will bring many possibilities for your company.
4. Entrepreneurial skills. Each entrepreneur and each business will need different entrepreneurial skills that in some cases can be crucial to the success of their companies. If you have the knowledge, but you don’t have skills that can be covered only through implementation of what you have learned, you can’t expect that you are close to the success. As you can see, you will have skills if you take action, implementing what you have learned.
5. Entrepreneurial intelligence. You must be intelligent to manage all possible situations and solve the hardest problems that will be the most consistent thing in your business life. Your intelligence will additionally bring uniqueness to your company because it is something that can’t be copied from others.
6. Patience. You must be patient and ready to continue even you lose the first battle. It is important because the war is still not finished. This is only the beginning of your journey as an entrepreneur. You need to understand that your entrepreneurial journey isn’t an easy journey from A to B.
7. Persistence. Persistence is simply a refusal to give up for something, or ability to keep your actions against your personal feelings that you’re not ready for these actions. Feelings and motivation didn’t produce results. The action is something that will provide the results you want to achieve. So, remove your feelings that pulled you back, and with the whole power continue on your journey.
8. The ability for teamwork. Nobody can achieve anything alone so, this is also true for you as an entrepreneur. You are not a “Superman.” As an entrepreneur, you must be a team player for your own and your business success.
9. Risk taking, but calculated risk. This is indeed one of the most critical questions: Are entrepreneurs taking enough risk? Yes, each business startup is at some level risky. However, more important is how a successful entrepreneur takes a risk? The word calculated risk is the most appropriate word for this characteristic. You need to use risk management principles if you want to succeed.
10. The self-confidence as a key success factor. Self-confidence is a significant and key success factor for entrepreneurs. I think that nobody will become an entrepreneur if he doesn’t have self-confidence in himself, primarily related to start and manage his own business.
11. To have enough experience. Sometimes experience is in a category not so required as a factor, but it is something that will increase your business potential energy. As an entrepreneur, you must employ all present and previous experience you have in the business that you are building.
12. Great talent. Talent is something inborn in an entrepreneur. But, sometimes talent is something that can be easily replaced with knowledge and skills.
13. Honesty. Honesty is vital in every case. But sometimes honesty, being real, can be the most significant enemy of an entrepreneur in some complex conditions.
14. Connections. More connection means more possibilities for building a successful business.
15. Luck. Luck is a psychological factor. Some people can say that they aren’t lucky persons. And indeed there are some “lucky people” who just accidentally found the right place at the right time with the right idea. However, it is a small percentage and cannot be included as a serious factor for success.

The key success factors on this list are sorted according to their importance to your success as an entrepreneur. So, the most important key success factor here is your ability to take action.

Why Taking Action as One of the Key Success Factors is the Most Important Factor?

First, all key success factors mentioned here without a willingness or ability to take action are some potential for you. Yes, you have knowledge or skill, but if you don’t implement them in your daily work, they are only potential for you.

We talk about your business potential energy stored inside you. This energy can and should be converted into business kinetic energy. The business kinetic energy is something which will perform the job or something that will bring results to your company. More about the business potential energy you can find in the following articles:

• What is business potential energy?
• The concept of business potential energy?
• Ten basic business elements with business potential energy
• Entrepreneurial skills – source for business potential energy

I know many people who have the knowledge and creativity, are skillful and intelligent, and persistent and patient… But these persons are not entrepreneurs. They are working for some other company or public services. They’re not entrepreneurs not because they have a lack of knowledge or they are not intelligent. They are not entrepreneurs, not because they don’t possess other characteristics of the success. They aren’t entrepreneurs because they don’t take the first step, take action to become entrepreneurs.

Therefore, in this hierarchical structure of entrepreneurial key success factors as the first characteristic or as the foundation for the success I put the ability to take action.

What Would be the Profile of a Successful Entrepreneur?

A profile of an entrepreneur – superman, would be:

Anyway, all entrepreneurial key success factors or characteristics are essential. They will increase your business potential energy, and thus the overall business potential energy.