“Do I have what it takes to be a successful business owner?” This is probably the most frequent question asked by would-be entrepreneurs. They want to become independent and be in complete control of their future and their family’s prosperity. They have a business idea and, possibly, the start-up capital necessary for it. But they need just one more assurance that they can make it in the world of entrepreneurship.
In truth, no one can give a definite answer and a foolproof guarantee of success. Some people start from scratch and build a large and successful business. Others take a successful business and drive it towards ruin. However, what we can definitely say is that all successful business owners have a set of characteristics and skills in common.
We conducted a piece of research in this respect and refined it to home-based business owners. This is what we found as the most definitive traits which make a successful home-based business owner:
1. Self-Reliant
A successful home-based business owner is first and foremost the kind of person who looks at their two hands when looking for help. You do not count on outside assistance and support and are always self motivated to solve problems. Instead of blaming negative circumstances and lack of support, you look at a situation and ask: “What can I do to fix this?”
In time, as your business grows, it is all right to rely on others to help you grow it into a large and strong company. But at the very beginning you must be a one-man show and you must understand and accept all the hardships and responsibilities which come with it.
2. Passionate
You cannot be a good entrepreneur if you don’t put passion in everything you do. If you are only opening a business because you heard that there is good money to be made in the respective niche, you will never succeed. Without passion you cannot come up with creative ideas for your marketing plan or for developing innovative products. Every hour spent working will feel like a burden.
Passionate people believe in their business idea, believe that it is great and exciting and will be useful to people. Their marketing messages are genuine because they come from their true belief. The way they engage customers feels real because they do care about their customers’ satisfaction.
3. Resilient
Running a business is not a bed of roses. It has its thorny moments, when you are not getting the results you are expecting. There is always an unhappy customer who writes a bad review about your business, and a marketing campaign which does not produce the estimated results. But a dedicated entrepreneur can go through these days and situations and not lose their dedication and motivation to continue running their business.
4. Proactive
Most employed people are reactive. The boss is mad at them so they try to fix a situation. They nearly lost a client and now scramble to salvage the situation. They had other things to do while a negative situation grew more and more serious and they want to stop it at the last minute.
This is a luxury that home-based business owners do not have. They cannot afford to be reactive. They are proactive. They are the boss and they start changing a situation before it becomes a problem. They try to keep clients happy and do not wait until they become unhappy to win them back. They notice the potential negative situation arising in the future and make adjustments so it does not happen at all.
5. Always Learning
Home-based business owners can never sit back and relax, admiring their achievements and skills. There is something new to be learned every day. New software and applications are launched and they need to know how to use them. Social media changes and they have to know how to engage their audience and plan their ad campaigns by the new rules. Customers’ demands change and they need to learn how to satisfy them.
This is, in short, what characterizes a successful home-based business owner. They are all regular people, like you and me. But they have the drive and the courage to see the world differently and try to change it for the better. Are you one of these people?