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 by 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 build and manage a successful business.
If you want 87 tips and recommendations to become an entrepreneur, you can find them in the how to become an entrepreneur.
The entrepreneurial key success factors or characteristics of a successful entrepreneur presented here are based on my previous research 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 key success factors that can make an entrepreneur become a successful entrepreneur are:
1. Willingness to take action is a key success factor.
The willingness to take an entrepreneurial action 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 is afraid to take real action. Actions are something that can lead you to success. Without actions, you can’t expect to become a successful business owner. Sorry, it is a fact!
2. Entrepreneurial knowledge.
Entrepreneurs must have superior entrepreneurial knowledge about specific business issues for the business they have started. Your knowledge will increase your business potential energy and, in large part, contribute to your company’s success.
You need to learn new things. Try new things. Incorporate the new knowledge inside your daily operations. Only in such a way can you become a successful entrepreneur.
Related: Smart Skills You Will Need Now as an Entrepreneur
3. Entrepreneurial creativity as a key success factor.
You must be a creative person if you want to be unique enough. With the power of creativity and continuous improvement in your business, you will become close to success. Creativity will increase your business’s potential energy, bringing many possibilities for your company.
4. Entrepreneurial skills.
Each entrepreneur and 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 you can cover only by implementing what you have learned, you can’t expect that you will come to success. As you can see, you will have skills if you take action or implement everything that you have learned somehow.
5. Entrepreneurial intelligence.
You must be intelligent to manage all possible situations and solve the most complex problems that will be the most consistent thing in your business life.
Your intelligence will also bring uniqueness to your company because competitors can’t copy it easily.
6. Patience is a key success factor.
You must be patient and ready to continue even if 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 on something or the ability to keep your actions against your personal feelings that you’re not ready for these actions.
Related: 9 Self-Management Skills and How to Improve Them
Feelings and motivation didn’t produce results. The action is something that will provide the results you want to achieve. So, remove the feelings that pulled you back, and with your full power, continue on your journey.
Related: Uncovering the Psychologists’ Theories of Motivation: What Drives Human Behavior?
8. The ability for teamwork.
Nobody can achieve anything alone, so this is 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’s success.
9. Risk-taking, but a calculated risk.
One of the most critical questions is: 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.
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Financial Risk
10. Self-confidence is a key success factor.
Self-confidence is a significant and key success factor for entrepreneurs. Nobody will become an entrepreneur if he doesn’t have self-confidence, primarily related to starting and managing his own business.
How can you expect customers to believe you if you are not a self-confident person who believes in yourself? Insecurity is your biggest enemy.
✋ Warning
Here are some strong sources of insecurity and signs that will tell you that you feel insecure about your small business.
11. Having enough experience.
Sometimes experience is in a category not so required as a factor, but it will increase your business potential energy. As an entrepreneur, you must employ all present and previous experience in the business 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. So, it is crucial, but it cannot guarantee success if you don’t add 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. Building connections through networking can help you to become a successful entrepreneur.
15. Luck.
I do not believe in luck to achieve some success, but still, some people think that they were lucky enough to build a successful business.
Luck is a psychological factor. Some people can say that they aren’t lucky people. And indeed, some “lucky people” just accidentally found themselves in 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 critical success factor here is your ability to take action.
Why is Taking Action a Key and Most Important Success Factor?
First, all key success factors mentioned here without a willingness or ability to take action are only potential for you. Yes, you have knowledge or skills, but they are only potential energy if you don’t implement them in your daily work.
We talk about your business’s potential energy stored inside you. This energy can and should be converted into business kinetic energy. The business kinetic energy 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
All key success factors are important, but none of these factors will make you become a successful entrepreneur if you don’t take appropriate action. For example, knowledge and creativity can’t help you to become a successful entrepreneur if you don’t take the first step to start your business.
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 lack knowledge or they are not intelligent. Also, they are not entrepreneurs, not because they don’t possess other characteristics of 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 factor or as the foundation for 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:
✋ Warning
A person who is ready to take action and build on personal knowledge and creativity while combining skills and intelligence. Additionally, these persons are patient and persistent persons. They can work in teams and take risks, but not any risks. They have self-confidence and experience, while they are honest, sometimes lucky, and they have excellent connections that can help them do business better.
Anyway, all entrepreneurial key success factors or characteristics are essential. They will increase your business potential energy and thus the overall business potential energy.
