4 Characteristics of Successful Business Owners

It takes a certain type of unique, iron-clad grit and tenacity to be a business owner.

This is because entrepreneurs face very low odds of succeeding compared to an employee: In fact up to 90% of start-ups will fail according to Forbes.com.

So what is it that the 10% of successful business owners are doing to set them apart from the rest?

Here are 4 characteristics of successful business owners:

They get mentors

Oprah has one. Bill gates has one. Mentors can double the chance of a company staying in business past 5 years.

Why?

Because good mentors are current or previous entrepreneurs who have years of experience so they can help you avoid typical pitfalls in a business, give you advice about how to be more successful and keep your levels of motivation up when you’ve hit a barrier.

Next step: Google mastermind groups, or mentorship organizations in your area, and find a mentor who can help you through your entrepreneurship journey.

They have business plans

Harvard business did an interesting study where they surveyed members of an MBA graduate class about goal setting.

They found that 84% of the entire class had set no goals at all. 13% of the class had set written goals but had no concrete plans. 3% of the class had both written goals and concrete plans.

10 years later, the 13% of the class that had set written goals but had not created plans, were making twice as much money as the 84% of the class that had set no goals at all.

So why does goal setting work? Goal setting in the form of a business plan leads our brains to focus on concrete results we want to achieve instead of wasting time in processes that don’t create results. This way you can focus your time on productivity, not being busy. When we reach goals we also receive a dopamine hit in our brain which makes us feel good and gives us motivation to move onto the next goal.

Next step: Create a free business plan using websites such as Futurpreneur.

They delegate tasks

Good entrepreneurs realize where their weaknesses lie and delegate tasks they aren’t good at. For example if an entrepreneur sucks at accounting and has the budget, she can assign tasks to a cloud accountant such as BDG. This leaves the entrepreneur time to work on things she is good at.

Another way to delegate tasks is to partner with people who have opposing skills to you. This way you can each take care of your area of the business, and can keep each other motivated.

Next steps: Write down a list of three things you hate doing or are bad at and see if you can delegate them using apps such as taskrabbit or elance.

They are tenacious

Entrepreneurs need to get back up after being knocked down various times through their business journey. This can be draining especially if you find it difficult to take risks, or strongly value security.

One way many entrepreneurs stay mentally strong through challenges is by having habits they do everyday such as meditating, exercising or playing a sport.

For example Mark Wahlberg, actor, and co-owner of Wahlburgers, a burger restaurant in America and Canada has a daily routine where he works out for 1 hour and 35 minutes and plays golf for 30 minutes every morning.

When you intentionally create stability in one area of your life it can help you stay strong in other areas that are uncertain.

Next steps: Create a trigger that will help you create a daily routine. For example if you want to work out every morning, place your workout outfit by your bed so that it’s the first thing you see when you wake up.

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