The views expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their very own.
What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur? I used to be recently asked this query in the leadership podcast. I got here up with a few bullet points and shared what I consider to be the ideal qualities of somebody who wants to start or run a business.
As I reflected on my answers, I used to be also reminded that entrepreneurial success isn’t determined by a single set of traits or founder profile. Compare Jeff Bezos’ drive for innovation and transformation, for example, to Oprah Winfrey’s networking and community orientation. These entrepreneurs who became global moguls have very different traits, shaped by unique life trajectories and worldviews. Yours can be unique, too.
So, to run your enterprise effectively, it doesn’t matter so much what exactly those characteristics are. What matters is that your values—essentially your morals—take shape in your virtues—essentially your best practices. When these two frameworks align, you gain acceptance from your peers and customers, which leads to growth and goodwill.
Self-confidence
One of my core values is self-confidence. This means having the belief that irrespective of what I face, I’ll find a way to get through it, whether or not it’s in my skilled or personal life. This value was instilled in me early on.
When I used to be five, my family and I were expelled from the Congo (then Zaire) for being East Indians. We traveled to Toronto with only the clothes on our backs. But just a few months later, my father died, leaving my mother to work for the first time in her life and raise my two sisters and me alone. Acculturating to a latest continent while supporting a grieving family wasn’t easy, but through those hardships, I witnessed how far my mother’s self-confidence took her—and ultimately could take me.
Self-preservation
Moving on to today, self-confidence as a value emerges as a virtue of protecting my energy. This is crucial because running a business could be exhausting. In addition to feeling overwhelmed by competing demands on time, skills, and acceptance, there is the risk of self-doubt and thus self-sabotage. As recent HBR article admits, “Even experienced leaders question themselves. Past experiences or criticism from authority figures occasionally take over our inner voice, leading to rumination and limiting beliefs.”
I’m proactive in conserving my physical and mental energy to counteract these threats. I take breaks at work that allow me to truly disconnect. Sometimes I go for a brisk walk in nature or do a high-intensity workout; whatever I do, I leave my phone at home. I have a personalized de-stressing routine at home that features reading and journaling. These habits allow me to deal with my body and fill my emotional tank, which protects the energy I have to consider in myself.
The right people, the right places
The key to self-confidence is self-awareness. But since my business is now not a solo enterprise, I have to really get to know the people around me. That brings me to one other core value that’s hard to live when other people—specifically, their careers—are at stake. It’s honesty.
Early in my entrepreneurial journey, I sometimes selected employees simply because they were available, ambitious, or just around the corner. But as my software company went from a bootstrapping dotcom to a SaaS provider serving hundreds of shoppers worldwide, I learned that having the flawed people is very expensive, and finding the right people is hard and rare. I’ve seen that in every organization there are creators and managers. Some people thrive on being told what to do; others need to consistently challenge the established order. Sometimes the people you hire for a certain position now not (or perhaps never did) align with your core values, so you have to allow them to go.
Telling it prefer it is
To recognize this reality, you would like to be honest with yourself and your colleagues about who must be doing what and for how long. A standard comment from COOs is “that they wish they had moved sooner to get the right team together,” notes McKinsey article from earlier this 12 monthsAs a young entrepreneur, I frequently experienced this regret, so I agree with the article’s thesis: having the right people in place enables “the changes in mindset, behavior, and capabilities required to successfully execute your business strategy.”
It could be a very difficult balance to achieve as of late. But I can normally achieve it by being honest about what the role requires and what the person filling it will possibly deliver—even when I’m that person! Outside of labor, I surround myself with individuals who not only understand my field but can even tell me what it’s like. In fact, I count on this support system, which incorporates members of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and other local entrepreneurship and technology networks, to hold a mirror up to my virtues and make sure they reflect my values.