Traits of a Good Business Person
Part 3 of Acey Gaspard’s Simple Guide to Starting a Small Business
When you own and operate your own business, you’re in charge, you’re in control, and it’s you who takes the credit for the company’s failure or success.
Some people get so caught up in the day-to-day tasks of running their business that they fail to realize they’re in charge and should be controlling the direction of the company. Instead, circ*mstances control them and keep them from focusing on the big picture.
Let’s Look at Tammy’s Story
Tammy runs a clothing store in a local mall. She was so excited about starting her boutique. In the early days of running her shop, Tammy would plan the window displays. Tammy was a trend watcher and kept up with fashion around the world, and traveled to some of the top fashion shows globally; she was invested in the world of fashion.
Tammy’s business was growing, and she started to get busy. She was overwhelmed with shipping, receiving, customer service, bookkeeping, and inventory. She was taking on much more than she could handle.
After a while, instead of directing the business, she began to respond to whatever problems and tasks came up during the day. Tammy had turned into an employee of the business, and the events around her had become her boss.
Rather than running her business, Tammy let the business direct her. Tammy had lost her enthusiasm. It was more about keeping up with the workload.
Don’t let this happen to you. Keep in mind that you’re in charge, and if you feel that you aren’t, then do something about it.
Tammy’s story is just one example of how a leader can get off track. You can learn from and use many traits of successful business people in your personal and professional life. Next, let’s go over some of the traits successful business people have in common.
Essential Character Traits of a Good Business Person
1. Persistence
Persistence is a common trait of many successful entrepreneurs and can be an essential asset. It will help you get through tough times and ruts.
However, persistence doesn’t mean being stubborn. You may have a tough situation and don’t want to give up. If you do the same thing repeatedly without results, you’ll go nowhere. You are better off changing your approach to get the results you want.
2. Adapt to Change
The business world is in constant fluctuation. When you can adapt quickly without losing track of your mission, you are in a good position.
When you complain about change, resist it, and do nothing, you may find yourself behind the competition and lose business. Adapting to change is a positive practice and a skill you can use in other areas of your life.
3. Assess Risks
The better you are at assessing risk, the better youroutcomeswill be. You’ll be able to make intelligent decisions, and you’ll avoid making mistakes that can put you out of business. Good risk assessment allows you to seize good opportunities passed up by others.
You can hone your skills by creating a cheat sheet that will help you better develop assessing risks. You would use your cheat sheet as a step by step. You can develop your own or search for one online.
4. Lifelong Learning
Whether or not you are aware of it, learning is an ongoing process in all aspects of life. Since you’re learning anyway, you might as well take charge of the process by filling your mind with positive and useful information.
The key to continuous learning is taking an interest in the topic and defining what the information can do for you. For example, I want to learn how to advertise on LinkedIn to increase sales while improving brand awareness.
When you know what you want to learn, you can gather a few articles or take an online course to get familiar with the topic. The next step, and it’s an important one, is to take action on the information you learn. If you don’t take action, you will forget most of it.
Once you’re satisfied with the topic, you can move on to the next. Your learning can be 30 minutes or an hour, as long as you like. Consistency is important and can help you get into a routine.
Another learning channel I have had success with is audiobooks.Audible.comhas a vast library of educational material you can listen to while working or on your commute.
5. Responsibility
Entrepreneurs take responsibility for their actions. They’re not afraid to take the blame when things go wrong. They own up to it, and instead of focusing on blame, they concentrate on solutions.
Entrepreneurs are not afraid to take action. They don’t wait for someone to tell them what to do. They take action on their own because they know their responsibilities.
Being responsible takes effort and builds character; the more you take responsibility, the stronger you become.
6. Creativity
In business, being creative may give you the edge you need to stand out and offer something special.
You Practice creativity in small steps. Ask questions like, “What can I do to improve this?” Try brainstorming to help you come up with creative ideas.
7. Taking Charge
Successful business people take charge and hit the ground running. By getting in the habit of taking charge, you build on leadership skills and manage companies.
Taking charge of situations may come naturally to you, or you may be hesitant. If you’re hesitant, take baby steps to practice and build your skill.
8. Aware of The Numbers
Numbers and business go hand in hand. If you don’t know much about numbers, you’re going to need to learn.
You don’t need to become a financial wizard, knowing the ins and outs of multinational companies and how they operate, nor do you need to become an accountant, but you need to know the basics.
You need to know whether or not you’re profitable, how to manage money, how to hold onto your money, etc. Even if you hire an accountant or bookkeeper, you still need to know what’s going on in your business.
9. Marketing Savy
Whatever business you’re in, without marketing, you won’t have much of a business. You need to develop marketing skills.
Marketing can be as simple as placing ads, creating promotions, or creating enticing signs, word of mouth, anything that gets the right people through the door is marketing.
You need to be able to promote your business. It’s the lifeline of the company.
10. Being Proactive
If you’re a seasoned procrastinator, then you’re going to have a hard time finding success. You may be doing okay, but it takes so much longer to become the success you want. You’re just moving along slowly, and you’re probably missing out on a lot of opportunities.
One of the reasons you procrastinate could be juggling too many things at once and getting distracted. Or you get bored easily. Whatever the issue, you need to overcome procrastination. There are many resources out there that can help you. Successful business people don’t procrastinate.
11. Self-Reliant
When you’re on your own, you have no one pushing you or telling you what needs to be done. It’s hard to stay on track, but it’s essential to keep yourself on track.
Once you decide what to do, you may want to create a list in order of priority. You may want to follow the list, or you might have someone check up on you to see how you’re doing. I like to keep a list on my phone, check off what’s been completed, and add new items when necessary.
12. Life Balance
Successful people usually have abalance between their business and personal lives.They feel a sense of accomplishment and feel good about themselves. Their self-esteem is high, and they feel confident. A balance between your work and your personal life is an absolute must. Keep this balance at all times, and you’ll perform much better and be happier in your personal life.
13. Focused On The Business
Focus on what’s best for your business. What can you do better for your customers? How can you make your customers happy? Questions like these help you become an excellent businessperson.
When you focus on yourself, you tend to cut corners, finding simpler ways to be less effective. They may do the job, but they may not create great outcomes.
14. PerformanceConsciousness
When you’re doing something important, ask yourself, “Am I doing the best I can?” If the answer is “Yes,” that’s great. If you have doubts, then push yourself to do a better job.
A simple tactic while working on something significant is simply to be aware that you are performing. It’s like you are auditioning in a competition, and using this type of thinking will push you to perform better than going mundanely through the steps.
No one can expect more than your best, not even you.
15. Strong Decision-Making Skills
Strong decision-making is a skill you can develop to help in your personal and professional life.
Making the right decision is always a benefit. To make good decisions, you can use a process like writing down the pros and cons, gathering the facts, andidentifying different outcomes.
You want to make sure you don’t make hasty decisions, and at the same time, you don’t want to take too long. See8 Simple Tips to Make Better Decisions Starting Nowfor more on this topic.
Conclusion
We reviewed 15 traits of successful business people. I summarized each of the traits in a few sentences to point out the main concept. You can go over the ones that made the most sense to you and list them as the ones you want to develop. Using them is the best way to get the most out of the tips.
Back to the table of content ofAcey Gaspard’s Guide to Starting a Small Business
Resources
In the sections below, I have included a unique collection of articles and resources to give you a broad perspective of successful business people’s character traits. Spend some time on them, and you’ll become very knowledgeable in this area.
Character Traits of Business People
9 Character Traits Of Successful Business Owners
7 Personality Traits of Successful Business Owners | RingCentral
You’re an Effective Business Leader If You Have These 8 Traits | Inc.com
How Successful People Think
15 Tips on How Successful People Think
How Successful People Think – John Maxwell
Traits of A Successful Business
10 Must-Have Characteristics of a Successful Business | MyCustomer
5 Essential Traits of Successfully Executed Businesses
Courses
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