Not everyone can become successful, but many people can become successful entrepreneurs. Because entrepreneurship, that you can learn, says Professor Arjan van den Born against Money Talks.
Professor Van den Born of Tilburg University has done much research into successful entrepreneurs and their critical success factors and character traits. He comes to the following 14 factors that make them successful:
1 - Hard work.
"It may be boring, but it's just true. Entrepreneurship is harder work than working on the soft cushion of salaried employment."
2 - Intelligence matters.
"People think that intelligence is not that important. But people who are intelligent get further, you have to be smart."
3 - Attribute success or failure to yourself (locus of control).
"Control is an important trait. If something goes wrong, blame yourself and not the outside world. Successful entrepreneurs blame themselves."
4 - You must be open to change and new experiences.
"You must also be open to others and be proactive. Be creative and innovative. Innovation often comes from a different place."
5 - Need for achievement.
"You have a need to achieve something in life, to want to achieve something big, to want to build something to be proud of. Willpower to show something in life and to make money. You have to be a go-getter and making money is always an important theme, motivation."
6 - Entrepreneurship is top sport.
"There is not one type of successful entrepreneur. There are several types, just like there are several types of top athletes. You can be top in weightlifting, top in athletics, that has different characteristics. You have to focus, milk that one trick for years."
7 - You shouldn't be too fearful.
"Entrepreneurship is by definition about taking risks, you shouldn't be easily scared. If you are very anxious, neurotic and you find it difficult to take risks, to put all your money, all your happiness at stake, then you should not become an entrepreneur."
8 - An entrepreneur doesn't have to be nice.
"You don't have to be nice, because there are nice and not nice top entrepreneurs. Of CEOs, 10 per cent are psychopaths, compared to 1 per cent of the population. There are also many people who are narcissistic. It is also true that the older the more rigid, especially since your own business is so personal. But you have to be open to change, your dream changes. Your own strong child changes, if your child can walk then it's a whole different thing again."
"You don't have to be nice to be a good entrepreneur. It helps if you take less people into account in life. It becomes very difficult if you want to have happy employees, a happy partner and happy children. The work-life balance is often absent among true entrepreneurs. By the way, there are also fun and social entrepreneurs, which is better for the people."
9 - Know your market.
"All successful entrepreneurs know their market well. It's just analysis. They know what it asks of them and what behaviour they have to display; a very natural process. With incredible competition, you really have to be persistent. If you are in web and mobile, for example, where a lot of things are changing, then you will have to be proactive."
10 - You can learn to be an entrepreneur.
"You have to bring some qualities with you, such as empathy and intelligence. But a lot can be learned. You can very well learn to write business plans, manage finances, do marketing, create a network. You can develop your field."
"90 percent of what it is to be an entrepreneur, you can learn. But you run up against your own limits. A very large part of the Netherlands can become an entrepreneur."
11 - Provide money.
"It just helps if mum and dad have some pennies. Being an entrepreneur means taking risks, so you will probably go bankrupt two or three times in the first few years. If you then have a father or mother, or for example a wife who works, with whom you can get through that difficult period, you can start up again afterwards. For people who don't have that, often the first bankruptcy is also a final bankruptcy."
"There are more entrepreneurs who come from good backgrounds. If you have a safety net, then you know for sure that it will work out sooner than without a safety net. You can then make mistakes more often, every top entrepreneur has made mistakes and almost gone bankrupt."
12 - Luck.
"Anyone can become a successful entrepreneur, but you need some luck to do so. It is a rat-race, there is competition. A few will make it, others won't. It's a matter of hard work, but luck is just as important."
13 - Write down what you want to do.
"If you want to start, ask those around you 'gosh, could I do this?' Ask both your best friends and your biggest opponents. If they say 'I could do it', then I would do it. You never know if it will work, it's a question of trying a lot. It's trial and error."
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