The 8 Habits of Highly Successful Entrepreneurs

byLTran

1.5K followers

11 years ago

When you see entrepreneurs who have achieved success, it’s natural to wonder: What

makes them different? Some will tell you that entrepreneurs succeed because they

work harder, know the right people, or are just smarter than the rest of us.

While those traits are valuable, they do not make a successful entrepreneur. What

makes an entrepreneur successful is a set of habits. It is their behaviors, attitudes, and

actions—practiced consistently—that separates successful entrepreneurs from the

rest of us. If you can identify and incorporate these habits in your own life, you can also

succeed as an entrepreneur.

Habit #1: Always Be Learning

Knowledge, more than money, influence, or dogged persistence, is the most valuable

asset of any entrepreneur. Many businesses have burned through sky-high piles of

startup capital without ever turning a profit, despite big-name backers and the tireless

work of the founders. But if you know—really know—what you are doing, then your

chances of creating a winning business skyrocket. And the way to make sure you know

as much as you can is to always be learning.

A successful entrepreneur is a student of business, technology, and human nature.

In technology, constant change drives the need to always learn. The steady arrival of

new technology means any entrepreneur whose business is touched by technology

must stay up on the latest refinements and introductions. Human nature, on the other

hand, changes slowly if at all. But the topic is so complex and deep that it is literally

inexhaustible. The more you can learn about why people do things, their basic needs

and how to structure your business to meet them, the more likely you are to succeed

as an entrepreneur.

Successful entrepreneurs don’t learn only in traditional classrooms. They stay up

on technology by reading about and trying new tools. They stay up on business by

following the markets, attending seminars, and obtaining expert advice. For studying

human nature, their classrooms are meeting rooms, coffee shops, airports and any

place people gather. And above it all, they learn from their own mistakes. Successful

entrepreneurs never think they know it all. They are always learning.

In the next post we going to cover habit #2.