Three characteristics of successful entrepreneurs

Direction, Drive and Discipline

Having met many new business people over the years, sometimes initial meetings make me cringe. That’s because so many people start dropping dollars before writing a plan; they don’t consider the major issues and often they get killed by the minor ones. Here are three concepts that I wish a lot more people would work through before spending dollar one.

Without direction you are going to crash and burn early. Establish the mission for your business and set some early objectives into stone. Saying, “Until we meet these objectives, we are not going to put our energy elsewhere,” or something similar is the type of commitment to a direction that will pay off in the early days.

Are you driven? There are very few problems in business that cannot be overcome by hard work and drive is the defining characteristic of an entrepreneur.

Discipline is all about execution. If you are a disciplined person you realize that nothing gets accomplished without finishing but, it may surprise some to learn that this is where many businesses fail. People can have a great idea and work their cans off and still fail if their hard work never produces completed initiatives.

Of course there is much more to being successful in business, but if you start in the right direction with a plan, have the drive to build your business and the discipline to execute your plan, you should do well.

By Ellis Orlan, BA, CPA (IL), CGMA, SF Partnership LLP, Toronto, ON, CYBF mentor, eorlan@sfgroup.ca.