Entrepreneurial Qualities and Pitfalls
Great entrepreneurs share key qualities: commitment and determination, leadership abilities, obsession with opportunity, tolerance for risk and uncertainty, creativity, self-reliance, adaptability, and a strong motivation to excel. These traits help navigate the unpredictable journey of starting a business.
Avoid common entrepreneurial pitfalls! These include overestimating what you can accomplish, misunderstanding your market, hiring mediocre people, failing to be a team player, becoming a dominating manager, and refusing to share ownership.
Businesses typically fail for predictable reasons: losing touch with customers, offering products with no real differentiation, lacking a clear value proposition, leadership failure, and inability to build a profitable business model. Understanding these failure points can help you avoid them.
Reality check: The original founder of a business (the "pure entrepreneur") often doesn't stay with the company forever. Fewer than 10% of founders of high-growth companies remain with them long-term.