Seven Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur

If we talk about statistics of entrepreneurship for a few minutes, 50% of businesses fail in the first five years. 92 to 94% are constantly looking on a regular basis how they're going to fund their payroll. That's how close to the line. These people are all to make a difference and change the marketplace through innovation. If you don't have the resilience in order to persevere through this, then you won't be successful. You're likely going to realize that entrepreneurship isn't for you. Good day and welcome to the Wealthy Entrepreneur Podcast. I'm your host, Bob Govreau. It is a pleasure to have you here with me today. I just want to introduce you to the Wealthy Entrepreneur podcast. This is the place where we dissect the elements that contribute to entrepreneurial success, from mindset and leadership to profits and revenue. This episode is called the seven Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur. And I had the opportunity to spend some time out at the local university recently and spent, you know, a little bit of time preparing to go out, meet with students and talk to them about entrepreneurship. And in one of the preparation points for me, I started doing a little bit of research about the attributes, the characteristics, the successful traits that an entrepreneur needs to have or needs to be prepared to evoke into their daily success or their daily routine. And I wanted to share those with you today. So I'm going to jump right into it here momentarily. But, you know, entrepreneurship, I just, you know, even before we jump into what these attributes are, you know, entrepreneurship is not for everybody. It is not for everybody. And, you know, one of the, one of the elements that I feel is most challenging from outside people looking in at business owners and entrepreneurs who are dedicated to making a difference. Like the definition, you know, of small business, to me, an entrepreneur. Small business owners are working in a, in a consistent environment with stability and, you know, sort of a reoccurring, stable flow without drastic change, you know, and they are their own boss. That is really what small business to me is, and that is amazing. You know, we have a lot of those businesses that are in the world, but then you add in a little bit of spice of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is where a business owner is constantly reinventing themselves. They're constantly looking at the challenge of solving a new problem and providing that solution to the market space or always continuing to innovate themselves. So that's the difference between small business and entrepreneurship for me. But the feedback that I get about small business owners and from entrepreneurs is, well, isn't it nice? You know, Isn't it nice that they were at their kids sporting event? Isn't it nice that they bought a new car? Isn't it nice that they maybe have a nice home? Isn't it nice that they've got the flexibility to go to work whenever they want? And you know, it's a little bit frustrating when you hear that feedback because people who aren't an entrepreneur don't really understand what goes on behind the scenes. And it's always felt like, oh, isn't it, it's so easy for them. And you know, if, if we talk about statistics of entrepreneurship for a few minutes, you know, 50% of businesses fail in the first five years, okay, that's terrifying. The ones that do succeed, over 90% of those, I think it's 94, it's 92 or 94% of those businesses that are continuing to be successful, 92 to 94% are constantly looking on a regular basis how they're going to fund their payroll. That's how close to the line. These people are all to make a difference and change the marketplace through innovation. And it's not for everybody. And truthfully, I'm, I'm thrilled and honored and privileged to be able to work with so many entrepreneurs. We work with about well over a thousand different business owners, entrepreneurs, small business across North America. And it's a really real great privilege to be able to support this, this group of business owners because they really are having a huge impact on changing the world. And those people who continue to innovate and reinvent themselves, you know, kudos to you guys because it's not easy. Despite how maybe other people perceive or deflect, you know, they're sort of, you know, almost like a criticism, but their desire to be something more and the fact that, you know, they're not doing the things that you're doing and they feel bad about themselves, that's what this is. You know, it's not about you guys. You guys are, are doing things that are constantly changing the marketplace and making the world a better place. And, and again, I'm privileged and honored to be able to serve. But let's talk about those qualities of entrepreneurship. So if you are one, you're going to resonate with this. If you're an entrepreneur, you're going to resonate with this. And I'm going to tell you that as an entrepreneur, as you continue to grow your business, build your team, grow your revenue, continue to find new market spaces to product or your service into, it doesn't get easier. And I Think I've shared this. You know, 2023, we just went through an acquisition, built our team up, we've grown it substantially. This has been the most challenging year I've ever faced. And you know, as I go through these, these seven characteristics or qualities of, of a successful entrepreneur, some of these characteristics need to continue to get stronger. So, so let's kick this off and, and start talking about them. So number one, resilience. And I think resilience is the number one attribute that any successful entrepreneur needs to have. Resilience, meaning that you've got an ability to take on a challenging situation, maybe even fail, have all kinds of obstacles, but still persevere and want to overcome. Right. To be able to deal with those challenges. Because let's think of the person who's making the comment to say, isn't it nice that you can go to your kids sporting event or that you're able to, you know, take your wife out to dinner or your husband out to dinner on Friday or Saturday night? Yes, that is nice. But we work really hard for that. And likely throughout the week we've had to get punched in the face 10 times because of all the challenges that we deal with with individual team members, you know, maybe not showing up or client challenges or concerns, you know, then we have our family life, probably cash flow challenges. Only more than 90% of people face cash flow challenges. So there's those things. And to be able to persevere and to continue to push through that adversity is likely the greatest attribute. Because if most people dealt with this many challenges in a day, they'd pack it in. Right? Like employees, you know, if they go to work and the temperature is wrong in the office, are ready to leave, you know, where we have to deal with substantial challenges throughout the day that you know, not to, not to diminish the fact that you want to be comfortable when you're at work. But the magnitude of what entrepreneurs deal with on a day to day basis is so substantial or can be so substantial. But if you don't have the resilience in order to persevere through this, then you won't be successful. You know, you're likely going to realize that entrepreneurship isn't for you. Okay, number two. Number two for me is leadership. And you know, I would maybe argue that leadership, maybe all of these I would argue are number one. But leadership is really an attribute of a successful entrepreneur who wants to build something bigger than themselves. You know, there's solopreneurs who don't build a team, they work by themselves, they have a great innovative product, but they work on their own and that's admirable as well. In fact, could be maybe one of the most profitable ways that you could do it. Especially if you can create a high price, high value offer. Not a bad idea because it eliminates a lot of the potential challenges that you have. Maybe dealing with smaller numbers of customers, not building a team, you know, maybe less variables. Certainly hard if you want to be a solopreneur to, to grow a company to a significant level. Right. You're going to be capped to a certain extent. Unless the high value, high profit is so high in demand that and you have such a unique skill set that no one else in the world can do it, then likely you're, you're going to be okay, but you still have to perform at that level. So for me, leadership is building a team and people wanting to follow you. Being a leader means that you have people who want to follow you and becoming the person to lead people to become the person who is investing in themselves and in other people and creates trusting, caring relationships and creates an environment of positivity and gives a direction of where a company is going that inspires other people to follow. That's what leadership is. And you know, I know for me personally, I'm on a constant journey and I will be on a lifelong journey that to continue to learn every element I can about how to become the best leader possible. Because my future involves being that leader and my current present time involves being a leader. But I want to make sure for me and anyone who's willing to follow me and be part of what I'm building, that I am leading them in the best way possible and learning from what's going on in the world on how to be that best leader. But truthfully, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to understand how to be a leader. Because if you can't learn to lead, no one will follow. Okay, number three, lifelong learning. It was interesting. I just had the opportunity to head down to New Jersey with an organization that coaches contractors and spent a few days there. I brought my brother in law with me, which was amazing. It was great to spend some time with him. He's been in the trade industry in the past as well. But I wanted to introduce him to lifelong learning and the reinvesting in yourself and your future growth and what that personal development sort of space looks like. And you know, it was super interesting to spend that time with him and, and open up opportunity to see that because, you know, as a successful entrepreneur, you can't stay flat. You constantly have to be looking at how you can do things better. You know, for me, I know many of you have heard me talk about this, but, you know, health is such an important thing for me. If I am not healthy, if I'm not strong, if I'm not exercising, getting regular massage therapy, got the right vitamins, I'm not performing physically at the right level, I'm not optimizing myself. I know I have to do those things to continue to make me stronger, especially as I get older, so that I can continue to have brain power to learn to become faster, to become smarter. And truthfully, any leader or any entrepreneur who's looking at building a future, we have to continue to invest in the best knowledge and technology and resources to help us get there. Because, you know, if you just put your head in the sand and you just say, no, I know everything, you're not going to be a successful entrepreneur. Right. At some point, the Runway is going to run out. Okay, number four, risk tolerance. So risk tolerance is interesting. I'm in the risk mitigation sort of industry in the professional services side. On the accounting side, risk tolerance means that you put yourself in a position where you could fail, right? You're taking a chance. And, you know, I believe very strongly that entrepreneurs, especially if you're going into a space that doesn't exist or creating something that doesn't exist, you don't know what a future return is or what that potential could be. You can speculate it, but there is an element of unknown that's in there. And you are willing as an entrepreneur, as a successful entrepreneur, to go in and take that and say, I'm still willing to go forward even though the future is uncertain. That is an attribute of an. Of an industry creating entrepreneur. And if you don't have tolerance to taking on risk as an entrepreneur, you're going to be super limited in what you're going to be able to create. For me, sometimes I feel like I risk too much or I'm willing to risk too much. And as things continue to grow, you know, I probably have to scale that back. There's too many moving parts at all times. But you do. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur and you wanted to want to continue to grow, you've got to be willing to take on that risk. And likely, you know, again, you think of the individual who would say, well, isn't it nice? Go, yeah, isn't it nice that I could potentially lose My house pretty much every day I go to work. Right. It's, you know, that's the type of risk that you're willing to take in order to live a life and fulfill your mission. So risk tolerance is super important. Number five, patience. Okay? And this is why patience is important, because every time an opportunity comes up, you need to stop and you need to pause and you need to think about it. Do you need to be decisive? Yes. Do you need to be able to make decisions quickly? Yes. But you don't want to force situations in. You don't want to be impatient. And we definitely need patience with building a team as well. You know, you're building a team, you have to be patient that people aren't going to contribute to the same level that you are. You know, it's not their business, it's your business. You can't expect that people are going to invest in themselves and take the risk like you do. You have to be patient that it's going to take them a little bit longer to get to where you are. But that's why you're the entrepreneur and they're, you know, part of the incredible team that you're building to change the world together. But you need to continue to be patient. You can't fly off the handle. You can't take every opportunity that comes up. You have to be patient, wait for the right ones, which I think is very important. Number six, passion. So here's why. You know, if you want to be a leader, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you want to create an industry that doesn't exist, you're going to take on that risk. You're going to continue to have to be resilient and overcome things. If you're not passionate about creating something that doesn't exist, if you can't excite yourself about it, how are you going to excite anybody else to follow you? I believe strongly that. And Simon Sinek would talk about this and, and yes, you know, people challenge the don't know. It's not about starting with why. I think if you find a purpose, a mission, something that you are willing to deal with, all of the downside for that it's more meaningful than you, that you can change the world in a positive way. You can get excited about it, share that excitement with other people, and that passion will continue to push you through a lot of these challenging times. And again, for me, I know 2023 has been the most challenging. I've had the most challenges brought to me in 2023. But I can tell you it's passion and looking at the future to say this is where I'm going, this is what I'm ready to accomplish and I'm not going to stop at anything because I really, it means everything to me that I can get there. And passion will drive you. Passion will keep other people working with you and building this with you. So passion is super important. And last but not least, number seven is courage. And I feel like courage is, is an undervalued attribute and it's definitely not number seven. Even though I think all of these are important. You know, we built our million dollar year coaching program and we'll make sure that there's a link to our coaching program below so that if you guys have any questions or if you want to join our membership, we would love to have you. But it was all around creating a financial concept and empowering entrepreneurs to, with good information so that they had the courage to make those tough decisions. Because if you go into something blind and you don't have the courage to do it, it's way scarier. We can help empower, give good information. We can help limit some of that risk tolerance or that risk taking by having good numbers in there. But there's still an element of this that even though we quantify it, there is risk associate associated with it and you know, the courage to step out and do something that other, other people weren't willing or able to do, you know, that's not an easy thing. And I think courage is probably the number one reason that entrepreneurs get started in the first place is that they're willing to do something that no one else is. So qualities or of successful entrepreneurs, resilience, leadership, lifelong learning, risk tolerance, patience, passion and courage. I want to just share with you guys a little bit about our million dollar year program coaching program because you know, all of these attributes, they likely are the definition of someone who's got psychological issues. Like someone who would step in and take on all seven of these and say I'm willing to do that. You know, you probably have issues. I have issues. I can tell you by reviewing that list that I'm, I'm one of those as well. But we created our million dollar year program as an element of a mastermind, backed by good training, good information industry insights and a framework that will allow you to be more successful, more efficient, more profitable in your business. And you know, one of the reasons we built this program to begin with was that we just didn't want entrepreneurs to. Well, we wanted them to know that you don't have to do it alone. That there's a community here that is cheering you on, that is helping support you in the going to your kids, a sporting event or going to dinner with your, your spouse or buying the new car. We're cheering each other on, getting the rental property, going on a, a vacation, you know, whatever that is, whatever success looks like for you or your enjoyment of your hard work. There's people like me and members of our million dollar a year community who are cheering entrepreneurs on in this case and you should be celebrated, not ridiculed for that. You're making and sacrificing so much and taking on so many challenges and really your personality is one of punishing yourself. You should be rewarded for that and you should have cheerleaders who are business owners just like you who support each other and that's a pretty cool thing that we've created. So milliondollar year Ca. We'll post the link in here. I'm going to end this here. Seven Attributes of a Successful Entrepreneur Guys, this has been the Wealthy Entrepreneur podcast. I am your host, Bob Gover. I hope that this was extremely valuable and for those entrepreneurs, I hope you're reflecting on this going man, I do take a lot of risk. But you know, my passion and my courage to continue to persevere through challenging times, take risk when others won't to really fulfill a lifelong mission that's more meaningful to me than anything else. That's why we do what we do and we should enjoy the ride and maybe do it with other people who are just like us. If you have any comments, drop them in the notes below. We'd love to address anything for you. If you know somebody who is an entrepreneur who needs to hear this today needs to hear that. Yeah, we're all a little bit crazy. This is tough. We're all going through this tough time together. Growing a business is not easy. These are all the challenges we face every single day. Make sure you send it with them. Send it to them. Like our podcast. We're going to release another episode next week. We do every single week. Make sure you're following us. Any insights that you can provide on how we can make this better, we are open for suggestions. Thanks for being part of this. You know the reason that we're able to have a successful podcast is because we have great listeners like you. So thanks for coming and hanging out with me today. Again. Bob Govreau, Founder CEO Govo Accounting Tax Law Advisory have a fantastic day and wishing you all the success in your entrepreneurial journey.