Over the past 20 years, I have been honored to work with thousands of people who are now business owners. What a joy to work with so many unique and interesting people. Every individual comes to business ownership from a different place. They each have different skill sets, different ages, different personal histories, different financial resources and differing levels of expertise.
I am often asked, 'What kind of person is most likely to start a business and be successful?' People are looking for the secret. They want to know if there is a specific profile of skills and experience that tends to lead to business ownership and success. The answer is clearly 'No'. I have seen people with many different backgrounds successfully move into business ownership.
Becoming a business owner has little to do with opportunity or luck. The characteristics of business ownership and success are within the individual. It has more to do with how the person sees the world and their role within it.
The kind of person that ends up starting a business tends to have the following characteristics -
'Directed'. People with a strong sense of personal direction are more likely to become business owners. These folks don't always have everything figured out but they know what is important and they remain focused on their chosen direction.
'Doers'. They are the kind of people that tend to 'do' things. The world is divided between 'talkers' and 'doers'. People that get into business for themselves are almost always 'doers'.
'Success'. They like to be successful. If they had a paper route, they were successful delivering papers. If they are in sales, they did well. Engineering, the same story. Their past success sets personal expectation for future success.
'Pleasant'. Successful business owners are almost always pleasant people. You would like to have over for dinner. They are never Eeyore's. They are curious, pleasant and are able to find joy in others' success
'Comfortable'. People who become business owners tend to be comfortable within their own skin. They trust themselves to make good decisions and believe in their own ability to achieve.
If you know people with these characteristics, send them my way. They would make great business owners and I would love to get to know them.
