Who doesn't want great advice?
But with the plethora of knowledge out there, who has the time to keep track of which advice is the have-to-know's or must-do's?
We do!
By sifting through various articles, guides, top ten lists, and infographics written by experts around the web, we've distilled the Top 3 pieces of advice that entrepreneurs need to know on a key topic.
1. Successful Entrepreneurs are Resilient
According to experts around the web, the most common trait that all successful entrepreneurs share is the ability to be resilient in the face of any obstacles that may come up during their startup journey. As Joe Robinson writes in his Entrepreneur article, The 7 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs, "Starting a business is an ultramarathon. You have to be able to live with uncertainty and push through a crucible of obstacles for years on end. Entrepreneurs who can avoid saying uncle have a better chance of finding their market and outlasting their inevitable mistakes."
Eric T. Wager echoes this sentiment on his similarly titled Forbes article, The 7 Traits of Incredibly Successful Entrepreneurs. "You can probably squeeze by with mediocre levels of each of the other traits on this list. But if you’re a day late and dollar short in the tenacity department? You’re as good as done. You’re pretty much dry toast."
2. Successful Entrepreneurs are Confident
Being resilient through the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurial life is no easy task, but doing so without self-confidence is nearly impossible. Experts say that having a healthy sense of confidence will increase your chance of success. "You have to be crazy-sure your product is something the world needs and that you can deliver it to overcome the naysayers, who will always deride what the majority has yet to validate," writes Robinson. Dharmesh Shah agrees on his Linkedin Blog post, "You can do almost anything you have the desire and skills and drive to do; you don't need to wait for someone else to discover your talents. You get to discover yourself. The only thing holding you back is your willingness to take the leap and try."
Billionaire Ted Leonis adds only one caveat to the confidence/success relationship over on Inc.: "An entrepreneur needs to be confident, but not arrogant. There's a real difference. It's not just semantics."
3. Successful Entrepreneurs are Innovative
All of the resilience and confidence in the world would be wasted if an entrepreneur was not constantly putting them to good use. To this effect, all entrepreneurs must be very innovative and creative people who are perpetually looking at new methods, strategies, and ideas to achieve success. As Jason Bowser writes in a guest blog post for Minority Business Development Agency, "Entrepreneurs are almost defined by their drive to constantly develop new ideas and improve on existing processes. In fact, that's how most of them got into business in the first place."
Leonis gives some guidance on how to do this, "Innovation comes from talking to vendors and people in the industry, but also having touch points in all different aspects of your life. You need to be curious and social at the same time." And finally, Chip R. Bell encourages founders to aim high by writing in Entrepreneur, "Since every day as an entrepreneur is a day you invent, make it a masterpiece."
According to experts around the web, you will definitely find these three traits at the core of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. But this is only a start, as those entrepreneurs also have many more qualities that helped push them to the top.
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