Small Business Resources › Starting a Small Business Guide › Characteristics and tips to be a successful entrepreneur

Successful entrepreneurs have a lot in common. The characteristics successful entrepreneurs share might also be some of your own. 

Any soul who steps out on their own, registers a company and launches a start-up will, at some stage, ponder what makes a successful entrepreneur tick. 

What exactly makes them so effective? Can you learn what it is that helps a successful entrepreneur hit such dizzying heights?

Successful entrepreneurs 

Successful entrepreneurs are often the focus of curiosity because they possess things we desire: motivation, success, fame and money.

Successful entrepreneurs have a way of dominating our social fabric in a way that makes them true celebrities. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Larry Page, Oprah Winfrey, Walt Disney, Sergey Brin – all household names, and with good reason.

As a business owner hoping to emulate their success, it’s only natural for you to investigate what makes a self-made entrepreneur a winner.

Tips for entrepreneurs

So, what are some of the key characteristics that seem to dominate the stories of successful entrepreneurs? What tips can you learn from those who punched through the ceiling of success? Here are our tips for entrepreneurs and how to turn them into success.

1) Successful entrepreneurs exercise

A surprisingly common and widespread habit of successful entrepreneurs is the tendency to prioritise exercise in their regular week or day. 

Exercise, as we’re increasingly aware isn’t merely a great way to stay physically fit and tuned, but it also has an incredible impact on boosting mental health, reducing stress, and maintaining a clear head.

It isn’t hard to see why this is so appealing to successful entrepreneurs, who will routinely encounter all manners of pressure in their work week. By taking time to develop an exercise routine, they’re giving themselves that definitive edge and resilience required to really succeed. Benefits of regular exercise include:

• cognition improvement
• memory improvement
• mood elevation
• better quality sleep
• a boost in creativity and problem-solving
• improves confidence and self-image.
• a multitude of physical and mental health benefits

2) Successful entrepreneurs have a routine

Creating and sticking to a routine is another primary characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. Alongside an exercise routine, you should be maximising your waking hours and increasing productivity by scheduling a habitual routine.

We’re not talking about a calendar of meetings here either but rather a structure to your day which reduces procrastination, keeps you sane, makes great use of available time while removing a lot of stress, indecision, and wasted time.

Creating a healthy routine also ensures important mealtimes, morning chores and social or family time never get neglected in your chaotic life.

3) Successful entrepreneurs sleep

Throw away the Margaret Thatcher idea of a four-hour sleep schedule. This may kill you – literally. 

Sleep isn’t, as some may have you think, a waste of time or a sign of laziness but the most important thing you can do with your time.

If you don’t allow time in your routine for a full night of restful sleep free, then you’ll be at risk of:

• increased stress and decreased happiness
• high blood pressure
• poor cognition and memory
• high rates of illness
• low mental and physical performance.

It would be incredibly difficult to position yourself as a top entrepreneur if you’re not mentally sharp or physically healthy. Get some sleep already.

4) Successful entrepreneurs are genuine

If your goal here is purely to get rich, you’re doing it wrong. A successful entrepreneur will of course need to eat and keep their family off the street but getting rich should be one of your last considerations. 

Genuine passion for succeeding and materialising a true vision is what it’s all about.

In a manner of speaking, wealth becomes a sort of scorecard to gauge that success rather than a goal in itself. 

You need to want to make something happen. You really need to be backing your business idea and end goals by concentrating on your market and mission.

Concentrating on wealth can result in you cutting corners, underpaying staff, short-changing your customers, and failing to take the time to truly understand what the market needs.

While we can’t all be successful entrepreneurs and one person’s circumstances and success may not ever be emulated by those who witness their mentality and character. However, by absorbing these tips on how successful people tick, you’re certainly on the right path.