Being an Entrepreneur Involves More Than Starting a Small Business

A Home Business Article Contributed by Elizabeth Fox-Wise

Being a Small Business Entrepreneur is a Way of Life

A true entrepreneur knew in his heart that he was an entrepreneur long before starting his first small business. Not all small business owners consider themselves and entrepreneur. An entrepreneur has a certain style about him and a certain way that he lives his life which makes him similar to other entrepreneurs but very distinct from the rest of the world.

Among other things, successful entrepreneurs have an innate internal drive to succeed. They are motivated by internal stimuli and unlike other people do not need, want, or do well with, external controls over the time and how they conduct their business. For these reasons and many more, entrepreneurial spirits often end up being small business owners.

Successful Small Business Entrepreneurs Will Share These Traits

With the internal drive to succeed that we talked about above, often comes a high set of expectations of themselves. Entrepreneurs put a lot of demands on themselves and push themselves to meet these demands. They are often viewed by others as determined and ambitious and sometimes as work-a-holics or compulsive.

Small business entrepreneurs usually have a strong belief in them self. They are focused and determined and believe that everything is in their control. They are usually able to maintain a positive outlook despite diversity.

Small business entrepreneurs are usually described as curious about the world around them. They often like to learn just for the sake of learning and are always on the lookout for small business opportunities to improve upon products and services. After all, they should be able to, because....

Small business entrepreneurs tend to be confident enough that they believe they can do most everything better than other people.

Some Other Common Characteristics Among Small Business Entrepreneurs Also Exist

Seemingly contradictory to the confident attitude of a small business entrepreneur, they are surprisingly good at accepting constructive criticism. This is perhaps because their desire to succeed typically outweighs their desire to always be right. A true entrepreneur is flexible enough to adjust his path when others show him reasons that things won't work, but confident enough to adhere to his path when the negative people around him are simply being negative without proof to substantiate their objections.

A small business entrepreneur is competitive by nature. Successful entrepreneurs are innately highly competitive. The only way for them to live up to their self imposed very high standards is for them always to be competing with themselves and often be competing with others. For this reason, they do not usually make good "team players" and tend to be happiest and work best when working alone.

Related to the competitive nature, a small business entrepreneur is typically highly motivated and energetic. They work well under pressure and tend to place themselves under unrealistic deadlines. They are always on the move, very driven to succeed and have a much higher energy level than most. Except for when they don't. When an entrepreneur hits overload his "crash" can be just as intense of a low as his usual pace is of a high. The good thing is, these are the people who coined the phrase "power nap" and after a brief crash, the entrepreneur is usually back in full force.