A simple search with keywords “qualities of successful entrepreneurs” will give you over 660,000 hits. There are more than enough self-help books and videos out there that endorse certain qualities of sucessful entrepreneurs.
Society applauds passionate, singular, self-starting, forward-thinking, and confident risk-takers that entrepreneurs are. But sometimes, these qualities can backfire too. Here are some examples:
Passion
“Passion is myth,” Cal Newport writes in his book, ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You.’ It’s often terrible advice that drives people to anxiety and confusion. Instead, he advocates for mastery in pursuing the kind of work you’d love to do. For me, that’s writing. For founders, that’s fortifying their idea — throughmentorship, education, networking, experimentation.
Before turning a passion into a business, it’s not enough that you merely enjoy it or find the endeavor interesting, but you must also back it up with hard skills.
PocketMath co-founder Casey Grooms said this: “As a co-founder, [I am] doing all sales, business development, partnerships and hardcore hustling for the last four years.” He went to talks, workshops, networking events, etc., just to get the business. It took him four years to get paid, but last November, PocketMath just raised series A round funding in Singapore at ($10 million).
Business focus and singularity
Focus in business means having a go-getter attitude. No money? Let’s do a Kickstarter campaign! Don’t want anyone’s advice? Let’s bootstrap! Stretching works, but to a limit. ZipRecruiter’s CEO, Ian Siegel, has this to say about that: “Bootstrapping is a great discipline for bringing out the best in a company… but, maybe we were foolish not taking money. There were opportunities we had to skip.” He warns startups to not do it for a long time.
Singularity in business, on the other hand, is being too overly consumed by strict goals. Fortunately Redgolf, a golf merchandise store based in Cebu, learned to be very flexible early on. “In our first few years, we were doing was selling really well as a retailer and authorized dealers of all the major brands which is what we set out to be,” shares Redgolf owner, Jovi Neri. “Then a window opened for us to be the exclusive country distributor of the premiumBettinardi Golf brand.” Soon after, the golf industry sales started to go down. Three years later, the distributorship with Bettinardi Golf is one of the reasons the RedGolf business remains afloat because they got to supply to the entire country with products providing higher margins for official distributors as compared to the other brands, where they are just authorized dealers with lesser margins and a whose reach is limited to the physical store location only.
As Richard Branson of Virgin so succinctly said, “Entrepreneurial business favors the flexible mind. It favors people whose optimism drives them to prepare for possible futures.”
Risk-Taking
I recently interviewed JFDI Program Manager, Kai Huang. If asked one advice for the hundreds of applicants and mentors he coaches at JFDI bootcamps, this is it:
“Have an authentic connection between the founder and idea.”
If the connection is real — if its solving a problem that you care about — you avoid making decisions based on money. Making risky choices based on the upside and how much money you’ll make is one surefire way to fail.
Ash Maurya, founder of Spark59 and author of Running Lean, supports this approach. His video, “Prioritize Risks On Your Business Model,” clearly defines what risks mean, how risks differ from uncertainty, and how why incorrect prioritization of risk is one of the top contributors of waste. It’s an excellent resource for risk mitigation.
Lastly, a bonus entrepreneurial quality that’s easy to overlook:
Working Too Hard
“The jubilation of building a company often comes with its own sense of misery.” – Conner Forrest.
In the startup world, it’s so easy to clock in 12-hour days because there’s no stability and security guaranteed. But it shouldn’t be a reason to purposely make yourself food and sleep-deprived. Take cues from sleep activist Arianna Huffington, “4-hour work week” author, entrepreneur and public speaker Tim Ferris, and my productivity idol, author and Math professor Cal Newport. If they can do it, so can you.
The key takeaway from this is to be aware. Don’t mindlessly agree to the cliche advice of “work hard, be passionate, etc.” By reflecting on which entrepreneural attitudes to improve or terminate, you’ll start to see how you can optimize your work week.
Crystal Superal is the Social Media and Content Marketer at JFDI, the #1 business accelerator in Asia. She finished her Multimedia Communications degree while playing golf for a San Francisco-based art school. She currently lives in Cebu City, Philippines. For her thoughts about tech and lifehacks, follow her Twitter @crystalsuperal.