Any discussion of skills must also include what the basic skills and psychology of all entrepreneurs are. By knowing these, you can avoid a lot of mistakes that people make. They include:
- Courage - You must believe in yourself and your ability to do anything you set your mind to.
- Initiative - No one else is going to provide the drive and focus you need.
- Perspective - You always have to be looking several steps ahead and working backwards.
- Persistence - When you get knocked down, get up and try again.
- Resourcefulness - People aren't going to hand you the answers, go find what you need.
- Flexibility - 'Your way or the highway' mentality doesn't work, the marketplace is always changing and you must change with it or get left behind.
- Taking Action - You can't do research forever. Set a starting date and keep to it.
- Optimist - Set your dreams in realism, not pipe dreams you don't yet have the skills to do.
- Confidence - Trust your gut instead of self-doubt. The world doesn't want you to fail.
- Enthusiasm - This is contagious and one of your best weapons in overcoming resistance.
- Satisfaction - Perfectionists are not good business people. They are so worried about things being just right, that they never get started. This was one of the hardest for me to learn. If I had waited until this website was completed before I went online, you still wouldn't be reading this. I had to learn that businesses are never completed. They just keep growing and getting better in response to the marketplace.
If you examine the successful people that you know, you will find that they exhibit most of these traits. Nurture the ones that you possess and work to master the rest.