You’re doing your research and learning the nuts and bolts of being a successful online entrepreneur.
But you realize that there’s an important hole in your knowledge base.
After all, being successful as an entrepreneur is only partially about the nuts and bolts of marketing strategies, business plans, and quality control.
The more you read, the more you’re realizing that the people you look up to, the ones who are already wildly successful, must have something more in common than a similar knowledge of the nuts and bolts of business.
Congratulations – you’re dead on! One of the first things I did when I started in this business was to seek out knowledgeable entrepreneurs. I didn’t just want to learn the things that they knew – I wanted to find out what kind of people they were.
Why? Because success as an entrepreneur comes from who you are and who you’re willing to grow into, not just from what you know.
So what are some of the common traits of successful Internet entrepreneurs? Rather than making you research everything separately, here’s a basic list to get you started:
Open-mindedness. If you’re going to be a success as an entrepreneur, you need to be willing to try new things. We wouldn’t have Internet marketing if there hadn’t been smart, dedicated people willing to take the new technology for a spin to see what it could do.
Consistency. We understand that you only get out of something what you put into it. Owning your own business is not a get-rich-quick scheme or a lottery. It’s a business and it takes work. The entrepreneurial spirit doesn’t get discouraged or quit in the face of a little hard work.
Willingness to learn. This goes along with being open-minded. The entrepreneurs who succeed are never willing to rest with what they know now – they’re always looking to learn what’s new in the industry and to apply what they’ve learned.
Accountability. We don’t blame others for our misfortunes – we know that whether we succeed or fail is in our hands and in our hands alone.
When it comes to Internet entrepreneurs, one thing I’ve found to be a nearly universal trait is the willingness to help others.
I learned a long time ago that the best route to success is to help others solve their problems and become successful in their own right.
Yes, there is competition among Internet businesses just like there is in the brick-and-mortar business world. But we realize that the Internet has created a huge market for us, so we’re all better off if we help each other, and help newcomers, become the best entrepreneurs they can be.
Don’t be impatient with yourself if you find you can’t just assume these traits overnight. The traditional business world has taught all of us a lot of bad habits as well as some good ones.
The good news is that you don’t have to live or do business that way anymore. And if you’re going to thrive as an online entrepreneur, you can’t do business that way anymore.
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