1. Leadership.                      

Management skill and strong team building abilities are essential leadership attributes of successful entrepreneurs. A great leader is someone who has a clear vision and can turn that vision into a vivid picture that others can see. When he speaks about his vision, it is with a passion, a passion that creates so much enthusiasm that his vision becomes the vision of his team and they envisage his goals as their own.

2. Innovator.            

Entrepreneurs have to be highly creative with a tendency to imagine new solutions at almost every instant by finding opportunities for contracts and profit. The ability to innovate is innate in an entrepreneur.  Innovation implies bringing in new technologies to improve output, increasing efficiency and productivity, or generating new services or products. Traits such as extroversion, aggression and an appetite for risk-taking are essential for an entrepreneur to innovate.

3. Decision Making.          

Entrepreneurs have a clarity of mind and are good decision makers. There are a few qualities which differentiate a good decision maker from the crowd.

• Swift– Being swift but not fast in taking decisions. Also,this by no means implies being spontaneous. A well-researched decision is a must but a time frame must be adhered to.
• Committed – Believe in your decision and stand by it. However, humans commit errors and it is quite possible that this may be one too. In that case, setting aside egos, the ability to listen, acknowledge and implement.
• Analytical – Be analytical, do the research but don’t over-analyse (Too much analysis can cause decision making paralysis.)
• Thoughtful – Be thoughtful about the to be affected parties, but don’t be obsessive about it as well.
• Instinctive – A good entrepreneur always trusts his instincts while making a decision and this is a part of his ability to take risks. It is important to trust the gut feeling that slowly comes with knowledge of the work and experience rather than falling on the standard set rules every time.

4. Character. 

Innate character strengths and limitations play a critical role in the success one achieves in any field. The same holds true for an entrepreneur as well. He continually assesses his own character and never stops growing in all possible aspects of his life, be it professionally or personally.

5. Sense of humour.          

You don’t have to be hysterically funny to have a good sense of humor, but just have a calm mind to look at the positive side of life.”

It is widely perceived that entrepreneurs are unusual individuals or born geniuses who are distinct from others. However, studies have clearly shown that entrepreneurs are not that distinctive and every one of us has the entrepreneurial streak somewhere down us. Some of us just don’t hone it. An entrepreneur is essentially one who can effectively use both sides of the brain i.e. left side more associated with language and the right side which is more associated with reasoning. Thus they have both creativity and reasoning fully developed.

So, in a broader sense, to be an entrepreneur, all one needs is a creative potential idea one believes in and put in an honest effort into it with all the hours of research, ground work and innovation.

Of course, many would argue that it is easier said than done, that the success rate is one in a million and not everybody has the creativity or the resources to pursue it. All are valid points. But, if one believes in his idea, it is surely worth the effort. And who knows, the next Jobs, Gates or Jerry Yang to be might be waiting for that very idea to surface.

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