What Are Three GREAT Common Habits Of Successful Entrepreneurs?

I often browse the question section on LinkedIn as I like to review the questions & answers from a network with a wealth of knowledge and experience.


A question caught my eye this evening.... What Are Three GREAT Common Habits Of Successful Entrepreneurs?


Not an easy question to answer but one I have a great interest in. I suggested the following:


1) Incredible focus. The successful ones always know what they want and keep a laser focus on it at all times until it is obtained. The successful ones never quit. They keep trying different angles and approaches until they succeed. The most successful entrepreneurs I've seen will drive their employees absolutely nuts over one or two items. But it's usually those items that are the most critical to the business. It takes relentless focus to not get distracted by the myriad of items that come at an entrepreneur.
2) Take risks - calculated or not. The great ones often practice fire-ready-aim at the outset. If they didn't many would never even begin. Dropping out of school, quiting your job - those are huge risks but ones that get an entrepreneur committed and invested. Hernando Cortez was an example of this type of risk 500 years ago.
3) Practice self-discipline. This is most valuable after the initial stage. The great ones get the enterprise going by taking enormous risks and make huge investments of time, energy and money. The most successful I've seen are the ones who also keep perspective and know when to switch gears to shift from entrepreneur to business leader. The biggest mistakes I've witnessed are those entrepreneurs who create a great business, it grows quick and they forget, or fail, to manage the growth successfully.


Overall though, I'm a strong proponent of Focus... See also:

Read also: Focus is Power and What Gets Measured Gets DONE! on The Ross Leadership Academy.