Angels Den Blog

If you’re going to be a successful entrepreneur then you have to have a millionaire mindset to survive the rollercoaster ride of developing a profitable business, building it into a going concern and making your first million through it.

So many businesses fail in their first year. Sometimes this is due to the idea just not being strong enough or commercially viable, sometimes it is because of a lack of research and market planning, but much of the time it is due to the stresses and strains of an entrepreneurial lifestyle being just too much to take.

Our findings suggest that a successful entrepreneur should have several of the following to survive and thrive in the demanding world of business development.

Mental fortitude
There are times to listen to people and times to just ignore the doubters out there and it’s knowing when to choose one over the other that is an important skill. If you shut yourself off from the opinions of others then you risk becoming detached from your market and you could miss the opportunity to adapt to a more effective business strategy. If you let everyone’s opinions in it could drive you crazy as every new business, especially one that pushes boundaries will have critics and to let them into your head is a recipe for disaster to your self confidence. Successful entrepreneurs have the mental fortitude to block out the noise and soak up the knowledge to stay strong and focussed on their business goals.

Determination to succeed
Keeping an eye on the end goal is so important to becoming a successful entrepreneur. There are times in any business when things go wrong; deliveries are delayed, quality is questioned or customers dry up. The key to success is a determination to push forward whatever life throws in your path. Many successful entrepreneurs have been through catastrophic disasters in their business lives, but what separates them from everyone else is a continued determination to overcome and push forward.

Glass half full attitude
To be a successful entrepreneur you have to have a positive outlook on life. More than this, you need to exude positivity from every pore of your body because doing so will convince others that your business will be a success and this is how customers, business partners and investors are won over.

Stamina
Successful entrepreneurs know that building a business from scratch is a time consuming and exhausting experience. You need to have stamina to keep going when you’re tired, when you’d rather be at home with your feet up, in the early mornings and through the late nights, in the freezing cold of winter and the bright sunshine of summer. There are a million and one distractions that could pry your focus away from your work and you need to be able to push through the mental pain barrier, business plan in hand, and keep plugging away to assure your business a successful future.

Self belief
Without self belief you’ll go nowhere as an entrepreneur. Tempered with a little humility and common sense, self belief is the engine that drives you forward, that keeps you positive when others might panic and convinced that one day your business will achieve the heights you dreamt for it. Self belief is what will release you from your nine-to-five, gain the finance you need to launch, develop your business and build you into a successful entrepreneur.

Author: Bill Morrow co-founded the UKs answer to small business funding – Angels Den brings entrepreneurs and Angel investors together to build profitable partnerships that will create the business success stories of the future.

Image © Roo Reynolds