Elec 102: Concept of Entrepreneurial
Traits and Characteristics
Entrepreneurship – is the oldest form of
business organization.
- it is in fact entrepreneurs that bring
innovation to our economy with new
products and services
- they drive a nation’s economy
towards development and progress
What are entrepreneurial traits?
 Entrepreneurial traits are the typical
characteristics, abilities, and thought
patterns associated with successful
entrepreneurs
While some entrepreneurs are born with
these traits, others can develop them. These
include:
✔ Being a good leader
✔ Being optimistic
✔ Being confident
✔ Being passionate
✔ Being disciplined
✔ Being proactive
✔ Keeping an open mind
✔ Being competitive
✔ Being kind
Being a good leader – a good leader should
have integrity, self-awareness, courage,
respect, empathy, and gratitude
- they should be learning agile and
flex their influence while
communicating and delegating
effectively
Being optimistic – an optimistic person
thinks the best possible thing will happen,
and hopes for it even if it’s not likely
Being confident – confidence means feeling
sure of yourself and your abilities, not in an
arrogant way, but in a realistic and secure
way
- confidence isn't about feeling
superior to others, it's a quiet inner
knowledge that you're capable.
- confident people: feel secure rather
than insecure
Being passionate – a passionate person has
very strong feelings about something or a
strong belief in something
Being disciplined – being able to carefully
control the way that you work, live, or
behave specially to achieve a goal
Being proactive - according to research on
proactive behavior, “being proactive
involves self-initiated, future-focused, and
change-oriented behaviors.”
- means thinking about the future and
focusing on the things you can
control instead of all those you
cannot.
Keeping an open mind - to wait until you
know all the facts before forming an opinion
or making a judgment
- we should keep an open mind until
all of the evidence is available
Being competitive - a competitive person is
eager to be more successful than other
people.
 - he has always been ambitious and
fiercely competitive.
Being kind – it is being selfless, caring,
compassionate, and unconditionally kind
- like love, it takes practice to
understand and feel it
- we share love with others through
kind acts such as smile, a nice word,
an unexpected deed, or a planned
surprise
Successful entrepreneurs are often described
as person who:
 Take moderate risks,
 Have self-confidence,
 Work hard,
 Set goals,
 Are responsible,
 Are innovative,
 Have technical knowledge and,
 Have business knowledge
Moderate in Taking Risks – moderate risk
takers are those entrepreneurs who are often
characterized as willing to assume a
moderate amount of risk in business, being
neither overly conservative nor likely to
gamble
Self-confidence - is an attitude about your
skills and abilities.
- it means you accept and trust
yourself and have a sense of control
in your life.
- you know your strengths and
weakness well, and have a positive
view of yourself.
- you set realistic expectations and
goals, communicate assertively, and
can handle criticism.
Having self-confidence also means you are
realistic and you know the limits of your
abilities. You know what you can and
cannot do. Entrepreneurs are not afraid to
ask for help with difficult tasks.
Hardworking - the definition of hard
working is something or someone that is
diligent in laboring and that puts effort into
doing and completing tasks
Goal-oriented - instead of being ambitious,
it's important to be goal-oriented.
- that means you understand the
importance of creating, pursuing and
ultimately meeting goals, and you
have the personality and discipline
necessary to ensure your business
maintains good goal habits.
Responsible - being responsible means
being dependable, keeping promises and
honoring our commitments.
Innovative - something innovative is new
and original. I
- if you love to experiment and find
new ways to do things, you are an
innovative person.
- like nova, novel, and novice, comes
from the Latin novus, which means
new.
- something innovative renews or
alters the way something has been
done.
Knowledgeable about Technical Factors -
these are factors that provide the physically
immersive qualities of an experience.
Knowledgeable about Business Factors -
you will also need business knowledge,
which is knowing how to operate the
enterprise.
Advantages of Working for Yourself Possible Loss of Invested Capital - a risk
of entrepreneurship is the possibility of
Those who choose entrepreneurship as a
losing invested capital.
career usually do so for five appealing
reasons: - it refers to the entrepreneur’s money
used in starting the enterprise.
 Personal Satisfaction
- as a general rule, the riskier the
 Independence
business, the greater the profit
 Profit
potential.
 Job Security
- if the enterprise succeeds, profits
 Status
may be high; if not, invested capital
Personal Satisfaction - the individual's may be lost.
experience of a sense of fulfillment of a - the entrepreneur risks losing personal
need or want and the quality or state of and family savings.
being satisfied. - it may take years to repay banks,
suppliers, or individuals who made
Independence - the state or quality of being loans to get the business started.
independent. freedom from the control,
influence, support, aid, or the like, of others.
Profit – a financial gain, especially the
difference between the amount earned and
the amount spent in buying, operating, or
producing something
Job Security - the state of having a job that
is secure and from which one is unlikely to
be dismissed.
Status – it is a person’s social rank or
position

Disadvantages of Working for Yourself

In addition to knowing the advantages of
working for yourself, you should also be
familiar with the disadvantages:
 Possible Loss of Invested Capital
 Uncertain or Low Income
 Long Hours
 Routing Chores
Uncertain or Low Income - another Are great entrepreneurs made or born?
disadvantage of owning your own business
Many individuals struggle with this question
is the possibility of uncertain or low income.
in the quest of starting and operating a
- unlike paychecks of salaried business. It is not an easy task growing a
workers, profits usually vary from business from the idea stage to a big
month to month. business with huge profit margins.
- this is true even in well-established
The trend of life shows that even the
enterprises.
individuals born with a silver spoon in the
- when income is available, there may
mouth, hard work beats talent anytime. It is
not be enough to meet personal and
for this reason that an entrepreneur must be
family needs.
willing to work hard as well as smart to
- this is often the case during the first
realize the success of their ventures.
six to twelve months of operation.
- the level of sales and income tends to
be low in these early months when
the business is not known to many
people.
Long Hours - it means that you work for a
period of time that is longer than the usual,
regular, or routine for a given activity.
- in other words, it may mean
overtime.
Routine Chores - running your own
business may involve chores you do not like.
- for example, new business owners
expect to do some paperwork.
- however, many do not realize how
much is required until the business is
started.
- by that time, some feel they are
buried under a mound of paper.
One of the surprises is the extent of record
keeping for items such as billing, payroll,
and taxes.
Maintenance and cleaning are other chores
that must be performed each day.
While it is possible to hire employees to
perform these routine duties, a shortage of
cash may prevent owners from doing so.