10 TRAITS THAT LEAD TO SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS

Since starting my business 14 years ago, people have often said things that refer to my personal traits that I hadn’t given much thought to. They’ve said things like:

“You were brave to start a business.”
“You’re a workaholic.”
“If I was as good at marketing as you are, my business wouldn’t have failed.”

These comments, along with other comments and questions, have caused me to reflect on what traits a Small Business Owner should have. This is my list of 10 traits that lead to small business success . . .

“. . . you need to have smart plans in place to ensure that you don’t spend more than you make!”

Strong Leadership Skills

A business owner needs to be able to focus and prioritize on what’s important, needs to plan, needs to have empathy for staff, needs to communicate well. All of these things can be summarized as strong leadership skills.

Hard-Working/Self-Motivated

It’s important to not only be willing and able to work hard and long hours, but you also need to be able to get things done without having someone tell you what needs to be done. Sure, it may be helpful to have a consultant, business coach or mentor, but YOU have to be the one to get things done!

Flexible/Resourceful

There will always be things that come up that you won’t predict. Reaching out to others or sometimes even doing online searches (googling) will help you learn what you need. In addition, not everything will actually go as planned. Some ideas/products/services will fail. You need to be flexible, and often resourceful, while adapting and charting courses of action.

Decisive

Even if you have the time to consult with others, you have to make decisions. And, doing so should be comfortable for you. Sometimes you won’t have time to think about something; you’ll need to be decisive . . . and quickly.

Fiscally Responsible

As a Business Owner, you’re ultimately responsible for everything: human resources, marketing, risk management, customer service, accounting, etc. This may sound very simplified, but you need to have smart plans in place to ensure that you don’t spend more than you make! For example, if you’re a retailer and continue to purchase more inventory than you’re selling, it will negatively effect your cash flow and you won’t be in business for long.

Customer-Focused

I’ve read many lists over the years about traits of successful managers, business owners and entrepreneurs. It’s surprising how many of these lists leave out “customer-focused.” If you take care of your customers and provide your team with the knowledge and tools to take care of your customers, the money will follow. It really is that simple!

” If you take care of your customers and provide your team with the knowledge and tools to take care of your customers, the money will follow.”

Effective Marketer

Everything from a one-on-one Elevator Pitch to social media posts to direct mail pieces should promote your brand and help ultimately increase sales. There are many different types of marketing and it’s an area that is constantly changing. What worked 5 years ago, and often 5 months ago, may not work today. This is why being a constant learner is so important. (See the last trait listed below.)

Collaborative

You may be thinking that as a business owner there’s nobody you need to collaborate with because you’re the boss. How wrong! You need to collaborate with your team, with customers, with other business owners and with vendors. By collaborating with your team, you may not only discover great ideas that you hadn’t thought of yourself but you’ll get your team to believe in you as a leader and support whatever becomes of the collaboration. By collaborating with vendors, you may get special deals, information, training, service, etc. There are so many examples of how networking and collaborating can be beneficial . . . hmm, this may be a topic for a longer article in the near future!!!

Confident

If you’re not confident, you won’t be believed. Others won’t have confidence in you or your business. And, you won’t be able to make the decisions you need to in order to succeed. As your business grows you will, of course, become more confident. But, you must be a little brave and have a lot of confidence to be a business owner even during start-up. Don’t confuse confidence with being “over confident” or “cocky” however. Being boastful or a show-off is cocky and unappreciated by most people. Being confident is being self-assured. There’s a huge difference!

Constant Learner

Everything is constantly changing. You have to be devoted to learning. Whether it’s new technology that will save you time, new marketing trends that you need to focus on, or new products or services that will help you and your customers . . . you should always strive to learn. As a Constant Learner, you are apt to discover opportunities for improvement and growth. You’ll also be open to new technologies that will help you save time and money AND new products and services you can sell.

Everything is constantly changing. You have to be devoted to learning.

If you’re already a business owner, you’ll probably recognize that you have these traits, or at least most of these traits. If you’re thinking about starting our purchasing a business, hopefully this list will help you assess if you have “what it takes” to be successful. Some of these take more time than others to develop.

Can you think of a trait I didn’t share that is essential for Small Business Success? Would you like to comment on any of the traits listed? Please include a comment in the comment section below!

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Sondra Kirtley

Sondra Kirtley, MBA, is an entrepreneur who owns and operates a retail and service business in Eureka, California. Known for her helpful nature and small business expertise, Sondra founded SmallBizpathway.com to share tips and experiences with other small business owners.