Entrepreneurial Skills

There is one thing to keep in mind. Not all Entrepreneurs have these skills.  Some have them and some don’t.  That being said skills and characteristics can be broken down into three different categories.

• Innate Characteristics – Natural or characteristics that you are born with.
• Learned Characteristics – Characteristics that have been developed with much practice.
• Experiential Characteristics – Characteristics that have been developed through different interactions and occasions in the entrepreneur’s life.

We have discussed the many different types of skills and characterstics that other Entrepreneurs have, now it is time to see what you possess.

What makes someone a successful entrepreneur? It certainly helps to have strong technology skills or expertise in a key area, but these are not defining characteristics of entrepreneurship. Instead, the key qualities are traits such as creativity, the ability to keep going in the face of hardship, and the social skills needed to build great teams. If you want to start a business, it's essential to learn the specific skills that underpin these qualities. It's also important to develop entrepreneurial skills if you're in a job role where you're expected to develop a business, or "take things forward" more generally.

Team building is the most important characteristic of an entrepreneur. When you are identifying and listing the characteristics of an entrepreneur, team building should be stressed. Teamwork is a critical team building skill, which entrepreneurs must cultivate to be successful Entrepreneurial skills need to be developed through the course and not just in this section. The Entrepreneurial ego ( attitude or view ) is a critical characteristic of those who become successful entrepreneurs.  Some of the characteristics that are typically associated with entrepreneurs are:

• a spirit of adventure
• a strong need to achieve and seek personal accomplishment
• self confidence and self reliance
• trust of other people
• goal orientation
• innovation, creativity and versatility
• persistence
• hard working and energetic
• a positive attitude
• a strong sense of personal awareness
• willingness to take initiative
• a strong sense of commitment
• high energy level
• ability to seek out and use feedback
• integrity and reliability
• patience
• ability to deal with failure
• leadership
• an ability to inspire and
• an understanding of different cultures

Entrepreneurial characteristics and skills can be divided into three types;

·         Innate Characteristics - Natural or characteristics that you are born with.

·         Learned Characteristics - Characteristics that have been developed with much practice.

·         Experiential Characteristics - Characteristics that have been developed through different interactions and occasions in the entrepreneur's life.

There are many different types of skills or characteristics that entrepreneurs may possess that are unappealing, and will do more harm than good.  Those include;

• invulnerability
• machismo/feminism
• impulsiveness
• over-controlling
• perfectionism