8 Important Character Traits of Every Successful Entrepreneur

As every entrepreneur will tell you, running a business isn't for the faint of heart. Between a strong conviction and the ability to listen, many successful entrepreneurs possess these eight important character traits.

A. Resiliency


The most important character trait necessary for being an entrepreneur is the ability to fail, fail hard, learn from your mistakes and continue moving forward. It's the ability to have perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles and finding a way to succeed. Don't give up and submit to defeat. Rather, use the experience as motivation. - Sesie Bonsi, Bleu

A. Character


Having character is one trait that you can't fake. In the world of serial entrepreneurship, what goes around truly does come around. When you're widely known as an ethical person and respected as someone of honesty and integrity, it can have a long-term impact on your company's bottom line. The reverse is also true. - Melissa Roberts, Free State Strategy Group LLC

A. The Ability to Take Action


As an entrepreneur, it's important to contemplate your decisions; but at the end of the day, you have to be able to take action. Whether it's hiring a new employee, handling a situation with a client, or giving your business a new direction, you have to be able to act. Your business can't grow unless you are driving it, and that means making things happen. - Jason Unger, Digital Ink

A. The Ability to Listen


You have to listen to what people want, what they're asking for and why. Whether it's your employees, business associates or customers, it's important to pause and take in what people have to say. Listen to advice, suggestions and especially grievances with an open mind. Remember, it's not all about you and your agenda. - Jaime Derringer, Design Milk

A. Insight


I believe having insight is important for an entrepreneur. You have to be able to see opportunities in things that others might overlook. An entrepreneur who can look beyond the surface has a higher chance of finding business opportunities and ultimately success. - John Arroyo, Arroyo Labs, Inc.

A. Conviction and Flexibility


As the founder of AlignedSigns.com, I've learned that though it's important to take others' input into consideration, it's more important to have conviction in your own thoughts. This allows you to make decisions based on confidence and become flexible, which is essential for navigating through the expected and unexpected challenges of entrepreneurship. - Jessica Baker, Aligned Signs

A. The Ability to Execute


As Thomas Edison once said, "Vision without execution is just a hallucination." Startup ideas are worthless; execution is everything. Most startups don't die because their idea was stolen, they die because they couldn't find product-market fit. Chances are, there are a handful of companies currently working on an idea similar to yours. Remember, before Google, there was Yahoo, AltaVista and Ask Jeeves, to name a few. - Nate Andorsky, Creative Science Labs

A. Empathy


Great entrepreneurs are masters of connection. They can rally a team of people around an idea and connect the dots to make that idea a reality. - Arry Yu, GiftStarter (Emotiv Labs, Inc.)
