06/ 27/ 2007
How would your best friends describe you? If they use words like friendly, loyal and kind, not only will you do well in your personal relationships but also in the business world. Your personality traits will go a long way in determining how successful a small-business owner you'll be. If you come up short in any of the following areas, don't despair. While we often think of personality traits as innate, they can be cultivated like anything else. Whether these already describe you, or whether you wish they did, here are the traits essential to your success:
Hardworking
As someone pursuing both a business and an education, you likely fit into this category. Most small-business owners go into business because they have a passion for it, not because they dream it will bring in easy money and free them from the 9-to-5 grind. In fact, many of them work from 9-to-9 and then some.
So reassess your motivation for starting your business in the first place. Did you just need to earn some extra money or wish that it would prevent you from having to get a “real” job after you earn your bachelor's? If so, then you probably shouldn't expect your business to last over the long haul. While you likely worked hard starting up your business, sustaining it is where the elbow grease and midnight oil will sooner or later be necessary.
Ethical
Again, reexamine your motives for going into business. Hopefully somewhere on that list would be your desire to provide your community with a useful service. Keeping this intent in your mind will help you to make ethical business decisions. Unethical business practices run the gamut from price gouging to bad accounting and from cutting costs by using faulty materials to duping customers into making purchases they don't need. A small-business owner who's in it for the long run will always avoid temptation to make underhanded decisions; a reputation for being respected and having a loyal customer base will keep you in business far longer.
Persistent
Good small-business owners don't let anything fall through the cracks. A supplier won't return your calls? Keep calling them until they do. Having trouble reaching your target market? Try a variety of promotions and advertising techniques until you find the ones that work.
If follow-through isn't your strong point, make yourself more accountable. Put these projects at the top of your daily to-do list and get them over with first thing in the morning. Not only will this allow you to tackle these problems when you're freshest, it will also allow you to work the rest of the day without the problems hanging over your head.
Outgoing
And you thought popularity contests ended with high school. Unfortunately for those who are naturally more shy and retiring, the success of your small business may very well depend on how social you can become. For example, assuming that your business offers the same products and services of a comparable price and quality to another business in town, which business is a customer going to go with? The one that makes him feel comfortable, connected and appreciated.
If you have trouble talking to people, there are plenty of ways to get over this. You could join industry or school networking groups and practice your skills there, or you could start by observing your more outgoing friends. Ask them for pointers and mimic their behaviors. While this might feel unnatural at first, with practice you might no longer think of yourself as shy.
Organized
While it is perfectly possible to run a successful small business with a desk full of junk mail and file cabinets filled with unorganized purchase order slips, you'll keep much more of your sanity if you implement good organizational practices now. This will be even more crucial as your business grows.
If you currently tend towards the messy side, perhaps a trip to a office organizing store will help you. To justify the part of your budget you spend on file systems and containers, you'll feel you have to use them. Once you get your workstation in order, be vigilant about not letting more papers pile up, not leaving phone messages unanswered on the machine and so on. You should never leave your office in such a state of disarray that you'll have a hard time getting started the next day.
If there are aspects of your personality you are actively cultivating, put reminders on your workstation. For example, if you want to become more honest in your dealings with others, find some good quotes about honesty to tack up or display a photo of someone who exemplifies this trait—Gandhi, Abe Lincoln, your grandmother. Working on yourself will improve all aspects of your life, business included.
