The 5 characteristics of entrepreneurship you need for business

Whether you’re looking to set up a thriving small business or take over an industry, having an entrepreneurial mindset and outlook is key. It’s not always easy, but it is worth it.

At Countingup, we want to empower new business owners and help budding innovators become successful. Discover our top five characteristics of entrepreneurship and learn how you can apply them to your new business. Find out:

• What is ‘entrepreneurship’?
• The five characteristics of entrepreneurship
• Can you learn entrepreneurship? And how?
• How to streamline your entrepreneurship with Countingup

An ‘entrepreneur’ is defined as ‘a person who manages a business with considerable initiative and risk’.

Therefore, as a new business owner seeking to learn entrepreneurship, you should aim to perfect the ‘managing’ part – successful businesses aren’t built overnight and require lots of consideration so you don’t waste your money or time. 

Find out the characteristics of entrepreneurship and how you can use them to build your business and navigate your risk below.

Research on how entrepreneurs think and what makes them different from other types of people has shown some key differences that give entrepreneurs an edge in the business world.

First and foremost, entrepreneurs are keen to experience new challenges and overcome them. As a new business owner, you’ll need to be comfortable with wearing lots of different hats – you might have to plan your product development, marketing strategy, and tax compliance all in the same day. Use your curiosity to identify what you don’t know, find out where you can learn more, and apply the information you’ve learned to your business. 

With so much to learn, it’s understandable to feel overwhelmed at times; this is where our second aspect comes into play. Entrepreneurs must also be resilient: able to bounce back from setbacks and be ready to face new ones at any time. This skill will help you stay focused as your new business gets established – especially if you face some drier weekly sales. However, these days, it’s also important to stress the impact of mental health – ‘resilience’ as an entrepreneur is equally as much about being capable of recovering as it is about knowing your limits to stop and rest in the first place.

That’s why, if you’re to build a successful business, personal sustainability is vital. Don’t burn out your curiosity and resilience just as you enter the business world and start to plan long term.

Inquisitive and outgoing people can be found in many roles across society, but successful entrepreneurs also need an understanding of the basic principles of business. Specifically:

• What is selling well now, and what’s coming up next?
• What do customers need or want?

While this might be an instinct for some, studying trends in business tastes and customer demand from feedback and market research can provide the same insight for you to launch a profitable venture.

In a similar vein, there are other necessary aspects within a business skillset like finance and accounting. You can learn the basics to make sure you’re budgeting well and complying with all the necessary laws you need to – even if you’re not the type of person who struggles with numbers.

Creating and maintaining a popular and well-regarded product or service means you’ll have to constantly work on its development by seeking ways you can improve. In pursuit of this, many entrepreneurs take a logistical approach to their business’ strategy and trajectory.

This has traditionally been easier for businesses with products, where entrepreneurs might experiment with different materials or recipes of manufacturing. However, modern software and productivity solutions can allow service providers to also take an overview of their business’ delivery and make tweaks where necessary.

Finally, communication for entrepreneurs is critical. Whether you’re looking to increase your sales with customers or convince investors or lenders of the future potential within your business, entrepreneurs who can’t share their vision well enough can struggle to stay afloat in the long term.

Communication as a skill is particularly relevant within marketing across the various ways in which customers interpret value: colour, design, tone, etc. Therefore, having a strong brand is increasingly a basic element of business.

At Countingup, we like to think so – so much so that we’ve even written a guide on it: How to learn entrepreneurship and What are the benefits of entrepreneurship?

Additionally, if you haven’t noticed already, we’ve included links to further resources with industry tips and insider knowledge to help you get an edge in business throughout this article. Take a look at the article again and check out each of the guides provided. 

Don’t let your financial admin steal time from developing your entrepreneurial development. Establishing and growing a business takes time and effort, so use Countingup to help make it easier.

Countingup is the business current account with free, built-in accounting software. With all your financial information in one place, Countingup can automate your financial admin and save you time and stress. 

With automatic expense categorisation, receipt capture tools and cash flow insights, you can confidently keep on top of your business finances every day and spend more time focussing on the road ahead.

Find out more here and sign up for free today.