Personal Characteristics of Entrepreneurs (Part 2)

Commitment to work contract

Do you honor your word? Your promises? Did you complete and submit your work on time – when you were in school? In the workplace, do you think twice doing dirty or boring work, or someone else’s work, if necessary, just to get the job done on time – all because you gave your word?

Entrepreneurs will pay their workers premium overtime wages or other incentives to meet a delivery schedule and not disappoint their customers. And these owner-managers work right alongside their people doing whatever needs to be done, including sweeping floors and cleaning toilets. They skip a meal, lose sleep, do the work of absent workers. Some even miss family parties, children’s graduation, wedding anniversary dates, etc., in their commitment to the work contract.

Can you imagine yourself making such personal sacrifices too? 

Demand for quality and efficiency

A high standard of quality and efficiency is also dominant among achieving entrepreneurs. They expect excellence from themselves and their workers. So, in order to be able to meet these standards, they strive to find ways to do things better, faster, cheaper.

What about you? Whatever you’re doing, no matter how small, ordinary, or “everyday” – like wrapping a gift, cooking a meal, or hanging a picture frame on a wall – do you try to do it as well as you can? You oftentimes hear “puwede na iyan!” from friends and other people, are you one of those who submit work that is puwede na kahit papaano ang paggawa?”

Other questions to ask yourself to find out your drive for quality and efficiency: Does it bother you when things are not done well? Do you always think there is a better way to accomplish a task? Do you find ways to complete tasks assigned to you faster at work and at home?

A quality product done at very minimal costs will give not only the entrepreneur a high level of satisfaction but so does the customer or the buyer of the product. 

Goal setting

Do you like to think about the future? Do you have a clear plan, more or less, about your life?

Do you think of what you want to accomplish tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, or five years from now? Do you think of today’s activity as only a small step towards what you want to accomplish over the long term?

If you say yes to most of these questions, then you are a goal setter – another important virtue of the successful entrepreneur. 

Information seeking

Information seeking is related to planning. As a careful planner, the entrepreneur seeks information useful to the business. This is related to informed decision-making and calculated or studied risks. He consults experts, clients, competitors, suppliers – just about anyone who can help. He will not also hesitate to approach government promotion agencies, banks, and other sources of information and assistance.

Are you an information seeker too? When you don’t know something, do you mind admitting it? And knowing that you don’t know, would you seek out a person who knows what you do not know?

Before there is anything concrete, do you rush into things right away, thinking you can do something or improvise along the way? Or do you gather as much information as you can about it before going ahead?

Think back when you were younger and in school. Weren’t you afraid to ask questions if you were not clear about a lesson? Recall an important project you had to do. Did you seek out advice from teachers? Parents? Other students?

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