Is it intelligence? Is it luck? Is it connection? What does it really take to become a successful entrepreneur?

We have all thought about this looking at the cover of Forbes 500, haven’t we? Or when we notice one business (be it a deli or an accounting firm) doing so well while another similar business around the corner fails miserably. I am on a mission to find out what qualities or characteristics it takes to become a successful entrepreneur – and this is what I have found so far. . .

1. Passion

This is the moving force that gets us take the leap and gets us out of bed with excitement every morning. Successful entrepreneurs love what they do. So spending a lot of time doing it is actually a pleasure, not really a work. They love doing not just the part that immediately affects the bottom line, but also studying about it and thinking and dreaming about it. When you are like this, the people around you feel your passion and naturally help you out.

Usually, the passion is about the service or products you want to offer, but sometimes there are variations. I heard that Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, was passionate about building a business that treats its employees well more than he was passionate about coffee. Because he grew up looking at his dad who was treated poorly at work and yet could not leave the work.

Or how about the case of Chris Gardner, who rose from poverty to become a successful stock broker and established his own brokerage firm Gardner Rich. (His story became a movie The Pursuit of Happyness (Widescreen Edition) His main passion seems to be about being a good father to his kid, and this drove him to aim high.

2. Self-Love

Successful entrepreneurs believe in themselves to the point they take their ideas seriously and put them into business. Self-love and sense of service together form the foundation of strong entrepreneurship. This is where the strength comes from when the going gets tough.

Self-love is also about defining a healthy boundary, which is critical in dealing with others effectively. Further, a new sense of self-discovery, supported by self-love, is the critical part of clarifying our niche and carving out our own brand. People don’t like doing business with faceless organizations really – and without the self-love, how will you put yourself in front of your customers? (Have you noticed the name of this blog, “Yes to Me”? This is for you, the aspiring entrepreneur, to love yourself to the point you say “Yes to me.”)

3. Sense of Service

If you’ve been thinking you need to somehow cheat, manipulate, or otherwise take advantage of people to be a successful business owner, this may come as surprise. I was first introduced to this idea of entrepreneur as social server in one of Rich Dad’s books Rich Dad’s Retire Young, Retire Rich. In this book, he asks “a very important question” that “if answered and acted upon, that makes people millionaires, even billionaires.” The question is:

How can I do what I do for more people with less work and for a better price?

Entrepreneurs serve the world through the work we do. And as entrepreneurs, we are the biggest beneficiary of this service because it gives us the strength to carry out our businesses. Without the sense that what we are doing makes a positive difference to other people’s lives, and to the world, it is hard to keep going.

4. Compassion

10 years ago, I might have called this inter-personal skills, but now I know it is more than a skill.  As entrepreneurs, we need genuine compassion for the people around us, whether they are customers, potential customers, employees, business partners and advisers, and just anyone and everyone. Because everyone has the potential to help us in one way or the other, but for that to happen, we must first care for them so that they know us and care for us. And this is not about being a people-pleaser. There are people who are not the right match. Compassion is still the basis of true inter-personal relationships.

Liz Strauss at Successful Blog has a good post about this. It is titled The Best Business Advice Ever . . . in 50 Words. She says she learned the most important business lesson from her father. Let me quote:

Learn your business from your customers. Understand their minds, their hearts, and their lives. Do what you do to make their lives easier. When a problem comes, leave them a place to stand and stand tall beside them. . . . And remember, everyone is your customer, even your dad.

5. Skills / Knowledge

I am a practical dreamer. Here I am saying we do need to learn what we need to learn. If you are not prepared, what do you do when the opportunity falls on you? Liz has another post that illustrates this scenario. It is titled Success Can Come Right Out of Nowhere. Make no mistake. This is NOT about overnight success that takes no effort nor skills. The girl sure got an opportunity of a life time “out of nowhere”, but the real reason of her success is her great performance, her singing skill exhibited on the stage even though it was her first time. The opportunity may fall on you by accident, but if you are not well equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge, it will amount to nothing.

As a small business owner, you will need to learn not just the core skill you feel passionate about, but also the basic skills of running a successful business. You can hire a pro for, say, bookkeeping, if you don’t like accounting, but at least you need to know the difference between gross profit and operational profit.

One of the most critical skills of a successful entrepreneur is, I think, the skill to build efficient system.

Yes, this is a very holistic view of entrepreneurship.

I believe it takes far more than business knowledge (like how to write business plan, how to keep a book, and so on) to be a successful entrepreneur – it is about mental, emotional, and even spiritual change. What do you think? Do you know other “secret of success” I have missed? Tell me!

Thanks to Rob for including this post in Coaching Carnival, to E3 for inclusion in Carnival of Success Principles, to Carnival of Careers for inclusion.