What does it mean to be successful? How do entrepreneurs feel about their success and their failures? Some might say that success is a complete life filled with accomplishments, while others might say that it is to just survive. The Webster Hall Dictionary defines success as "1. As a favorable result 2. The gain of wealth, fame, etc". ¹ The word success can mean different things too different people. The definition is subjective and each individual will define it in light of his or her own experiences. To some, being successful might encompass the establishment of their own efficiently managed business. Are their certain types of characteristics or traits that one exhibits in order to run a business or to be successful in life? Can success be measured? These questions have many different answers and people will respond based on their own experiences and background.

"Being an entrepreneur requires physical, mental and emotional strength". It requires a large amount of effort to open a business of your own and then dedicate your entire life and all of your energy in order to make it work. There is a difference in mental attitude between a person who works for someone and the entrepreneur. That is not to say that people who work for others don't take their work seriously, but there is the security of a regular paycheck and the risk of failure and its consequences are not as acute. I believe that in order to be an entrepreneur you must be your own leader. You must run the business to make it successful. A successful entrepreneur possesses a combination of traits such as risk taking, energy, passion, charisma and confidence. Entrepreneurs are risk takers because they are willing to test the market and gauge the demand for their goods or services. They must be energetic and passionate about their work in order to make it a success. If a person is not committed, the chances of success are diminished. They have to be charismatic in order to sell themselves, as well as what they are selling. They must be confident of themselves and their abilities as well as believing in what they are offering. Assuming that the entrepreneur has all of these traits they still should always ask around, talk to people and get to know what they are getting into before they take the leap. They should "do the research". Another thing an entrepreneur should consider is the fact that they must love what they are doing and believe that they are adding value to the lives of others. If they do not, than perhaps they should explore other avenues of endeavor. It is this passion that will keep them going when things are not going well. Another area that they should explore is discovering an activity that matches their personality. A quote that seemed interesting to me was "The main focus of consultation: to help your business succeed by placing your personality into your marketing".⁶ This web site was designed for a marketing company but I think that it can also be applied to the entrepreneur's personality and the business they are attempting to start. I also found a web site that allows the viewer to examine there own personal traits to see if the measure up to what is required of the entrepreneur. This source also mentioned that the present trend is that most individuals will "begin their business in their thirties".⁷ Today many individuals venture out early in their lives to open up their own businesses. The web address is http://strategis.gc.ca/sme-management. If you think you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, check out this site to find out if "you have the right stuff".

Are certain personality traits needed to succeed and to prosper in life? Do different traits or characteristics make us better leaders? An article I found on the web addressed certain traits that good leaders posses. These are the traits that help us to succeed in our work environments and mold us to become better leaders. These traits were based on a study done by Raymond Cattell from personality questionnaires. Cattell, an explorer in the world of personality assessment, had developed a Leadership Potential Equation in 1954 and these traits were developed from this and more current research. There are eight traits that reflect the attributes of an effective leader and six traits that an effective motivator of others should posses. The traits that is commonly associated with an effective leader are emotional stability, dominance, enthusiasm, conscientiousness, social boldness, tough-mindedness, self-assurance, and compulsiveness.² Each one is explained in the following:

1.    EMOTIONAL STABILITY, Good leaders must be able to tolerate frustration and stress. Overall, they must be well adjusted and have the psychological maturity to deal with anything they are required to face.

2.    DOMINANCE, Leaders are often times competitive and decisive and usually enjoy overcoming obstacles. Overall, they are assertive in their thinking style as well as their attitude dealing with others.

3.    ENTHUSIASM, Leaders are usually seen as active, expressive, and energetic. They are often very optimistic and open to change. Overall, they are generally quick and alert and tend to be uninhibited.

4..   CONSCIENTIOUSNESS, Leaders are often dominated by a sense of duty and tend to be very exacting in character. They usually have a very high standard of excellence and an inward desire to do one's best. They also have a need for order and tend to be very self-disciplined.

5.    SOCIAL BOLDNESS, Leaders tend to be spontaneous risk-takers. They are usually socially aggressive and generally thick-skinned. Overall, they are responsive to others and tend to be high in emotional stamina.

6.    TOUGHMINDEDNESS, Good leaders are practical, logical, and to-the-point. They tend to be low in sentimental attachments and comfortable with criticism. They are usually insensitive to hardship and overall, are very poised.

7.    SELF-ASSURANCE, Self-confidence and resiliency are common traits among leaders. They tend to be free of guilt and have little or no need for approval. They are generally secure and free from guilt and are usually unaffected by prior mistakes or failures.

8.    COMPULSIVENESS, Leaders were found to be controlled and very precise in their social interactions. Overall, they were very protective of their integrity and reputation and consequently tended to be socially aware and careful abundant in foresight, and very careful when making decisions or determining specific actions.

The following traits are required in order to interact with others, to motivate them and to empower them so that they know that the work they are doing is worthwhile, and that they are making a meaningful contribution to the success of the firm. These traits are high-energy, intuitiveness; maturity, team orientation, empathy, charisma ³ and they are as follows:

1.    HIGH ENERGY, Long hours and some travel are usually a prerequisite for leadership positions, especially as your company grows. Remaining alert and staying focused is two of the greatest obstacles you will have to face as a leader.

2.    INTUITIVENESS, Rapid changes in the world today combined with information overload result in an inability to "know" everything. In other words, reasoning and logic will not get you through all situations. In fact, more and more leaders are learning to the value of using their intuition and trusting their "gut" when making decisions.

3.    MATURITY, To be a good leader, personal power and recognition must be secondary to the development of your employees. In other words, maturity is based on recognizing that more can be accomplished by empowering others than can be by ruling others.

4.    TEAM ORIENTATION, Business leaders today put a strong emphasis on teamwork. Instead of promoting an adult/child relationship with their employees, leaders create an adult/adult relationship, which fosters team cohesiveness.

5.    EMPATHY, Being able to "put yourself in the other person's shoes" is a key trait of leaders today. Without empathy, you can't build trust. And without trust, you will never be able to get the best effort from your employees.

6.    CHARISMA, People usually perceive leaders as larger than life. Charisma plays a large part in this perception. Leaders who have charisma are able to arouse strong emotions in their employees by defining a vision, which unites and captivates them. Using this vision, leaders motivate employees to reach toward a future goal by tying the goal to substantial personal rewards and values.

Entrepreneurs are leaders and a leader's strength lies in their ability to formulate imaginative and yet practical ideas. In order to conjure up these bright, effective and unique ideas, a leader should be in harmony with their inner self and thus provide a breeding ground for new ideas. A troubled, timid, and mundane mind rarely generates ideas worth implementing. Equally important is the ability to communicate the well thought out ideas to co-workers. Co-workers will not be enthusiastic about an idea if they are not convinced that it stands a good chance for success. Therefore, the leader has to communicate their ideas to co-workers in a very convincing fashion. This is a simple task if the leader's judgement and decision-making skills are valued among the co-workers. I believe that all individuals possess, in varying degrees, the traits for success. However, they are more dominant in some rather than others. The successful entrepreneur capitalizes on the traits that they already posses and develop those traits in which they are lacking. We are all aware of our own traits and know what tasks we are good at and what tasks we have little interest in pursuing. We are our own worst critics. In order to evolve into the leader that we are capable of becoming, we should develop those traits that are not so obvious in our personality.

There might be an intelligence factor that helps determine whether or not we are going to be successful in either our personal or professional lives. This factor is known as the general intelligence factor. It is a global factor that is apparent in all of these tests and it is commonly referred to as the g factor. This g factor gives rise to the theory that purports to measures success. Charles Spearman, the author of this theory, believed that intelligence could "be understood in terms of a single general factor that pervaded performance on all tests of mental ability, as well as a set of specific factors".⁴ This factor not only depends on the scores of various mental tests, but also defines a common factor that emerges from these tests. It includes the realization that people either perform well or poorly across different types of tests. "Researchers discovered... people who do well on one kind of test tend to do well on the others, and people who do poorly generally do so across the board. This overlap, or correlation, suggests that all such tests measure some global element of intellectual ability as well as specific cognitive skills".⁵ This factor seems to have considerable influence on a person's practical quality of life. "Intelligence as measured by IQ tests is the single most effective predictor known of individual performance at school and on the job. It also predicts many other aspects of well being, including a person's chances of divorcing, dropping out of high school, being unemployed or having illegitimate children".⁶ Perhaps a better way to understand the concept of g is to consider the fact that the more complex task the better the g factor can be measured. The more mental manipulation the task requires the higher the g score. Physiologists and geneticists have struggled to determine why people differ. Why some people attain high g scores and others low g scores. They discovered that "these observations have led some investigators to posit that differences in g result from differences in the speed and efficiency of neural processing".⁷ Due to the fact that the brain of an intelligent person uses less energy to accomplish a given task where as the brain of less intelligent people consumes more energy. The decision times measures how fast a question is either answered or responded to. More intelligent participants are faster than slower ones.

There are many different ways to view success, but there are no definite ways to measure it. Certain traits however, can help us to achieve it. The fourteen traits that were mentioned above can be found in a successful leader. However, they can also exist in person with a non-leadership role. These traits of success cannot only help a person succeed in the professional aspect of their life but their personal life as well. The g factor is a measurement factor of success, but it is not the only psychological measurement of success. A person can be deficient in these traits and yet be successful. The traits and a high g factor are undoubtedly a measure of success; however they are only one set of psychological measurements. Entrepreneurs typically have a high g factor, but as the aforementioned illustrates, it is only one measurement. Success is a personal feeling of accomplishment. The thrill of entrepreneurship satisfies this thirst because of its fast moving pace and high risk. Meeting goals and providing a viable product or service certainly adds to the feeling of success.

Article source.

If you are interested to read more follow the links below:

1. Guralnik, David B. "Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language". First Warner Books Printing. NY. December 2002.
2. "Key Traits of Successful Leaders". Online Women's Business Center. Dallas, TX. 7/97. http://www.onlinewbc.org/docs/manage/traits.htm (August 1,2003)
3. "Key Traits of Successful Leaders". Online Women's Business Center. Dallas, TX. 7/97.  http://www.onlinewbc.org/docs/manage/traits.htm (August 1,2003)
4. Sweeney, Laura. "Before Risking Self Employment, Do Your Research". http://www.studentadvantage.com/article_story/1,1075,c2-i22-t112-a14157,00.html.(July 30,2004)
5. Sweeney, Laura. "Before Risking Self Employment, Do Your Research". http://www.studentadvantage.com/article_story/1,1075,c2-i22-t112-a14157,00.html.(July 30,2004)
6. "Planning and Consulting, Marketing with Personality" http://marketing.withpersonality.com/marketing.withpersonality.com_pc.html (August 5,2004)
7. Jennings, Williams E. "ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A Primer for Canadians - Chapter 2: A profile of the Entrepreneur" http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/mi03296e.html#traits (May 15,2004)
8. Radler, Jennifer. "A Cognitive Perspective of Human Intelligence." http://www.fau.edu/divdept/cla/honor/HTML/Project1.html (July 30, 2001)
9. Gottfredson, Linda S. "The General Intelligence Factor"
   http://www.sciam.com/specialissues/1198intelligence/1198gottfred.html (August 1, 2003)
10. Gottfredson, Linda S. "The General Intelligence Factor" http://www.sciam.com/specialissues/1198intelligence/1198gottfred.html (August 1, 2003)
11. Gottfredson, Linda S. "The General Intelligence Factor"
    http://www.sciam.com/specialissues/1198intelligence/1198gottfred.html (August 1, 2003)