Thinking of Starting a Small Business? II

2) Do you have the characteristics of an entrepreneur?

There are certain traits and attitudes that make some people more suited to running a successful small business than others.

In one study where entrepreneurs were given a list of attributes and asked to rate their importance for success, the seven most highly ranked qualities were perseverance, the desire and willingness to take the initiative, competitiveness, self-reliance, a strong need to achieve, self-confidence, and good physical health (William E. Jennings, "A Profile of the Entrepreneur").

None of these are particularly surprising; you'd expect a person who was a successful entrepreneur to be self-reliant and self-confident. The entrepreneur characteristics that the same group of entrepreneurs ranked as least necessary for success may surprise you, though; a strong desire for money, patience, being well organized, and having a need for power all ranked at the bottom of the list.

3) What abilities do you need when starting a small business to become a successful entrepreneur?

According to studies conducted by the Bank of Montreal Institute for Small Business, "The Six Success Factors" for starting a small business are:

• self-motivation,
• business and industry knowledge,
• organization and management capabilities,
• marketing skill,
• customer/vendor relations,
• and vision.

Business and industry knowledge should be near the top of anyone's list of requirements for small business success. After all, how many skis or snowboards are you going to sell if you don't know anything about the products or the sport? You can acquire this knowledge through trial and error when starting a small business, but you will probably have to declare bankruptcy before you learn all you need to know. My theory is that lack of knowledge is one of the prime reasons so many new business fail.

People keen on starting a small business sometimes forget about the managerial and administrative skills necessary to run a business; if you're going to start a successful small business, you need to have or develop expertise in business planning, money management, managing people, directing business operations, and directing sales and marketing operations. Business Management Basics will help you learn how to manage these aspects of starting a small business.

Investing the time to learn the skills you need before you start your own business is especially wise because once you've decided to put so much energy into starting a small business, you're going to want it to develop into a viable, thriving enterprise. Sadly, there's a percentage of small businesses started in Canada each year that survive less than two years. Read on for tips on how you can avoid business failure.

Susan Ward