After being in business for 16 years, all of them coaching and training handmade entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed some entrepreneurial personality types that usually lead a business straight to the failure zone. I wrote this article so you could check-in with yourself to see if you fall into any of these categories, so you can take action to correct your course before the consequences sneak up on you.
1. The Do-It-Yourself Entrepreneur
You know who I mean here. If you’re a do-it-yourself entrepreneur, you cannot bring yourself to hire someone to help because no one can do it like you can do it.
If you don’t change that mentality, you will never create a sustainable business. You may have a small budget, but you have to start somewhere. Get help the minute you have even a slim margin of profit. You may have to cut back on expenses for a while, but it will be worth it.
2. The Drama Queen (or King) Entrepreneur
One day, the drama queen entrepreneur is ready to tackle the world, the next day, she is ready to close the whole thing down. One minute, you are flying high, the next minute, you are ranting on Facebook about some presidential candidate. The drama queen business owner is easily distracted by every little thing, and rarely has a day where actual goals are met.
Get off of the roller coaster. Identify specific things you must accomplish each day, and don’t let anyone else’s drama get in the way of making those things happen. Your business depends on it.
3. The Always Broke Entrepreneur
The always broke business owner is, well, always broke. Too broke to take a training class that will help you grow. Too broke to hire someone to help you. Too broke to fly to a neighboring state to hear an inspirational speaker who can motivate you to the next level of success.
Get over being the broke entrepreneur. Take steps to make the cash register ring (see below), and set aside a budget each year for personal development and entrepreneurial training.
4. The Do-What-Feels-Good Entrepreneur
It would be great if everyone could accomplish their business goals by doing things they feel like doing when they feel like doing them. The do-what-feels-good entrepreneur publishes a newsletter when she gets around to it, or makes sales calls every now and then. If you see yourself here, you are on course for disaster.
Create systems and schedules in your business so you know what you are going to do, and when, to make sure the sales keep rolling in.
5. The Please Everybody Entrepreneur
Yes, your products are wonderful. And yes, everyone in the world may use products like yours. But that does not mean that your products are for everybody.
You must target your products to a particular audience so you can aim specifically at the people who are most inclined to purchase your unique products. This will help you build a tribe of supporters who will serve as your brand ambassadors, and maximize the chances that you’ll have repeat and sustainable sales over the long haul.
6. The Dream Business Entrepreneur
The dream business entrepreneur has been swallowing too much of the Facebook kool-aid. You know, the sponsored posts that offer this program and that webinar to help you launch your dream business.
Dreams don’t build businesses. Actions do.
Yes, dream it, but wake up quick, and get busy taking action on your dreams — before someone else does.
If you see yourself in any of these scenarios, don’t despair, but do get busy. Make it your first priority to tackle these issues before they tackle you and your business.
You may discover that you are predisposed because of past experiences, or simply because of your personality type, to encounter some of these challenges. No matter. The first step is to identify the issue, and then you can correct your course.
A business coach can sometimes help you identify what’s at the core of these issues, and help you overcome it.
Do you see yourself here in any of these entrepreneurial personality types? Or maybe your past self? How have you been able to change your approach to entrepreneurship to overcome any of these entrepreneurial personality types?
Personalities Photo via Shutterstock
[“source-smallbiztrends”]
