I am very, very tired of people calling themselves entrepreneurs and just being total fakes, so let’s start with a confession:
I am not an entrepreneur. I am a freelancer. There’s a difference.
So why the hell are you answering this question, Marti?
Because I date and live with one. My girlfriend is not only a 2x-Amazon best-seller writer, the hottest girl on Earth, but also the founder of a digital advertising and web design firm.
She started during college when she was 17, and she now works with clients from 7 different countries. Impressing.
Being around someone like her has taught me the 5 qualities every great entrepreneur needs:
- A raison d’être —aka a Why.
The
first thing any successful entrepreneur needs is actually a reason for
what he’s doing. You can watch loads of motivational videos, you can
even fly out Gary Vee and Toni Robbins to your living room and have them
yell at you for a couple of hours, but here’s the truth:
Motivation
fades. And when it does, either you have a good reason to wake up in
the morning or you’ll give up. It’s as simple as that.
When
I saw Steve Jobs, or now with Elon Musk, or even my girlfriend, I could
feel a sense of excitement that goes way far beyond “motivation.”
2. Work ethic (duh). But like, real work ethic.
We
all know that work ethic and discipline are key elements needed to
achieve any type of success in life. But entrepreneurs take it to
another level.
You’ve probably heard stories
of Elon Musk sleeping over at a Tesla factory, or Gary Vee documenting
his long working hours. While they are both outliers and all
entrepreneurs do not work 100 hours/week, they do work more than your
average employee.
I thought I knew what
discipline was after four years of NCAA basketball, but my girlfriend
shows a work ethic that surpasses your expectations. You have to be
there to fully grasp it.
She has pushed me to work harder just to catch up with her.
3. A top-end skill (+ self-awareness).
Every great entrepreneur has one skill that they are just great at. They dominate it. In basketball, we call this our “bread-and-butter”, our go-to thing that we excel at.
Some
of them are great at technical stuff. Others are great at managing
people. Others are great motivators. Others can work out the financials.
Others are great at selling.
And more importantly,
they also know what they’re not good at. They are self-aware enough to
realize what they lack, and humble enough to hire the right people to
supply what they’re missing.
4. A sprinkle of not-give-a-f**kism.
Entrepreneurs
understand that, no matter what they do, there will be people that
criticize them. They know that change, even positive change, is always
met with resistance.
Entrepreneurs get it—in
life, there are only a certain amount of f**s that you can give, so its
important that we prioritize the things that we care about.
5. An iron chin —aka grit.
Having an “iron chin” is a boxing reference. In that sport, you either have a chin made out of glass or out iron. What does that mean?
It’s
about how the boxer responds to getting punched: if he gets knocked out
on the first punch—he has a glass chin. But if, no matter how many
times he gets punched, he keeps on standing up—he has an iron chin.
Entrepreneurs
know that they will get punched. Maybe a new competitor will try to
overpower them. Maybe the Government will pass a law that hurts them.
Maybe a key member of their leadership team quits.
But they also know that whether they get knocked out or they stand is up to them.