Entrepreneurship Productivity

Don’t Be a Victim Of These 4 Entrepreneurial Career Killers

Written by Evan Goodman

If your progress to build a successful entrepreneurial career has been slow, it might be time to take a long, hard look inward. It might not be outside influences that are sidelining your success; it could be personal shortcomings you have yet to face. If your dream is to maintain a career as a  successful entrepreneur, you need to make sure you possess the necessary character traits. The following four characteristics can be particularly detrimental to an entrepreneurial career, so take the time to reflect and if you do possess these traits, look at how you can overcome them to pursue your passion as an entrepreneur.

1. Negative Thinking

Negative thinking cannot only impact you and your career as an entrepreneur; it can have a disastrous impact on those around you. Looking at business opportunities with a ‘glass half empty’ attitude will pretty much doom any future endeavours which may come across your path.

The way you think translates into how you speak to others, and it also has an impact on the ‘tiny voice’ we hear inside our head when we need to make decisions.

Moving away from thoughts that stop us behaving and thinking rationally will assist us in seeing situations for what they are. Often, when we are in a negative mind frame, we tend only to see the things we want to see, and we choose to be selective about what we want to remember. The longer we choose to accept this negatively, the worse the issues are likely to become – and we do not want it to impact those around us.

Adjusting your thinking to see the potential in business opportunities can help build your strengths as an entrepreneur and grow your company at the same time.

2. Laziness

Laziness or a sense of entitlement is disastrous if you want a long-term career as an entrepreneur – or success in just about any endeavour you undertake! Expecting others to ‘pave your road to success’ or make the necessary moves to propel your company forward is a sure-fire way to make sure your undertaking is short-lived. Successful entrepreneurs don’t sit idly by on the sidelines; they take action.

Laziness is more than just not doing something; it creates reasons for you to be lazy. You need to come up with reasons why you are not doing the work you are supposed to. These reasons build up, and eventually it becomes harder to overcome this trait.

If, at your core, you tend to be a lazy individual, you might want to reconsider whether the life of an entrepreneur is right for you.

3. Time Wasting

Time wasters fiddle (I do not refer to intentional time wasting) with activities that don’t produce a significant return on investment(ROI). Puttering on projects that don’t build your company is not only a waste of your time, but they’re also a waste of company resources too.

There is a difference between ‘good and bad’ time wasting. The ‘good’ is when we need to spend time building relationships with our work colleagues, the need to unplug and recharge from a hectic pace due to a deadline or learning new skills around the office.

The bad includes:

  • Being stuck on projects when others are running late, putting you in limbo.
  • Being interrupted and trying to re-engage, which often can take 10-20 minutes. During this time, it’s easy to slip into wasteful routines like checking your email, social media etc.
  • Doing task others can do faster or cheaper. It’s common for small business owners to wear lots of hats. However, as you grow, you need to ‘let go’ and understand the value of others doing work for you, or some of your work.
  • Not automating manual work.

Analysing a task before you start to better understand the ROI to your company is crucial. Ensuring you become the ‘boss of your time’, and remove distractions, will go a long way to assist.

4. Lack of Direction

If there’s one trait that will kill your entrepreneurial endeavours faster than any other, it is having a lack of direction. You can have the yearning to be an entrepreneur, but not be sufficiently self-confident or audacious to make your dreams a reality. Being an entrepreneur takes time and hard work. It means setting goals and milestones that you can reach along the way to make your dream a reality. Without direction and drive your path to success may be a very challenging one.

Becoming a successful entrepreneur doesn’t just magically happen. You need to be honest with yourself and analyse your core characteristics to understand if you truly are cut out for what can be a very challenging career. Regardless of what they are, if you’re willing to face your faults or weaknesses, develop a strategy to better yourself, and push forward no matter how daunting the climb, you can reap the rewards of entrepreneurship.

“The opinions expressed by BizWitty Contributors are their own, not those of BizCover and should not be relied upon in place of appropriate professional advice. Please read our full disclaimer."

About the author

Evan Goodman

Over the past 30 years, Evan Goodman | Business Coach has founded numerous ‘start-ups’, built them into successful businesses and gone on to sell them. He has experienced and overcome most of the common challenges faced by business owners and leaders and understands the pressure and stresses that running a business can cause.

He also recognises the value and importance of getting sound advice and support when faced by these common challenges and of being prepared to openly discuss issues with a coach or mentor.

Since building up his last business into a national company, and selling it in 2009, Evan focusses on coaching SME business owners on how to become business leaders. He has a Masters of Business Coaching degree UOW; creating a unique blend of experience, expertise and coaching best practice for his clients.