Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Successful Entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurs think differently than the 9 to 5 masses. It's not that there's anything wrong with being a 9-5'er or thinking like an employee-after all, good employees are more or less the bread and butter of what makes the world go 'round. But to be a successful entrepreneur does require thinking from a slightly different perspective.

It's not about the boss...it's about the bottom line.

You can't be a successful entrepreneur or small business owner without thinking about the bottom line. One of the initial culture shocks that many employees who choose to become their own bosses face is that they now must make all of the financial decisions that go along with operating a successful venture (and they must make them correctly to avoid untimely failure).

Sure, as an entrepreneur, you'll have all of the freedom in the world to be your own boss, but this requires a keen responsibility to keep the bottom line healthy, too. Entrepreneurs must understand that the buck stops with them and no one else...it is their game to win or lose!

Entrepreneurs don't think about putting in the time.

Again, there's a great deal of freedom that comes with giving up the 40 hour work week in favor of the freedom to work when you want, where you want, and how you want. This is probably one of the most popular advantages of being an entrepreneur. But there's more to the story.

Entrepreneurs are blessed with flexibility-but building a profitable business does take time. In fact, it would be safe to say that almost all entrepreneurs work well over 40 hours per week. The good news is that the work is often second nature when you're doing something you're truly driven to do. As an entrepreneur, if you find yourself watching the clock, you might not be following the path that's best for you.

Leverage is essential to solo-preneurs.

Starting a new business all by yourself requires thinking in terms of leverage. You can't do it all, but you've still got to figure out the right balance-because ultimately, it all must still be done. The key is leverage. This means leveraging your time, finances, sanity, and more.

While not all entrepreneurs have a staff of employees on board, most do find it helpful and necessary to outsource non-core tasks on a frequent basis. As a solo-preneur, your time and talent is absolutely precious territory and must be used to the maximum. This means that typing up that sales presentation or spending hours updating the website might not be the best use of your time when an outsourced partner can do it for a fraction of what your time is worth to you.

And that brings us to one final note-oftentimes, as an entrepreneur, it's easy to think in terms of lofty long-term financial goals. This is a good thing, as having a winning vision does provide the inspiration to keep moving forward. But in the meantime, it's very important to assign a dollar value to your time. Thinking in these terms will help you make decisions on what tasks are best for you to handle or best to leverage and outsource instead.

Entrepreneurship presents many challenges to those not practiced in this way of thinking. Do you have what it takes?

You may never know unless you try!