Here’s a little secret: I would love to be a great entrepreneur. I would love to have my own company, dynamically shape new and emerging markets and profit from my innovative nature. However, there is a big difference between people who are entrepreneurs (Bill Gates, Guy Kawasaki, Bakery Owners) and people who would love to be entrepreneurs (me).

In order to figure out why it is that we are different, I did a little investigating. In a survey I put out on our Plaxo profile, most people felt that risk acceptance was the greatest characteristic.

Yet, our survey to the members of our LinkedIn group had a variety of different responses. People felt that it was entrepreneur’s ability to “attract, inspire, and lead others”. Another man noted that he “admired the entrepreneur who never quits, who is ever learning and who keeps his or her eye on the dream but the focus on the real world of what has to happen to make it come true.” And yet another respondent noted that most entrepreneurs have self belief, passion and resilience.

Joseph Graben’s response was most valuable to me as he noted that “Some of us are lucky to be born with these characteristics (like musical talent) but for most of us we must learn them (like learning to play the piano).”

I take solace in the fact that I am not yet a successful entrepreneur (although for a short while I ran a sustainable floral business) but that I can still strive to learn the talents that will make me more likely to be one.

In my quest to find an answer, I encourage you to comment on the subject. What do you think makes a great entrepreneur?

Also, please check out these sites that also attempt to tackle the question:

Top 3 Requirements for An Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur.com: 100 Ways to Be a Better Entrepreneur

Blueprint: What Makes a Good Entrepreneur

Top 10 Qualities of An Entrepreneur that cause the Most Problems

Forbes: What Really Makes a Great Entrepreneur

Tags: , entrepreneur, linkedin, Plaxo

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 11:00 am and is filed under Innovators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.