CHARACTER TRAITS

COMMON TO SUCCESSFUL
ENTREPRENEURS
The term character traits in this lesson refers to the
mark or attribute that distinguishes an entrepreneur
from the owner of an ordinary small business.
Based on the studies conducted by the Small
Enterprise Research and Development Foundation
(SERDF) of the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) there are ten (10) entrepreneurial
characteristics grouped into three major clusters.
1. PLANNING CLUSTER
2. POWER CLUSTER
3.ACHIEVEMENT CLUSTER
 ACHIEVEMENT CLUSTER

• An opportunity-seeker
• Committed
• Persistent
• A risk-taker, and
• Efficient and quality oriented
1. Opportunity-seeker

• Sees and acts on new business

opportunities; and
• Seizes unusual opportunities to obtain
financing, equipment, land, work,
space, or assistance
2. Committed

A highly committed entrepreneur

displays full commitment to work or
endeavor that he/she is undertaking. He
does not entertain negativism and
skepticism.
Committed

He/ She
• Accepts full responsibility for what has been promised to the
customers
• Establishes proper coordination with and among workers, so that
goods and services are delivered as promised, and
• Seeks to prioritize the satisfaction and interest of customers

*commitment is directly related to interest. Lack of interest means lack

of commitment.
3. Persistent

Trials, Sacrifices, and failures challenge the entrepreneur

to be persistent . He/She learns to:
• Take repeated or different actions in order to overcome
the obstacles,
• Make personal sacrifices or exert extraordinary effort to
complete the required task and
• Stick to his/her own judgement in times of opposition
and failure.
4. Risk-Taker

Successful entrepreneurs are business risk-takers. There is

risk in entrepreneurship because of uncertainty.

TYPES OF RISK TAKERS

• Aggressive risk taker- not scared to take any business risk
• Moderate risk-taker- more calculative in taking risk
• Conservative risk taker-not very eager to take any kind of
risk
 THE RISK-RETURN GRID

RISK LOW RISK MEDIUM RISK HIGH RISK

RETURN
HIGH RETURN BEST GOOD FAIR

MEDIUM RETURN GOOD FAIR BAD

LO RETURN FAIR BAD WORST

5. EFFICIENT AND QUALITY ORIENTED

A successful entrepreneur highly values efficiency and the

concept of quality in all business undertakings. He/She

• Always performs the required tasks in accordance with

existing standards of excellence
• Strives to do things better and faster with minimal cost.
 PLANNING CLUSTER

• A goal-setter
• An information-seeker
• Systematic in planning and monitoring
1. Goal-setter

The basic concept of planning is setting goals and

objectives. Goals and objectives are the guiding points
that direct all actions, efforts and struggles of the
entrepreneur.
2. Information-seeker

Entrepreneurs constantly make decisions that will affect

the operations of their business ventures. These must be
based on specific and relevant economic, financial, and
industry data.
Information-seeker

CONTRAINTS TO GATHERING OF INFORMATION

• DATA are incomplete, out-dated and irrelevant

• DATA are costly to maintain
• LACK of personnel to maintain them
Information-seeker

A successful information-seeker

• Seeks relevant information on target customers, suppliers of

raw materials and competitors
• Verifies available information from various sources
• Seeks opinions and advice from experts in the business field
• Finds other possible ways to make sure that the desired
information is complete
3. SYSTEMATIC IN PLANNING AND
MONITORING

The term Systematic implies that there is a rational and

logical approach in performing activities.

Planning simply refers to the setting of goals and

objectives. Monitoring on the other hand refers to the
evaluation of activities and adopted courses of actions
whether they are carried accordance to plans.
SYSTEMATIC IN PLANNING AND MONITORING

SYSTEMATIC AND COORDINATED PLANNING AND MONITORING

ACTIVITIES

• Gathers all the qualitative and quantitative information before

formulating the plans,
• Develops a logical step-by-step approach in the formulation of plans
• Monitors the progress of activities and switches to alternative
strategies when deemed necessary, and
• Evaluates constantly the alternatives in achieving goals
 POWER CLUSTER

• Persuasive and Positive Networker

• Self-confident
1. Persuasive and Positive Networker

Successful entrepreneurs are persuasive and can easily influence and win
over to their side the other stakeholders in business.

They are able to establish good and positive networking with almost all of
the players in the business community.

They completely discard the concept of bribery in dealing with people.

They rather employ or adopt a positive way of influencing others with their
brilliant ideas and entrepreneurial aspirations.
Persuasive and Positive Networker

A persuasive and positive networker usually

• Adopt specific strategies that will influence and

convince others while maintaining the highest
degree of respect
• Makes use of positive contacts in the business
community in order to meet the goals and the
objectives of the endeavour.
2. SELF-CONFIDENT

Successful entrepreneurs are known to have a high

level of self-confidence. They project a favourable
image of themselves which is founded on respect and
good deeds in the business community.

Entrepreneurial self-confidence is actually a

manifestation of the entrepreneur’s strong trust or
belief in himself.