3 Personality Traits of an Entrepreneur

One time while conversing with Sherry Lowry, a business success coach. She characterized some of my observations about the nature of a successful entrepreneur and how it includes the personalities you find in the workplace:

• The Visionary has the ability to look at the overall picture, the long view. The visionary gives you the passion, the fuel, and the drive to keep going.


• The Strategist does the planning, figures out the ''how'' of doing things, making sure all the steps are in place and everything gets done.


• The Technician actually does the details of the job. Technicians often fall in love with the process of doing.

Each of us has these three personalities within us to varying degrees, but one characteristic tends to dominate our personality. A successful entrepreneur is at least 50 percent the visionary. The strategist and the technician personalities either get lost in the details or lose sight of the overall objective. Don't get me wrong, all three of these personalities are necessary to get the job done. The Visionary often has a hard time coming up with the plan and has even a tougher time with minute details. A successful organization needs a ''Visionary'' to keep the others motivated and on track.

You can develop and enhance your visionary characteristics. In my own life, I've become aware of my tendency to migrate through three phases. I've given them different names.

• The Creative Phase You want to write,
  philosophize, come up with new ideas, are driven and motivated. (The Visionary)


• The Productive Phase you just want to get the job done, doing tasks that don't take a lot of creative thought, but require work and time. (The Technician)


• The Organizational Phase The time for cleaning up after the solid production phase - organizing files, planning a new strategy, organizing your time and your life. (The Strategist)

I've seen myself go through these three phases repeatedly over the years, each lasting 1-2 weeks each. And it's very helpful to recognize which phase you're in so you can take best advantage of it, and not become frustrated when you can't (for example) be creative in your productive phase. I've recently learned how to stay in the creative phase longer. Focus on the following:

• Who you are


• Where you want to go -- your overall goals and mission


• Doing what you are ideally suited to do

As I've pulled all my various projects into one common focus, I've noticed an increase in the time I spend in the creative phase.

In summary, to be successful in your own business or as an entrepreneur, you need to spend at least 50 percent of your time in the creative, visionary phase. In order to do this,

• Work with your gifts. – Focus on what you are truly suited to do best. This makes you happy, which keeps you motivated, which feeds your ability to be motivated, have passion, and stay driven.
• Delegate or eliminate aspects of your work that that you don’t like or don’t do well.
• Create an overall mission or focus for your life and your work and live in harmony with it.

Don't be frustrated if you're not the Visionary type. Every successful organization needs a good strategist to figure out how to accomplish what the visionary dreams up. And every organization needs good technical people to do the tasks outlined by the strategists. No matter what your personality, though, you'll be happiest when you do what you are ideally suited to do.