Childhood Traits that Lead to Entrepreneurship

Have you been an entrepreneur all of your life? Probably not, but you probably had the traits of one since childhood.

Adolescents who become entrepreneurs are often characterized as having:

• High self esteem
• High intelligence
• Higher incidences of risk taking behaviors
• Higher levels of independence
• A wealthy, educated, stable family

How many of these traits did you have as a child?

It all makes sense when you think about it.

The high self-esteem is crucial as an entrepreneur. You need to believe you can be successful to be successful. You need to have confidence in yourself that you can run a business. Sometimes, it’s the only way to overcome challenges.

Being intelligent is obvious. You can’t run a business if you aren’t smart. You need to be able to know what you need to learn, and put that education to work in your business. If you’re not able to grasp the concepts of business, you won’t be able to run one that is efficient.

When an adolescent takes risks, he is trying to find out how far he can go. He wants to learn more than other people. Now, of course, this could lead to becoming hurt or committing a crime, but the lessons are impressionable. As an entrepreneur, you must be willing to take risks, or you won’t move forward. You’ll make mistakes, just like a risking taking adolescent does, but if you learn from those mistakes, you can overcome the consequences of them.

An adolescent that isn’t afraid to take on situations is showing that he has a high level of independence. He doesn’t need someone to hold his hand through every challenge because he has the confidence and knowledge to do it himself. This is so important to have as a trait when you’re an entrepreneur. You must handle what your business brings because there aren’t always people around you to help.

Children who were raised in wealthy, educated, stable families in the 1979 were more likely to become entrepreneurs, according to the Business Insider. It’s probably because these children had more opportunities to learn the skills and gain the knowledge that prepared them for college or the business world. This is not to say that children that come from poor, uneducated, unstable families won’t become entrepreneurs. It’s just that children growing up with all of these factors have a higher chance of becoming one.

Work Against the Odds

If you didn’t have these traits as a child, don’t believe it puts you out of the running to become an entrepreneur. You can start to gain the strengths that some entrepreneurs were born with.

• Work on your self-esteem. You may need counseling or just constant work on the things that you tell yourself that bring you down. Remembering that you are a capable person that can do what you want to do can help you build up your self-esteem.
• Not every entrepreneur is the most intelligent person. Gain the knowledge you need by studying about the business world you want to be in. The more you learn, the higher your chances of succeeding.
• It may not feel good inside, but learn to take risks. Risks are a part of starting, running, and growing a business. Take small risks in the beginning, so you can start to feel comfortable about them.
• Depend on people sometimes, but not all of the time. Commit to taking on situations independently, so you can learn how to handle them and prove to yourself that you can do it without the help.
• Expose yourself to what you could haven’t have as a child. Your parents may not have had enough money to send you to college, but there are many grants, scholarships, and loan programs that can help you pay for it now. If college isn’t your thing, look for other opportunities to learn more about business.

It’s time to take control of your life despite your childhood. Start making your dreams of being an entrepreneur a reality.

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