Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

Three Skills Every Entrepreneur Needs to Survive

The following post is from Brian Kelley ’18 , founder of Kanga Trash & Energy Systems, a fall 2015 hatchery business.

Each entrepreneur has a different skill set. Some listen and communicate. Other do a good job of knowing when to ask for help. Yet everyone needs somewhere to start. It is important to recognize the following skills are essential to every entrepreneur:

Industriousness: There is no substitute for hard work. However, this hard work must be accompanied with proper planning. The combination of hard work and planning results in industriousness. Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden would spend two hours with his staff planning each practice. Each drill was calculated to the minute. Every practice was choreographed, including where the practice basketball would be placed. By having his practices carefully orchestrated, Wooden’s team could accomplish more on the court in a shorter period of time. As an entrepreneur you need to plan what you want to accomplish, and how much time are you going to spend accomplishing those tasks? Worthwhile results come from hard work and planning.

Initiative: Initiative is having the courage to take action and make decisions. One of my favorite teachers would always say “there is no better time than the present.” Do not be afraid of failure. Fear of making a mistake should not hinder you from taking initiative. When action is needed, you must not fail to act. After all, if you are not doing anything you, are making the biggest mistake of all.

Enthusiasm: We have to enjoy what we do in order to succeed. When his teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hit a game winning jump shot on opening night in 1979, Magic Johnson went crazy, hugging everyone in sight and giving high-fives to everyone on the team, even the water boy. He was acting like they won the world championship. When the Lakers won the next night, Magic’s mood had not changed as continued to hand out high-fives with an ecstatic smile. Magic’s enthusiasm was contagious and his teammates reciprocated it. He was bringing out the best in everyone with his positive energy. As an entrepreneur, if you do not enjoy what you do you will not be able to push yourself to achieve your best. However if you do enjoy what you do, and are enthusiastic about it, then you will try harder to become the best you can be.

There are many other skills that make great entrepreneurs.  However in order to reach your best as an entrepreneur you need to have initiative, enthusiasm, and industriousness to accomplish things.