2 more traits of a successful entrepreneur

What does it take to make it in America? You're likely to get as many different answers to that question as there are people to answer it. Fortunately or unfortunately, there's no concrete scientific method for success. Often it's some combination of timing, work ethic, money, perseverance, connections and luck that allows Americans to succeed — particularly when it comes to starting your own business.

Recent years have seen start-ups become increasingly prolific around the country, and while not all of them make it for the long haul, the ones that do strike big. Which begs the question, how do you join their ranks? What do you need for your own successful start-up?

Yesterday, we shared some of Entrepeneur.com's most common personality traits of successful entrepreneurs. While not exactly an all-inclusive mandatory checklist, having a mastery of these characteristics is essential for getting ahead. Here are a couple more that would-be entrepreneurs need in order to get off on the right foot:

• Defy the norm: It can be easy to romanticize Steve Jobs' and similarly successful entrepreneurs' stories of dropping out of college to pursue their business as the key path to fame and fortune. But that kind of mentality misses the point: it's not that Jobs and others simply decided to not go to college, but rather they weren't afraid to defy the status quo of expected higher education and blazed their own trail where "good enough" was never an option.
• Finding a need and filling it: "A million-dollar idea is one that fills a need in the market," writes Entrepreneur.com contributor John Rampton. "However, it takes an entrepreneur to spot disparities and gaps, then come up with ideas to fill then. Of course, any 'new' idea that's good will get its fair share of copy cats […] but natural entrepreneurs are the original creators."

When opening a start-up of your own, make sure to hire a reputable small business attorney that can best represent and protect your legal interests.

Categorised in: Starting a Business in Arizona

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