Starting a business is easy; keeping it alive and thriving is a challenge. This is where the 8Ps can help you. It’s a collection of eight entrepreneur personality traits that you must develop to make a successful entrepreneur.

1. Passion

Nobody achieved anything great without passion. Passion puts you in a flow state where work feels effortless. And it keeps you going when the going gets tough.

Woody Allen famously said, “80% of success is just showing up.” And that’s true. Come rain or shine. You have to wake up, dress up, and show up with a smile.

2. Promethean

The word comes from the Greek God, Prometheus. He was known for his ingenuity so much that anything creative and innovative is ascribed to be Promethean.

You need to be daringly innovative if you’d want to make it as an entrepreneur. Your product or service can’t be marginally better than the competition. It has to be better by orders of magnitude 10X.

3. Perseverance

NASA named its Mars rover Perseverance for a good reason. They said it captured the spirit of space exploration remarkably well. It will add that it’s curiosity that pulls us out there, but it’s perseverance that does not let us give up.

As an entrepreneur, you’ll encounter many setbacks along the way. But it’s your perseverance that will determine whether you give up or don’t give in. Ultimately, perseverance will pave the way for success.

4. Proactiveness

Entrepreneurs don’t wait for someone to tell them what to do; they anticipate what needs to be done and do it. Proactiveness helps you take massive action so you can reach exceptional levels of success in your business.

5. Problem-solving

Tesla, the world’s most valuable electric automaker, nearly ran out of cash. They were just a month away from filing for bankruptcy. They had to cut costs drastically to ensure Tesla stays afloat. While the finance team reviewed every single payment that left the bank account, the engineering team went into overdrive to solve the production issues with their Model 3. Since then, Tesla’s stock has risen by more than 400%.

For an entrepreneur, problem-solving is an invaluable skill. Every new day brings a new set of challenges: some big, some small. But having the right problem-solving framework can spell the difference between success and failure.

6. Persistence

As an entrepreneur, be ready for rejection. You cannot win every client you pursue, but you also can’t let that bring you down. You need to be persistent when pitching for new business, perfecting your product, and getting the best out of your team.

Steve Jobs was immensely persistent when it came to his vision. This carried through in everything he did. Whether it was negotiating with external vendors or pushing his team to deliver on the impossible, persistence made all the difference.

7. Perspective

In business, fine-tuning a product is an ongoing process if you want to please your customers. Adding new features, improving product quality, and offering the best customer experience is the key, so customers have a reason to choose you over other alternatives. Approaching product development from a customer perspective will help you achieve this objective.

At the end of the day, you’re either solving a customer problem or meeting an unfulfilled need. And you can’t be successful at it unless you change your perspective.

8. Patience

You may struggle in the short term, but your long-term strategy determines your success. And to play the long-term game, you need patience.

Patience can also play an important role in decision-making because making hasty decisions can be detrimental to your business. So you must take your time to evaluate all the options before you make a call.

Takeaway

While many dreams of running their startup, few take the plunge. So if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or already own a business, working on these 8 Ps will help you inch closer to success.

You can speed up this process by surrounding yourself with successful people. Entrepreneur events and global investor summits are an excellent place to discover, connect and learn from the community. I hope this inspires you to work harder on your dreams.