Do You Want To Crush It An Win? Here Are 5 Traits Of Successful Business Owners
Do You Want To Crush It An Win? Here Are 5 Traits Of Successful Business Owners
Do you know the five key traits of successful business owners?
Most business owners should, but don’t.
If you want to crush it and win, especially with your liquidity event, master these five key traits.
Before talking about traits of successful business owners, let’s talk about liquidity events.
When it comes to liquidity events, what do we know?
We know that up to 90% of liquidity events fail. Of the “successful” liquidity events, the buyer walks away with 50% to over 100% of the deal value. Insult to injury, most business owners have no idea how much of their money they left with the buyer.
For my eLearning company, Embanet, I was almost one of the statistics for my liquidity event. Looking back today, I am grateful that I said “no” to a 7-figure offer.
Instead, I said “yes” to mastering the art and science of a liquidity event. My liquidity event journey had me observe the traits of successful business owners.
I said “yes” to a 9-figure offer from a different buyer two years later. How did I do this?
I created a 9-step roadmap of preparation for my liquidity event. Today, I pay it forward. I help business owners through the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience. At the heart of the Deep Wealth Experience is the exact 9-step roadmap.
I’ve had the privilege to meet countless business owners from all walks of life. Truth is stranger than fiction. I’ve seen success from businesses that should have failed. And yes, I’ve seen failure from businesses that should have succeeded.
What made the difference?
There are five traits of successful business owners that make all the difference.
What are the five traits of successful business owners?
Keep reading.
Accountability is the key that unlocks success — Jeffrey Feldberg
One of the traits of successful business owners is accountability.
When you make a wrong decision, do you take full accountability?
Play the long game by being the role model for your team.
Read “Most Mergers and Acquisitions Fail. Do You Know How To Succeed And Prosper?”
Speaking of your team, successful business owners do two specific things.
First, praise the team when they meet or exceed goals. Second, provide feedback to improve that is non-judgmental.
Step two of the 9-step roadmap is X-Factors that insanely increase the value of your business. One of the X-Factors is your team.
If you’re thinking of a liquidity event, your business must run without you. But, even if you’re not having a liquidity event, a talented team moves the dial on growth and profits.
After all, if you’re not holding yourself accountable, why should your team?
Accountability, combined with two other things, supercharges the process. These two things are transparency and vulnerability.
It takes a strong leader to be vulnerable. It takes an even stronger leader to be both transparent and vulnerable.
Casting aside any judgment, are you both transparent and vulnerable with your team?
At the intersection of transparency and vulnerability is full accountability.
Traits of successful business owners don’t show up in a spreadsheet formula. Instead, traits of successful business owners show up on the art side of a liquidity event.
When executed well, expect to increase both deal certainty and enterprise value.
Next up, one of the other traits of successful business owners that unleashes success.
Reading to find out what this trait is and why you want to master it?
Keep reading.
I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious — Albert Einstein
Do you know the ABC’s of business to unleash success for your company and liquidity event?
The ABC’s are “Always Be Curious.”
Read “5 Stupid Liquidity Event Deal Killers That Rob You Of Enormous Success.”
Curiosity is one of the traits of successful business owners.
Let’s go back to the beginning when you started your business.
Your curiosity had you passionate about solving a painful problem. You solved the problem so well that customers were only too happy to pay you to take their pain away.
The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
The irony is that success contains the seeds of failure. All too often, success has business owners stop their curiosity.
Titans of business have failed because of complacency. If it can happen to the titans of business, it can happen to you.
Traits of successful business owners have them do three things that expand mindset:
The traits of successful business owners through curiosity have them take on challenges. The result is a market disruption that welcomes growth and increases enterprise value.
When I said “no” to the 7-figure offer, I was curious to learn about mastering the art and science of a liquidity event. My curiosity led to the creation of the 9-step roadmap of preparation. And it was the 9-step roadmap that helped me welcome a 9-figure offer.
What can you do to welcome your success?
Follow the ABCs of business.
One of the traits of successful business owners is an X-Factor.
Do you know what this X-Factor is that increases deal certainty and enterprise value?
Keep reading.
If something can be done 80% as well by someone else, delegate! — John C. Maxwell
Delegation is high on the list for traits of successful business owners.
In the Deep Wealth Experience, step 2 of the 9-step roadmap is X-Factors.
X-Factors insanely increase the enterprise value of your business.
When it comes to delegation, here’s a question for you with a simple “yes” or “no”:
Does your business run without you?
Effective delegation ensures that you have a talented team to run your business.
Read “Want To Increase Your Enterprise Value? Have Your Business Run Without You.”
Buyers either walk from the deal or penalize enterprise value if you run the business.
At the heart of effective delegation is ensuring that you’re not the smartest person in the room. Find people who are both better and smarter than you in critical areas. While you’re at it, ensure that your team has the authority to make decisions.
When your team works in the business, you work on the business. You free up your time to do what you do best by having your curiosity find another problem to solve.
Working on the business combined with curiosity leads to a market disruption.
Liquidity event, or not, market disruptions catapult growth and profits.
Effective delegation is knowing that good is good enough. Dreamers dream. Winners know that done is better than perfect.
Do you know one of the other traits of successful business owners that gets them through tough times?
Keep reading.
Rest in reason. Move in Passion — Khalil Gibran
One of the traits of successful business owners is chasing passion instead of money.
Passion is your rocket fuel to get you through your challenging times.
Read “Why You Need Passion And Belief To Unlock Your Sweet Success.”
A quick story.
I started my eLearning company, Embanet, with no money experience or team. On paper, Embanet came across as a failure waiting to happen.
What didn’t show up on paper was my passion for changing the social fabric of society, one learner at a time.
It was my passion (and grit) that kept me in the game long enough to enjoy success.
After my 9-figure liquidity event, I jumped into another venture in healthcare. This company came across as a market disruption waiting to happen on paper.
After all, I now had the experience, money, and team.
It didn’t take long for the healthcare company to get to 7-figures.
Don’t get excited. The healthcare company had 7-figures of losses.
Why did Embanet succeed and the healthcare company fail?
With Embanet, I chased the passion, and the dollars followed. With the healthcare company, I chased the dollars, and failure followed.
It’s your passion that excites your employees and wins new clients.
It’s also your passion that has you curious to find and solve the next painful problem.
Curiosity combined with passion is a powerful combination to create a market disruption. It’s little wonder that traits of successful business owners include curiosity and passion.
Chase your passion so that both your success and the money follows.
Do you know one of the traits of successful business owners that’s more valuable than money?
Keep reading.
That which does not destroy, strengthens — Friedrich Nietzsche
One of the traits of successful business owners includes resilience. And it’s resilience that trumps resources. All-day. Every day.
Starting my eLearning company Embanet with no money, experience, or team, gave me a hidden gift.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but not having money had me operate Embanet like a cockroach startup.
Read “Cockroach Startups: What You Need To Know To Succeed And Prosper.”
As a result of bootstrapping, resilience is at the heart of cockroach startups.
The failure of the healthcare company taught me many lessons. One lesson is understanding that just writing the check doesn’t mean you should.
Most times, you shouldn’t write the check.
Embanet’s competition was flush with millions of dollars from private equity.
The competition relied on money, while Embanet relied on resilience.
With a lack of capital, Embanet had no choice but to innovate through resilience. As a result, Embanet’s productivity and profitability sky-rocketed.
Nothing frustrated the competition more than losing to Embanet time and time again.
Why is resilience powerful?
Resilience had Embanetfind creative solutions that were both effective and low cost. It was also resilience at the heart of Embanet’s rich culture.
Your competition can deploy its money to copy almost everything you do. What money cannot buy is culture.
Embanet’s culture, fueled by resilience, found a way when there appeared to be no way.
The results spoke for themselves: high growth, profits, and enterprise value.
When it comes to traits of successful business owners, ensure resilience is on your list.
Success leaves clues if you know where to look and what to ask. Successful companies have business owners who master the art and science of business.
Regardless of industries, there are five proven traits of successful business owners.
Each of the traits of successful business owners leverage is powerful in its own right. Combing all five traits sets you and your business up for massive success.
As you look to both your business and a future liquidity event, it’s vital that you know what to do and not do.
At the heart of a successful business and liquidity event is preparation. The preparation that you do today creates the foundation for your success tomorrow.
The traits of successful business owners were the genesis of the 9-step roadmap. And it was the 9-step roadmap that had me welcome a 9-figure offer.
Today, I pay it forward and help business owners master the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience. The 9-step roadmap and Deep Wealth Experience goal have you do two things.
First, you create a blueprint to maximize the value of your business. The strategies of preparation are the same for growth.
Second, you develop the certainty that you will capture the maximum enterprise value.
You now know the five traits of successful business owners.
Yes, knowledge is power but only if the knowledge is both mastered and applied.
What do you do, and where do you start?
Start with the first strategy for traits of successful business owners and master it. Once done, move on to the next strategy and repeat the same process.
Before you know it, you will have mastered all five traits of successful business owners. But, as important, you have created a foundation for massive success.
Preparation is the gift that keeps on giving. Keep a thriving and profitable business for generations, or instead, sell it tomorrow.
The choice is yours, but the point is you have two excellent options.
You can do it. I know you can.
Here’s to you and your success!
Your Biggest Raving Fan,
Jeffrey Feldberg
When it comes to your liquidity event, are you leaving millions on the deal table? Visit www.deepwealth.com/success to learn more
