The Most Important Personality Trait of Successful Women Entrepreneurs
Having thick skin. If you take everything personally you will have a much harder time accepting ideas and change, and you will never get the most out of your business or your employees.
To be successful you need to be willing to listen to new ideas and actively solicit the opinions of others. Treasure new ideas and opposing opinions; not rebuke them.
The ability to accept constructive criticism will help your business stay on the cutting edge and avoid potential problems you might not be able to see on your own. Simply by showing that you value the opinions and advice of others will make you appear more approachable to your peers, employees, and customers.
Even if you do not actually follow their advice, the more you ask what they think, the more valued they will feel. The more valued they feel, the more loyal they are to you and your business. In other words, simply by soliciting input from other people you create a positive mini public relations network. People will talk about you and how your business is run so you should help them find positive things to talk about!
In business, it is important that you make the right decisions, and this does not always mean doing things your way. Listen to others, even if they do not have the right solution to a problem, they bring a new perspective, and you can always stand to learn something from others.
Summing Things Up and Getting Started
- Networking Beginnings: Ask others about their challenges, successes, and if they have any advice about your own business ideas. This is the first step to begin building your network because you are already letting others know about your ideas.
- Do Not Give Up: When they say you are crazy (finding initial support for a new business idea is particularly hard from women entrepreneurs, listen to the concerns of others, but instead of just giving up on idea, reassess its value from other’s points of view.
To evaluate if you have what it takes to make it in business you do not need to answer questions in self-assessment quizzes, instead you should be asking questions. Talk to other business women, peers, colleagues, family, and friends – anyone you might be able to learn from. Just be sure to listen to the answers with more than just your ears and remember, it helps to have a thick skin.
