6 Ways Being an Entrepreneur Helps You in Every Aspect of Life

Being an entrepreneur, and developing entrepreneurial traits, can help you achieve more of what you want in every area of life, no matter what is thrown your way.

Some people are born and grow up with natural entrepreneurial skills and talents. Others learn them along the way. If you are an entrepreneur, you’re a problem solver. You see the value in helping as many people as possible. Entrepreneurship helps you figure things out — like how to raise enough money to get the sneakers you really wanted in school, or to fund a business venture through profits from a fix-and-flip deal. Same applies when the objective is to acquire 400 multifamily apartment units in 2018. It’s all about being able to get from point A to point B through working backwards.

Here’s How Being an Entrepreneur Helps You Out in Life

1. You Learn to Solve Problems

When you choose to be an entrepreneur, you choose to be a problem solver. That mindset and set of mental skills can be applied to anything, from starting over from scratch with your finances, and closing a tough real estate deal, to handling a difficult tenant. Ultimately you’ll need to solve problems in order to achieve the goals you set out to accomplish.

2. You Learn to Be Flexible

You stay on course for achieving the goal, but learn to be versatile in your use of tactics and tools to get there. What worked last year, or last time, might not always work. That applies to cold calling for marketers and investing in single family homes.

3. You Develop Grit And Patience

In this BiggerPockets blog post I explain some of the struggles and darker aspects of entrepreneurship. It’s not all fun, games, and parties. Sometimes, things go incredibly well and exceed your expectations. Other days, it is real hard work. The overall experience can be like a roller coaster. Many things take time to pay off, and patience is key. When you obtain objectives and build your tolerance for it, you’re able to really stick through those tough periods to get the results you want most.

4. You Can Handle Income Fluctuations

Entrepreneurs generally don’t get a starting salary. They don’t get a steady paycheck every month just for sitting in a seat or clocking in. When you are doing well, it can feel like you are in Vegas on a never ending streak of luck. However, the experienced will tell you that those streaks never last forever. At least not without some hiccups along the way. You are constantly pushing new things. That requires some sacrifice in investment. Sometimes the tenants don’t pay the rent, and not all flips make money. If you can get comfortable with this and be prepared for it, it won’t faze you or slow you down.

5. You Accept Responsibility for Your Actions and the Outcome

As an entrepreneur, everything’s on you. If things are going to get done, it is up to you. If they fail, you have to be accountable. But when you win, you get to own that too.

6. You Have the Drive for Constant Improvement

You must seek to constantly improve your knowledge, capabilities, and connections. Once you know what you want to achieve, then the objective is to reverse engineer and figure out the necessary steps to achieve the goal. There is no “can’t,” it is just a matter of asking the right questions and figuring out how.

Summary

If there is anything you want to achieve this year, then developing and mastering these entrepreneurial qualities can help. If you have already proven to have strong entrepreneurial skills in school or business, then those can easily be applied to real estate investing, great causes, and anything else you want to achieve in life.

What lessons has entrepreneurship taught you?

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.