Have you ever read about an entrepreneur and wondered how exactly they became so successful? Were they just in the right place at the right time? Do they have some strange luck? The truth is that there are a number of habits that affluent entrepreneurs all seem to have in common. These different habits by themselves are great, but when combined, they give an entrepreneur an edge.

The five prominent habits listed below have helped all of the entrepreneurs who exhibit them start their own business and not only succeed but succeed rather quickly.

5 Prominent Habits of Affluent Entrepreneurs with Rapid Growth

1. When They Think Big, They Don’t Think Complicated

Everyone knows that to succeed, you need that “next big thing.” But many people mistakenly think that big has to be complicated or complex. Instead, the really successful entrepreneurs that are able to go from nothing to a million dollar business don’t do so because they created some wildly complicated product or idea. Instead, they see a niche that needs filling and creating something focused, specific, and, above all, fairly simple to fulfill that need. The best “big” ideas are the ones that almost anyone, regardless of age or education, can use with very little effort.

2. They Watch People

It’s hard to find that niche that needs filling if you’re not out among people. Great entrepreneurs can get inside the collective consciousness. This means that they almost instinctively understand what a large number of people want or need. On some level, either consciously or unconsciously, they’re watching people and evaluating how they act. They might not even realize that they’re compiling a list of problems people have with a product or service until they find themselves drafting plans to make it better.

The first step to being a great entrepreneur is knowing what people want, so you have to be observant.

3. They Know Their Own Strengths and Weaknesses

A good entrepreneur knows his own strengths and weaknesses and surrounds themselves with people who have compatible skill sets. If someone knows they lack the motivational speaking skills for growth, they will find someone who is a great person and hire him to handle a lot of the speaking duties. Personalities like Benedict Allen (Explorer & Anthropologist) and Colin Jackson (Champion Hurdler) stood up in this list.

Successful entrepreneurs aren’t afraid of their weaknesses and don’t hide from them. Instead, they embrace them and work to make certain that these weaknesses don’t damage their business plans.  They know a great business is a team effort.

4. They Don’t Let Others Discourage Them

“You’re going to start a business that does what?!” Many of the most successful entrepreneurs have heard that over the years, and if they’d let themselves be discouraged, we wouldn’t have half of the amazing products that we do today. While a great entrepreneur certainly listens to others and values their feedback, he doesn’t get discouraged if all he hears is negativity. Instead, he takes what he can from that negativity and, if he still believes in his idea, he pushes ahead. He has to let his emotions, belief in himself, and his heart have just as much say as his intellect. In fact, many of the most successful entrepreneurs have said they weren’t sure if their idea was a good one until people starting telling them they were crazy.

5. They Continue Learning and Adapting

In today’s ever-changing world, it’s not enough to have one great idea. To be truly successful, an entrepreneur has to be able to build off their initial amazing idea. They need to continue learning and listening to what consumers want. How can they change their product? How has the market changed since it was released? Is there another product that would naturally fit with it?

Great entrepreneurs keep learning about the market and other products, then taking that knowledge and adapting their own products as needed. Those who don’t end up being a one-hit wonder and, while they enjoy great success at first, eventually find themselves out of the game.

Bring It All Together

An entrepreneur with two or three of these habits may still be successful, but they may not see the rapid growth they’d like, especially right away. Those who are able to incorporate these five different habits into their business planning and product designing will find themselves riding the wave of success both right out of the starting gate and through the many twists and turns that the business world tends to take. The good news for those who don’t feel like they regularly do these things is that they can be learned. With practice, things like listening to what people want or paring down an idea to its simplest form will become second nature.

Feature Image by Ben Hoffmann