7 Habits Author, Stephen Covey, Identifies 10 Key Traits of Successful Small Business Entrepreneurs

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of best-selling books "The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness" and "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," has identified 10 key traits found in all successful small-business entrepreneurs.

"Every large business that is now successful was once a small business. All small business entrepreneurs have experienced significant failures in business, but they have learned from their failures," says Covey, vice chairman of FranklinCovey. "They confess to having had several painful and costly failures in a previous endeavor or early on in their current venture. But they learned that they had to persist, focus on the demands of the market and figure out another way to make it happen."

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 56% of all small businesses fail within their first four years. Covey, who has not only been through the process of starting but also successfully growing a small business, has consulted with small, medium and large organizations about how to create and sustain business results over time. In addition to learning from failure, Covey identifies the following 10 traits commonly found in successful small business entrepreneurs.

Stephen Covey's Top 10 Key Traits of Successful Small Business Entrepreneurs

  1. Value teamwork
     Successful entrepreneurs recognize that it takes a team to produce
     success.  They know it is never just one person who is responsible for
     the success of any business venture.  They are gracious, appreciative,
     humble and give people the credit they deserve.

  2. Are willing to change
     They understand that change is inevitable, and they understand how to
     adapt to the changes around them in order to make their business grow.

  3. Surround themselves with diversity
     Successful entrepreneurs maximize the productivity of their business by
     hiring people who make their own weaknesses irrelevant.  They see other
     peoples' strengths as opportunities rather than threats.

  4. Communicate effectively through feedback and active listening
     They give instruction and feedback in a manner that empowers people
     rather than belittles them.  In return, they are willing to listen and
     accept feedback from others.

  5. Have a vision and plan for reaching their goals
     Successful entrepreneurs know what they want.  They have identified
     what is most important in order to achieve success and are not willing
     to sacrifice what is most important for what is merely important.  They
     have created a strategic plan that defines how they will achieve their
     most important goals and by what deadline.

  6. Proactively seek opportunities
     Entrepreneurs do not sit and wait for opportunities to come their way.
     They are proactive and prepared for anything that comes along.

  7. Are tireless, ceaseless, determined workers
     To avoid becoming workaholics, successful entrepreneurs are highly
     effective during all of their working hours and know when it is time to
     go home.  They seek balance in all aspects of their lives.

  8. Understand that removing barriers is a necessary event
     They are not afraid to terminate an employee who is the wrong person
     for the job, or if they simply resist the changes pertinent to company
     growth.

  9. Are high-energy people
     Entrepreneurs reach into the depths of their souls to find the energy
     they need to keep going and growing.  Their energy is enough to
     motivate and inspire others to join or stay with the new venture.

  10. Continually nurture the entrepreneurial spirit by taking risks and
      learning from mistakes
      They willingly take risks and learn from others' as well as their own
      mistakes.  Entrepreneurs make decisions quickly and effectively by
      avoiding the bureaucracy and structure commonly found in large
      organizations.

Covey challenges small-business entrepreneurs to identify a significant setback or failure in their lives and one key lesson they learned from the experience. Then, he encourages them to decide what they will do differently when facing a similar situation. He also suggests developing a plan for a new project that builds on the lessons they have learned during this process.

"Those small-business entrepreneurs who are humble and willing to learn from their past mistakes and then apply that learning to their future endeavors will be successful over time. Businesses are not only built on success, but also on what is learned from failure," says Covey.

FranklinCovey offers small businesses training and products to increase productivity and effectiveness and to create sustained superior performance over time. For more information on FranklinCovey training or products for small businesses, visit http://www.franklincovey.com/ .

About FranklinCovey

FranklinCovey (NYSE: FC) is the global leader in effectiveness training, productivity tools, and assessment services for organizations and individuals. FranklinCovey helps companies succeed by unleashing the power of their workforce to focus and execute on top business priorities. Clients include 90 percent of the Fortune 100, more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500, thousands of small and mid-sized businesses, as well as numerous government entities and educational institutions. Organizations and individuals access FranklinCovey products and services through corporate training, licensed client facilitators, one-on-one coaching, public workshops, catalogs, more than 100 retail stores and http://www.franklincovey.com/. FranklinCovey has nearly 1500 associates providing professional services and products in the United States and for 37 international offices, serving more than 100 countries.

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