Updated 22 April 2009

There are a lot of things that differentiate successful people from unsuccessful people, and everyone has his/her own way of measuring success, since you can be really successful, say in your relationships, but really bad in business, it all depends on the goals and the contexts. But successful entrepreneurs usually have a couple of things in common.

They Are Networking Machines

This is something I learned when I was involved with a network marketing company (which didn’t last long). You have to get out there, and network with people. There this quote I really like, it may help you get what I mean:

[...] You cannot succeed by yourself. It´s hard to find a rich hermit [...] Jim Rohn

Most entrepreneurs have a really close network of friends they can rely on when needed, and they’re always working on expanding that circle. The right friends do make a huge difference. The more like-minded people put together, the greater the results can be.

They Have Great Communication Skills

Networking is one thing, but let’s not forget that most successful entrepreneurs also have excellent communication skills and are great conversationalists, that’s one of the many reasons a lot of entrepreneurs have blogs.

You have to be able to communicate your ideas, and get your message across. Your ability to take an idea, make someone understand it, and potentially agree with (or at least “not disagree“), can help a lot when it’s time to take that idea and bring it to life.

They Are Always Willing To Learn

One thing that differentiate successful entrepreneurs from unsuccessful ones is their desire to always gain more knowledge, they are “information junkies” (not in a bad way). If you have no idea how to do something, usually the information can be found on the internet or in books, or you could even attend a seminar that covers topics related to what you want to learn.

They Are Not Afraid To Experiment

It is really ok to experiment and try new things, you never know, you might hit the jackpot. Of course, not everything you do will work out, but if you try 10 times and succeed once, chances are if you try a hundred times, you’ll succeed 10 times.

If an idea is ridiculous, insane and way too crazy… well, count me in! I wanna be a part of it, cause if it’s crazy enough to work, I want in! Innovation!

Yes, entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new opportunities and are always willing to try new thing. On the other hand, successful entrepreneurs will not only be on the lookout, but they will create opportunities.

They Can See The Big Picture

This is not something easy, but once you have that, you’re almost set for success. The ability to see the big picture can help you find things you never would have been able to see, and would’ve missed. Some of these things may be core components that you really need in order to make your project work.

They Diversify Their Streams Of Income

In blogging, it is common practice to explore different monetization methods and try different services like adsense, YPN, sponsored reviews, text-link-ads and others, and keep what works best. But thinking a little outside the box can earn you way more that the $2 per day you earn with adsense right now.

If you keep all your eggs in the same basket, and you let the basket fall, what will happen to the eggs?

They Know When To Take Some Time Off

It’s easy to work 16 hours in a day when you love what you do, but you have to know when to take a break (that’s what I’ve been doing for 2 days, taking a break.). When you work for someone it is usual to work for 7 to 9 hours in a day, but when you work on your own, you can say hello to 14-18 hours of work per day. It’s cool, you gotta love what you do. But for your own health you have to take breaks, go on a vacation, spend time with friends, family, kids.

Usually when you come back you have a fresh perspective and see things differently, it’s like doing a back-up of your most important files on you computer, formatting the hard-drive, and starting again with a new and fresh install of your OS.

Your Turn To Talk

Of course, this list is not a huge one, and is not meant to be an analysis of the entrepreneurial mind, it’s more like my own observations. But still, which of those 7 things do you do, and are the best at? What would you add to the list? And also, what part are you having the most troubles with?

Take care :)