As great as it is to become your own boss, entrepreneurship requires a lot of discipline, writes Manar Al Hinai. Victor Besa/The National
As great as it is to become your own boss, entrepreneurship requires a lot of discipline, writes Manar Al Hinai. Victor Besa/The National
As great as it is to become your own boss, entrepreneurship requires a lot of discipline, writes Manar Al Hinai. Victor Besa/The National
As great as it is to become your own boss, entrepreneurship requires a lot of discipline, writes Manar Al Hinai. Victor Besa/The National

Business

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These 7 traits show that you are cut out for entrepreneurship

Most successful entrepreneurs have certain common traits that help them realise their goals in the face of adversity and ambiguity

Manar Al Hinai

March 14, 2022

  • English
  • Arabic

If you search for the word entrepreneur online, names such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Raja Al Gurg and Oprah Winfrey appear.

As inspiring as they may be, aspiring entrepreneurs might question whether they had some special code embedded in their DNA. Is entrepreneurship for everyone? And what do these entrepreneurs have in common?

From my experience, most successful entrepreneurs have certain common traits that help them realise their goals in the face of adversity and ambiguity. If you have some or all of the following characteristics, entrepreneurship is meant for you.

You don’t take no for an answer

Entrepreneurs are not quitters. An acquaintance of mine understood that entrepreneurship is not suitable for her after she realised that rejection hurt her. It was embarrassing for her to hear the word “no” from clients, and she took it personally. When you venture into entrepreneurship, many doors may be shut in your face, and you would hear the word “no” more than you like to.

But successful entrepreneurs don’t stop. When one door closes, they look for another, and if there aren’t any doors, they would tear down a wall and build one. They are stubborn and persistent. We have a saying in Arabic that goes along the lines of: “Persistent knocking unlocks a welded iron lock,” and I think this saying describes entrepreneurs best.

You are disciplined

As great as it is to become your own boss, entrepreneurship requires a lot of discipline. It can be challenging to stick to a particular set of working hours and plans when you are the boss. But it’s very important because if you don’t stick to your plans, your business could fail.

You are hard working

Building a business is no easy feat. Most entrepreneurs put in more hours into building and developing their business than they did when they were employed. Dedication and hard work are key steps in the direction of success.

You love to learn

Entrepreneurship humbles me more than anything else I have pursued. There is always something new to learn. You will never know it all and everyone has something to teach you. Have an appetite to learn from others. Be curious and make the most of every piece of information.

You embrace failure

No one likes to fail. It’s painful, embarrassing and can set you back greatly if you don’t look at it as a learning opportunity. If you read the biographies or interviews of successful entrepreneurs, you will notice that they failed at least once, and when they did, they didn’t let it stop them in their tracks. Successful entrepreneurs embrace failure. Once you accept failure as an expected part of your entrepreneurship journey, everything becomes easier.

You are flexible

Do you go with the flow? Or do you find it difficult to accept change? If your answer is yes to the first question, then you have what it takes to deal with the unexpected changes that come with managing a business. Throughout my entrepreneurship journey, I’ve had plans cancel at the last minute and client deals that never go through. I've also had to deal with an unexpected pandemic. But what has helped me go through the ambiguity and unexpected turn of events is being flexible. Be flexible and go with the flow. When change draws upon you, learn about it and see how it can benefit you. Don’t resist. Most companies that resisted industry changes didn’t survive.

You are a risk taker

Last but not least, entrepreneurs are risk takers. They realise that the biggest risk is not taking a risk at all. When they jump, they believe that they will fly, and that’s what sets them apart from the rest.

Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer and communications consultant based in Abu Dhabi

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In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.

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The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Delhi from about Dh950 return including taxes.
The hotels
Double rooms at Tijara Fort-Palace cost from 6,670 rupees (Dh377), including breakfast.
Doubles at Fort Bishangarh cost from 29,030 rupees (Dh1,641), including breakfast. Doubles at Narendra Bhawan cost from 15,360 rupees (Dh869). Doubles at Chanoud Garh cost from 19,840 rupees (Dh1,122), full board. Doubles at Fort Begu cost from 10,000 rupees (Dh565), including breakfast.
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Amar Grover travelled with Wild Frontiers. A tailor-made, nine-day itinerary via New Delhi, with one night in Tijara and two nights in each of the remaining properties, including car/driver, costs from £1,445 (Dh6,968) per person.

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Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

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Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

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