Three Qualities of Entrepreneurs

By Zhang Lina

Not everyone can run a business. Some end up losing everything while others grow their pennies into millions. The distinction between those two types of business people isn’t necessarily education. Not all of them are college graduates.Their success is mostly the result of them possessing three key traits.

The first one is not leaving a task unfinished overnight. A business owner should always know every detail of the business,which includes progress, profit,and business development. This is a quality that every successful entrepreneur possesses. It’s hard to imagine a leader with a habit of procrastination could ever succeed.

I have a friend who started with renting a counter to sell buttons. He kept a record of every sale he made, even if it were for sales of several buttons or a transaction of one yuan.At the end of each day, he’d go through his books in comparison with his inventory and deposit the day’s profits into his bank account. In the beginning, I thought he was too serious about it as he’d never skipped a day to deposit money into the bank even if he’d only made ten yuan on that day or when it rained.

A few years later, he opened a flower shop and after that,a furniture mall. Now he has luxurious cars and houses, but he still keeps his daily accounts. To this day, he has kept the habit of going through his books at the end of each business day and saving away profits. I realized then that this quality of clearing away the day’s tasks was a shared merit of many successful businessmen.

The second quality is the ability to calculate. A business person should be able to calculate profits in a very short time. They should be sensitive to money and have a prey-like instinct to sense danger.This will enable them to smell loss and change their course immediately.

The third is earnestness. No matter in which industry you make a living, being professional and having a thorough understanding of it are the first few requirements you need to meet in order to succeed.

I know a pharmaceutical agent.He studied all the components of pharmaceuticals and their applications; he was never tired of reading the instructions wordby-word. After a while, he could easily give suggestions for which drug to prescribe just by hearing someone’s symptoms, as if he were an experienced doctor. He spent most of his time in his office to analyze his business, and he enjoyed it.

One time, he needed to print posters to promote his business. The first quote for the printing service was 3000 yuan.He went on to inquire after 14 more suppliers. At last, he was able to print them out for 2000 yuan. During the discussions with these 15 suppliers, he’d figured out the whole process of printing. For small businesses,saving every cent can make all the difference between loss and profit. His friends admire him for his earnestness and agree that he deserves money and success.

It doesn’t matter if you’re well educated or not. Possessing these three qualities, you’ve got rays of hope to guide you down the road.◆

(From Tough or Starve:A Biography of Laoganma’s Founder Tao Huabi, Sino-Culture Press. Translation: Zhang Lei)

不是任何人都能把生意做成。有的人赔得血本无归，有的人却从最小的做起，逐渐成为百万级千万级富翁。其中的分别不一定是文化的分野，做得好的人有很多并不是大学毕业，他们之所以成功，往往在于他们具有生意人的几点特质：

第一，做事不过夜。对每一天的生意进度、利润以及拓展业绩，每一项都悉数把握。这一点是每一个成功的企业家都具备的。很难想象一个拖延症严重的领导者会获得成功。

笔者曾有一位朋友租了一截柜台做纽扣等小生意。每卖出几颗扣子，他都拿出账簿记在上面，哪怕只有一元钱也不放过。每天下班前还要拿着账簿细细对账，然后把当天盈利的钱一分不差都存进附近的银行。最初我觉得他过于认真，有时候一天的进项只有十几元钱，他也去存银行，风雨无阻，一天也没拖延。

几年后，他又开一家花店，开了一家家具城，有了豪车豪宅，他依然保持着每天记账，下班前算账目，然后当天盈余存银行的良好习惯。此时我才猛然醒悟，他这种当日事当日毕的精神，的确是生意人必备的优良品质。

第二，计算的能力，即能够在短时间内快速算出自己的利润。生意人独特的对金钱的敏感，让他对临近的危险有一种天生的敏锐度，这种计算能力让他能够马上止损。

第三，钻营的能力。俗话说，“干什么，吆喝什么”，你指着哪一行吃饭，就得把这一行研究透彻。曾有一个人做医疗代理，他很细心地研究药物成分和用途，不厌其烦地看药品说明书，后来只要有人说他得了什么病，此人就能很快报出药名，堪称一个经验老到的医生。他吃住都在办公室，一天到晚就研究自己生意上的那点事，乐此不疲。有一年，他要印刷海报做宣传，3000元价格的印刷费，他不厌其烦地找了15家印刷厂报价，最后将价格压低到2000元印刷出来。在和这15家印刷厂谈判时，他将印刷的每一个环节都研究透了。而做小生意时节约的每一分钱都是利润。他身边的人谈到他时自叹不如，觉得这钱就应该是让人家赚的。

不管你有没有文化，只要你具有生意人的这三大特征，希望的曙光就在你前面不远处。◆