Two characteristics I have observed about entrepreneurs (both successful and unsuccessful) are:
- Bring certainty into an uncertain world. A business owner can never be sure if his employees will do the work or a client will pay. He has to take fickle people and use a business model to translate that into certainty for both his customers and employees. If a client quits, he still has to pay his employees. If an employee quits, he still has to make sure the project gets delivered.
- Willingness to take unreasonable risks. Most reasonable, logical people make reasonable and logical decisions most of the time. Starting a business requires vision to triumph over data. In almost every business there are many pitfalls and significant problems and risks that an ordinary logical person would want to avoid. However, a businessperson chooses to move forward anyways illogically.