Marc Kramer, a faculty member at the Wharton School of Business, recently posted his list of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Common traits he noted among all entrepreneurs include:

1. Habit of reading. Every single successful entrepreneur I have met has been a voracious learner. They read biographies of other famous people, and devour books on strategy, product development and trends. They read newspapers and online sites, but rarely magazines

2. Young start. They typically all sold products and services starting as teenagers. They loved to work and make money

3. Driven. They always wanted to be good at something. Not all of them were academic stars, but they wanted to succeed.

4. Unique vision. They see things differently than everyone else. They have a gut instinct about trends and opportunities that have been honed through experience, observation and reading.

5. Love of travel. They love to travel and learn about other cultures. They aren't so arrogant as to think the Western culture is the most intelligent.

6. Intellectual curiosity. All of them are interested in learning about other businesses, listening to other people's stories and questioning why things are a certain way

7. Don't suffer fools. Successful entrepreneurs surround themselves with smart people who question their ideas and assumptions.

8. Good listeners. A lot of people like to hear the sound of their own voice, but successful people are good listeners

9. Marathon workers. There is no such thing as a 40-hour work week. In fact, a 60-hour week would be considered a vacation. These people love to work

10. "No" is not in their vocabulary. The only "no" these people remember is when their parents told them not to run in the street. Barriers are just challenges.

11. Big thinkers. All of these people thought about how they might have an impact on their industry, region and country.

12. Competitive spirit. They love competition. Typically these people liked to compete either athletically or through the arts. The tougher the competition, the more pumped up they become

13. Fearless. These people don't worry or shy away from adversity. They believe in the adage "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger”.

14. Fighting spirit. By all rights, Felix Zandman, a Holocaust survivor who had to live under the floorboards for more than a year and watched his family carted off to concentration camps, could have died mentally along with most of his family. His will to overcome adversity allowed him to start a family and build a global empire.

15. Risk-averse. "Wait a minute," you're probably thinking, "doesn't he mean 'risk-takers'?" You read correctly. These people focused on the opportunity, researched the market, spoke to customers and market experts and developed a variety of financial models to determine the chances of their ventures' success.

Successful people are noncomplainers who are focused on goals, and money is a byproduct to be used to create more success.

90 Days to a Winning Community

You may remember me mentioning my colleague, Jim Dittoe of Winning Communities, a speaker and community coach, in previous Agurban emails and blog posts. Jim I met back in the summer of 2005 when I was touring and speaking about my book, Boomtown USA: The 7 ½ Keys to Big Success in Small Towns. As a partner, Jim invited me to speak in Blackford County, Indiana, one of the communities in which he was helping to develop a vision- and action-plan. After several conversations with Jim, I realized that my message – my theories on the keys to successful communities or Boomtowns – matched up seamlessly with the methods in his Certified Winning Community visioning and action planning process.

Jim has put together a new how-to guide that can help communities achieve success, with his new book, 90 Days to a Winning Community: A Guide to Achieving your Community Vision (Jim also asked me to write the foreword for his book).

This book is an inspirational and practical guide to action planning for community leaders. By reading this book, you will not only have the motivation but also the methods for achieving success in your city, town or county. There is also a workbook portion of the book, which outlines a systematic process for creating a community vision and action plan and working toward its achievement. It takes readers through each of the 13 action steps toward becoming a Winning Community, and includes timelines, agendas, worksheets and sample progress reports.

Communities of any size who are either struggling because of negative change (loss of population and commerce, deteriorating downtown, lack of pride, etc.) or positive change (rapid growth, new industry, etc.) within their cities, towns or counties will find the book helpful to motivate them to join together with other community leaders and citizens to take action. And any community leader, whether they are a town or county official, community development officer, Chamber of Commerce executive, bank president, business owner or ordinary citizen, who is looking to make a change or improvements to their city, town or county, will benefit from reading this book. The book could also be required reading for any city, town or county’s leadership development group.

Jim’s method can help your community succeed. I encourage you to buy a copy of Jim’s book, 90 Days to a Winning Community, and call him at (317) 402-0524 or email him at jim@winningcommunities.com to find out how you can apply his Certified Winning Community program to your city, town or county. 

Order the book now:
Online Orders: http://www.authorhouse.com/bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=50925
Book Order Hotline: 888.280.7715
The book will also be available through retail stores in the next 30 to 45 days.