Success Traits

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So, let's assume there's a collection of skills and abilities that allows one to have success in any endeavour they might pursue, whether it be starting and working for their own business or working for someone else. Let's call this collection of skills and ability "Success Traits".

Now, let's assume that a person is in college, choosing not to graduate and going out on their own and starting their own business and they've been in the field for a year or so, so they know the ins and outs of it. Now if this person has the "Success Traits", they'll succeed if they try their hardest. If they don't, they'll fail.

Now, let's say this person is afraid of this potential failure and they decide to stay in school to complete their degree. If they didn't have these "Success Traits" to begin with that would've allowed them to successfully run their own business, then graduating with a mediocre Computer Science degree in a field they can't work in due to physical disability would've left them in the dust anyways as they don't have the "success traits" necessary to find employment and succeed in the long-term.

So, regardless if they graduate with a degree or not, if they don't have the necessary "success traits", it doesn't matter which path they choose. If they do, then it just becomes a question of which path is more profitable in the longterm and one could always backtrack to the original college-track path if the "Out on your own path" isn't that good.

Hence, it doesn't matter if I try out my own business and, in doing so, forgo graduation (At least temporarily). And if the business fails due to not having the required "Success Traits", then it wouldn't matter anyways whether I finish a degree because lessened success would be found in either path due to lacking these "Success Traits".(However, if it's not "bad enough", then it would be wise to finish the degree to increase ones chance of finding a good job. If it is bad enough, it doesn't matter.)

What might these 'Success Traits' entail? I don't know and I'm not going to speculate, but I'm going to find out if I have what it takes the quickest way: The School Of Hard Knocks.

But, I wonder, is this the... wisest way of going about finding out if I "have what it takes"? I don't want to stick with college to get a degree just to find out it doesn't matter in the end. I would rather find out if I have what it takes NOW and if I do, then choose the most profitable path based on my experience and projections.

If your college has some business entrepreneur courses, you might take those. You should familiarize yourself with the different types of business models, management structures, and funding options.

There is a social component but it's really in the form of being able to communicate your vision and needs to potential investors and employees.

Too many variables for a one size fits all answer.

i am not sure i can answer what you asked, because i am unclear as to the exact nature of your question. you will have to derive what you can from my post, because i can not label the characteristics i possessed.

i think the key is to not be lazy.

when i left school, i worked in a few menial jobs, and before long, i was employed as a programmer. i just fell into it.
then i was poached by another company who dealt with the company i worked for, but i made it very hard for myself.

the company that poached me had much fewer staff, and my pay was almost double my previous pay, and i was the only programmer. i wrote their entire system, and then my job became writing new software to deal with new business models as they became implemented. often, i would be told the specification of the new modules i was to create, and i sometimes thought that their business models were silly, and i thought of better ways to structure their business models, but i did not tell them, and i developed what they asked for, but in my own time, i programmed alternative software to deal with my alternative models.

on a few occasions, they were stressing about how complicated and inefficient their models were, and they were getting cranky with each other, and while i was alone with the owner in his office, i told him how i thought they could be done better, and he became enthusiastic and asked me how long it would take for me to write a new set of modules to handle my ideas, and i told him that i have already written them, and he was both annoyed that i waited so long to mention it, and grateful that i was able to demonstrate them and implement them that same day.

as the business grew, there was more and more programming to be done, so they "promoted" me to position of chief programmer (head of I.T), and they hired 2 junior programmers who i was supposed to delegate work to.

they wanted me to become a manager as it were, and i have no skills as a manager. i did not delegate anything because i did not trust them to get it right, so they sat around with nothing to do while i feverishly worked long hours to finish what i wanted to complete (sometimes i was still at the office at 2am (alone (everyone else went home at 5pm))).

they eventually fired the 2 subordinate programmers, and they were very annoyed with me because they said i should rise above the coding, and join them as managers, and participate in their "think tanks", and then delegate assignments to "my" staff.

it never happened, and i remained the only programmer there for all the time i was there. i was payed very well ($140,000 p.a at the end), but nonetheless, if i could have become a manager, i would have earned double that.
always was the case that i was oblivious to what they were discussing in their offices, and i only knew what they wanted when i was called in to be told the model and the specs. if i saw it was flawed, i would only say "hmmmmmm....ok then", and they would become worried, and asked me what i thought was wrong with it, and when i told them, they blasted my head off (my female boss (judith) especially), and they said if i only participated in their discussions, i could have saved them many headaches.

whatever.

anyway, the government changed some rules which spelt (spelled?) doom for the company, so some of our company's clients asked me to work for them. i accepted, and then i worked from home for the next 7 years.

most of the companies i worked for only needed me on occasions, but one company needed me constantly, and it constituted most of my income.


early last year, i was told the company had been bought by an american consortium, and they wanted to outsource the programming to india (1/8 the cost of me), so i was told that my services were no longer needed (they did not know me from a bar of soap).

i then became very anxious and i knew that my age was against me when applying for I.T jobs (everyone wants people in their 20's because they think their minds are fresher).

____________phase 2 of my career:
i bought a business, and it was entirely different from my previous career. it was a business that simply delivered frozen french fries (chips) to a set of customers who were "fish and chip" shops, and cafes etc. the business cost me $60,000, and the truck cost me $16,000.

i did not want to buy other types of businesses because there were too many ways they could fail.
i looked at buying cafes and restaurants, but i found that people who own those types of businesses must work 16+ hours per day. moreover, the number of different products they must buy is large, and the quality of supplies they can access is variable, and also so is the price. add to that the threat of food poisoning and sourcing the cheapest products available and the cleaning expenses and blah blah blah....no good.

i looked at buying a newsagent, but i realized they had up to a thousand different types of stock, and that the prices were always changing, and the work of finding the cheapest price for each sku (stock keeping unit) every week would be daunting. then there is theft etc etc.

so the business i bought had 26 established customers, and the only products i needed to buy were frozen chips (2 varieties). the supplier who i bought the business from was too big to bother with actually delivering to individual shops, as he was buying chips by the container (shipping container that is) load every day. he sells me the chips for a cheaper price than anyone else can get them elsewhere, so i knew i could be very competitive. the price i pay for the chips is always the same, and the price i charge the customers is always the same. the quality of the stock never varies.

i did the delivery runs (3 days per week) myself for the first 16 months. all the shops like me because they know i am very fair, and i do not scam or haggle. it is easy to deliver the chips, because there is a parking spot always in the loading zones directly next to every shop, and each shop takes on average 10x15kg boxes of chips which is just 2 trolley loads on average per shop. i knew that if i employed a driver to do the run, that they would find it a pleasant job, as they are finished by 1pm (start at 6am), and they have the next day off.

also, i determined that even in times of global financial crisis, my business would not suffer. my business benefits from the fact that many people no longer choose to go to restaurants for expensive foods during these hard times, but chips are very cheap and provide tasty calories and people buy more chips when they find themselves unable to afford more expensive dining. everyone likes chips it seems. even the queen would happily eat chips i suspect.

then about 6 months ago, i employed a driver to do the run. the thing i hated the most was having to get up before i normally go to bed. i always felt absolutely awful when the alarm went off at 5am, but many people naturally wake up very early and go to bed early, so they would not dislike the hours.

i started to learn about delegation. i have to instruct the drivers what to do and it is easy now i have learned it.

i bought another run a few months ago, and now my main driver has 6 days of work per week, and he is very grateful. he likes to work, and i pay him $230 per day.
he is a sub contractor and he has his own insurance and he pays for his own diesel.
......................
anyway, i have been on the phone now for 133 minutes, and i am too tired to complete this post
all i can summarize with is that you should not place too much trust in people who are your debtors, and you must cut them out if they are chronic late payers. never flog dead horses because they will remain lifeless no matter how hard you try to revive them.



i got my job back from the company that i was working for who replaced my efforts with an indian I.T firm, and thing are going reasonably well as far as my business enterprise is concerned.

Purely talking from my own experience.

If this was my decision to make I would stay and graduate, and then do the business afterwards.
That way if the business doesn't work out I have something to fall back on.

Having paper qualifications proves many more things to the outside world than merely one's knowledge on that subject.

A huge success trait is the ability to see failure as a temporary setback. Succesful people have failures behind them (Edison is said to have hundreds of inventions that didn't work). People who fear failure tend to not have much of anything, not much failure but not much success either.

This is a companion to b9's post about not being lazy. Failing and succeeding depend on frequently actively doing things. I think for some people, fear of failure and laziness are tied together. They refrain from doing things because they consider trying and failing to be far worse than not trying. Succesful people aren't crushed by the failures. They accept them and keep doing things. b9 has done many things. This is key.

I myself stumbled around trying and failing at various careers before finding the one that is right for me. I also had a string of failed relationships before I met my husband.

If you want success you have to accept failure. And you have to keep doing things, not give up and resign to laziness.

How does this tie into your own story? As I recall from older posts, you have (or are working on having) a landscaping business. It might succeed or it might fail. A success trait is to accept that. Succesful businessmen frequently have failed businesses on their resume. If the business fails and you then complete your degree THAT IS FINE! A success trait is to accept the failure (as other succesful people accept their failures), learn from it (analyze why it failed but don't beat yourself up about it) and do something else, such as finish the degree. Then do something with the degree. And possibly succeed or fail at that. But keep doing stuff. Don't be afraid of failing (all succesful people sometimes fail) and don't be lazy- keep doing stuff.

i agree with you jannisy.
i always need to understand what went wrong (if something did go wrong), and i will not let go of my initial intentions.

it is like scraping barnacles off the hull of your ship if they provide resistance to the prevailing current of reality.

never stick with things that do not seem right in the hope that it will "all come good in the end".

one must amputate things that seem like a dead loss before they drag one down into failure.

an example is this:

when i first bought the business, i believed all my customers were honest and would pay me.

one customer in particular seemed to be the richest customer (and so i presumed they had the greatest ability to pay) , and that was the "belgian beer cafe" chain.

they had a big pub in balmain called "the pub with no name", and it looked very opulent inside.
they also had a much bigger pub called "heritage restaurant" in the rocks, and in that pub, there is a wall that has been signed by celebrities who have dined there like "beyonce" and "george michael" and "whitney houston" etc.

it seemed to me that they were "making a killing (very eminent and successful)".

they also had another pub in cammerray called "epoch brasserie" which is a well furnished up market place.

i never thought that they would be my biggest risk ( all three were my customers).

but the owners of that chain of pubs were dishonest and i did not know it because they seemed so friendly.


week after week, they did not pay me for the chips i delivered, and when i rang them, they always said things like "jesus?!? i didn't know you have not been paid in 4 months! i will get on to it personally next week.

next week nothing happened, and i again rang them and they always had an excuse like "cathy (the accountant) is on holidays, and as soon as she gets back she will make sure you are paid".

at first i believed them.

all together, those 3 pubs owed me more than $10000 when i first started to worry.
i did not want to anger them by being uncouth in my demands for payment (because i did not want to invite hostility and resistance because i had so much money owing to me), and the saga went on for another 4 months until they were taken over by liquidators (i had no idea they were in financial trouble).

all the money i was owed was lost. it was about $62,000. i was worried about becoming hostile to them (before i saw they went bust) because i thought i had less chance of being paid if they did not like me.

i learned from that situation that i will cut shops out now after only 1 week of not paying me. i say to them now "if i do not get payment from the deliveries last week (on the next delivery) you will have to find another supplier".

they then realize that i am serious, and they realize they will have to pay at least $10 per box more from anyone else if they want to ditch me and get a new supplier. and no other suppliers would be as patient as i am.

it is necessary to be mercenary and cold in order to hold your ground. my "niceness" was seen as an opportunity for scamming me by cut throat people who are everywhere.

i now have no accounts that are more than 30 days old.

you have to cut your losses early , or else they will drag you down.

that is what i think.

be nice to those that pay, and be cold to those that give excuses why they can not pay.

and as a final note, i still have drivers deliver my chips to those pubs because they are now in the hands of liquidators who pay well and honestly.

never run completely away from what you thought was a disaster, because success can be ripped out of the jaws of defeat.

You don't know the in-s and outs of a field after having only been in it one year.

Finish your education. Then get a job. Then start your own company after you truly know the field and have the years (keyword: YEARS) of experience to back it up, along with the proven education and networking connections.

what are "in's" and what are "out's"? i have heard "expressions" that employ those words many tines but i never learned what "in's" are, and i likewise do not know what "outs's" are either.

It has been my experience that people who begin working - whatever they do - at a young age, become successful later in life.

It doesn't really matter if it's got anything to do with academic education either: some very successful people I know started out with stuff like doing drywall, painting, renovations, and even working in a grocery store. It's the work ethic that matters. Get that ingrained into you at a young enough age, and chances are that it will stick.

Education is important, but a lifelong aptitude to keep learning can be more lucrative than a degree - IF the degree doesn't lead to a job. Such degrees are somewhat worthless when you take all the debt into account.

- Persistence
Keep trying, but learn from your mistakes. Think about why you failed, then change your approach.

- Attitude
You don't have to be very social, but being polite at work is good.

- Skill
Educate yourself in your field (or get formally educated).