20 Shared Habits of All Successful Entrepreneurs

Rich Habits are the habits that were common among the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits Study.

From my five-year Rich Habits Study of 233 wealthy individuals and 128 poor individuals, I learned there were 4 Paths to Wealth. One of those 4 Paths to Wealth is the Dreamer-Entrepreneur Path

Below are the Common Rich Habits among the Dreamer-Entrepreneur Self-Made Millionaires in my Rich Habits Study:

1. I Will Forge Success Habits Around My Goals & Dreams – As a general rule, entrepreneurs are forced to adopt good habits. Their dreams and goals force them to acquire specific habits that enable them to grow, stay healthy, build relationships and acquire knowledge and/or skills that enable them to succeed.
2. I Will Build Strong Powerful Relationships with Influencers – Entrepreneurs devote more time to building and maintaining relationships with powerful influencers, than any other category of self-made millionaire. For entrepreneurs, power relationships are their currency. Forging and maintaining power relationships is, second only to persistence, one of the main drivers of their success.
3. I Will Dream-Set – Entrepreneurs follow a clear vision that they mapped out long before becoming wealthy. Through that vision, they pursue success, relentlessly. Their vision gives them the passion and persistence to keep going when the going gets tough, which is often, especially in the early stages of their entrepreneurial journey.
4. I Will Do Work That I Like or Love – Most entrepreneurs become entrepreneurs because they are pursuing a dream they are passionate about. Because they like or love their work, they are willing to walk through Hell in achieving their dreams and goals.
5. I Will Forge Daily Goal Habits – Entrepreneurs pursue their goals every day. The pursuit of these goals is part of the daily Priority List. They continuously tweak their goals as they are forced to navigate around unexpected problems, mistakes, failures and obstacles.
6. I Will Forge Good Health Habits – Most entrepreneurs in my rich habits Study were avid exercisers. They understood that exercise, especially aerobic exercise, helped boost brain performance and their energy levels, allowing them to weather those long work days.
7. I Will Maintain a Positive Mental Outlook – More than any class of self-made millionaire, entrepreneurs depend on their positive mental outlook for success. Their upbeat, never quit attitude enables them to: weather the entrepreneurial roller-coaster ride, find solutions to problems and see opportunities that are invisible to everyone else.
8. I Will Control My Words and Emotions – Because the entrepreneurial journey is such a roller-coaster ride, it is imperative that they are in full command of their emotions. They do not have the luxury to lose their cool or get depressed – such things could quickly sink them, especially in the early stages of their journey.
9. I Will Never Quit on My Dreams – Successful entrepreneurs become successful because they simply refuse to quit on their dreams, no matter how difficult the journey becomes.
10. I Will Forge Positive Beliefs and Eliminate Negative Beliefs– Entrepreneurs eliminate any negative, limiting beliefs they might have and forge positive beliefs. They understand that negative beliefs are like stop signs on the journey to success and those stop signs must be removed if they are to succeed.
11. I Will Seek Out Success Mentors – Mentors are the fast-track to success. Entrepreneurs seek out mentors within their industry, to help them figure out what works and what does not work. This saves them time and, more importantly, money, which is often a scarce commodity, especially during the early stages of their entrepreneurial journey. Mentors also infect Entrepreneurs with their good habits.
12. I Will Take Calculated Risks in the Pursuit of my Dreams and Goals – Successful entrepreneurs make a habit of doing their homework before making any investment of time or money. This significantly reduces their investment risk.
13. I Will Create Multiple Streams of Income – Most successful entrepreneurs devote a minimum of twelve years in turning a business idea into a profitable business. They then use their core business to help them launch other related side businesses which generate their own unique cash flow. The average entrepreneur in my Rich Habits Study had three revenue streams that they created. These multiple revenue streams help them grow their wealth.
14. I Will Use the Power of Leverage to Help Me Achieve My Goals and Realize My Dreams – Entrepreneurs leverage existing assets, cash flow, their Power Relationships with Influencers and their brand to help them succeed in achieving their goals and realizing their dreams.
15. I Will Not Let Fear and Doubt Prevent Me from Taking Action on My Goals and Dreams – Entrepreneurs develop the habit of being courageous. While they have fears, they do not let their fears stop them from taking action on their goals and dreams. Taking action despite their fears, and surviving, helps boost their confidence.
16. I Will Seek Feedback from Others – Entrepreneurs learn, grow and improve by seeking feedback from others. This feedback helps them become better at what they do.
17. I Will Ask for What I Want or Need – Entrepreneurs make a habit of asking for help from others in order to get what they want or need.
18. I Will Create Priority Lists and To Don’t Lists – Because entrepreneurs put in the most hours out of any self-made millionaire in my Rich Habits Study, their time is valuable to them. To help them manage their time, they used Priority Lists and To Don’t Lists in order to be able to focus on the most important things they need to do in order to keep moving ahead.
19. I Will Ask Many Questions – Entrepreneurs boost their knowledge and improve their skills by asking many questions in an effort to learn and improve. They have a close-knit group of insiders they make a habit of bouncing questions off of. These insiders are experts, other entrepreneurs and other successful people.
20. I Will Seek to Add Value to the Lives of Others – Entrepreneurs succeed when they are able to add value to the lives of others. People and organizations are willing to pay them for their products or services because those products and services improve their lives in some way.

Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner and author of “Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life”, “Effort-Less Wealth”, “Change Your Habits Change Your Life”, “Rich Habits Poor Habits”, “Rich Habits: The Routines Millionaires Use Daily to Build Wealth” and “Rich Habits Wealth Academy.”

Tom Corley

Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner, public speaker, and author of the books “Effort-Less Wealth: Smart Money Habits At Every Stage of Your Life” and “RichKids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life“.  Corley’s work has appeared on CNN, USA Today, The Huffington Post, SUCCESS Magazine, and many other media outlets and podcasts in the U.S. and 27 other countries. Tom is a frequent contributor to Business Insider and CNBC.