As a business coach you’re also a business owner.  And this post applies to you in both capacities.  With the work you do with your clients and the work you do for yourself to grow your business.

You see, I believe there are two fundamental qualities you need to survive in business.  Notice I say qualities not skills.

They can’t be learned but they CAN be developed.

Without these skills, you’ll not survive in business. Period.

For me the two most important qualities are tenacity and flexibility.

Tenacity because business is a long haul over lumps and bumps that bruise you and knock you.  It’s made up of peaks and troughs that inflate and deflate in equal measure.  You really have to be tenacious, determined, persistent and dedicated to keep going when times are tough.  You have to be tenacious to rise through the mud, blood and guts that building a business can put you through.

I have no facts to back this up, this is a gut feel – but from my experience, many business owners don’t so much fail as give up.  The owner, sole-trader, entrepreneur just gives up before he or she makes it over the crest.  They lacked tenacity.

And flexibility because you have to know when to change, when to grab a new opportunity and run with it.  Tenacity without flexibility is just stubbornness, foolish hope without the adaptability to change with the circumstances.  A limpet tenaciously sticking to a sinking ship is still going down!

Put together though and they offer the most powerful combination you can have as a business owner and a business coach.

So when you’re facing a tough time or when you’re helping your coaching client, the questions are how tenacious will you be and how can you adapt to the changing conditions.

Now maybe this is just my model of the world after 12 years of ups and downs in running a business.  But let’s face it, we can only ever reflect our own model.  Maybe you see it differently.  I’d love to hear what you think the two top qualities are.  What do you think?

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