Can you be an entrepreneur?  Do you have what it takes?  Are the characteristics of an entrepreneur innate like an artist’s talent?  Does success comes from brilliant “flashes of genius” that lead to new products and markets?

Innovation is essential to successful entrepreneurship, but flashes of genius aren’t enough. Leonardo Da Vinci was definitely a genius, and “invented” the submarine, the helicopter and many other machines we use today.

But Da Vinci wasn’t an entrepreneur.  None of his “flashes of genius” could become successful business in the 1500’s.  The technology just didn’t exist.  As an innovator, he was extraordinary.  As an entrepreneur, he was a bust.

Successful entrepreneurship is a discipline, not a talent.  You can develop your entrepreneur skills.  You don’t need to have been born with them. Peter Drucker, the first “management guru,” called this the “cult of the entrepreneur.”

Peter Drucker says, “What is needed is willingness to learn, willingness to work hard and persistently, willingness to exercise self-discipline, willingness to adapt and to apply the right policies and practices.”

Some entrepreneur personality traits make it easier for you to start your own business, and some characteristics of an entrepreneur may make you more likely to become an entrepreneur (though they rarely determine success), such as having parents who were self-employed.

I work with “rebel” entrepreneurs who, though they are intelligent, creative and energetic, struggle to focus and get organized.  Your “rebel” brains activate with passion, and because you think differently, you must use different approaches to manage your time and organize your business.  (Learn more about these differences in the free report,

“Top Ten Entrepreneur Productivity Myths… Busted“)

I believe Rebel entrepreneurs like you offer our best hope for the future and you will solve many of the world’s problems, saving the environment, solving the energy crisis, overcoming poverty and tackling many other challenges… as long as you’re empowered to bring your amazing ideas to fruition.

But the real entrepreneur test comes daily as you work to build your own business.  The real secret to success comes from your own decision and your own desire.  Will you need help?  Of course.  Will it be easy?  Of course not.  But that’s never stopped you before, has it?

When you’re spending time with your loved ones, what do you think about?  Are you still thinking about work?  Can’t relax or get your mind off the job when you’re worried about things left undone? Improving your work-life balance is usually a question of improving your productivity.

Most people just try to do more.  Constantly running, multitasking, never taking breaks (most North Americans don’t even take all their allotted vacation!) they rush through everything.  And if something goes wrong?  They still work more hours!

There will always be more to do, and things do go wrong occasionally.  Since you only have a finite number of hours, you need a better strategy if you hope to achieve work-life balance.

One of the biggest drains on your productivity is time spent transitioning between tasks.  You must stop thinking about one thing, put your things away (if you remember to do that instead of letting your desk slowly disappear under mounds of debris!), get out what you need, and start thinking about the next task.

The entrepreneurs I work with struggle with productivity, though you can be amazingly productive when you stick with an activity long enough to achieve a state of hyperfocus.  Switching between tasks wastes time because you can’t pay full attention to any task.  There’s no productivity without action, but action without attention is worthless.

While most people focus on the time they spend on something, you must learn to value attention.  Concentrate only on how much time you spend doing things and your productivity goes into freefall. Instead, use strategies that increase your ability to pay attention to what you’re doing and your productivity will skyrocket:

• leave your office to work uninterrupted,
• never multitask, and
• tackle mentally demanding tasks only during your most productive periods.

You’ve heard it’s better to work smarter than to work harder.  People who choose to work smarter rather than harder squeeze a better return out of each hour.  With practice, you can even accomplish more while working less.  If working smarter sounds like the right thing to do, you’ll be happy to learn it’s the only thing that works for entrepreneurs like you.

To learn how to apply this and other strategies to double (or more!) your productivity, improve your work-life balance (your wife will fall in love with you all over again!) get Grow With the Flow for Entrepreneurs©.