Self-Assessment for Entrepreneurs: Qualities You Need To Run a Business

Learn, Adapt and Grow

exali: Taking the step into entrepreneurship is a far-reaching decision with many consequences. What qualities and requirements should I have to make it a success?

Adam Butkiewicz:
Taking the plunge into entrepreneurship is an exciting and challenging journey. 

It requires much more than a good idea or a strong business plan; it's about the psychology of entrepreneurship, tapping into your inner strengths, understanding your character traits, and so much more. What sets successful start-ups or entrepreneurs apart isn't just brilliant ideas, innovation, or technical skills. It's their vision, resilience, and ability to lead and motivate others. They spot opportunities where others see problems. And when things get difficult, they stay focused and positive.

One of the most important skills for an entrepreneur is adaptability, the ability to adjust quickly when things change. Markets shift, technologies evolve, and customer preferences constantly transform. Successful entrepreneurs understand the nature of change and uncertainty. Another quality is a deep knowledge of yourself, including your strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. Self-awareness helps you confidently navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, enabling you to leverage your best qualities while consciously working on areas for improvement. Confidence and humility become your guiding compass, allowing you to trust your abilities while staying open to continuous learning and growth.

Steve Jobs is a well-known example. Early in his career, he was fired from Apple, the company he had co-founded. Many might have given up then, but Steve Jobs took the time to reflect, learn, and start again. Eventually, he returned to Apple with fresh insights and a renewed sense of purpose. His story shows how self-awareness and adaptability can turn even the biggest setbacks into opportunities for growth and transformation. Entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs make decisions early and take intelligent risks. They always stay active, think things through and experiment with action plans. Constant movement becomes their modus operandi.

Another essential attribute is the commitment to learning. Even experienced entrepreneurs constantly face new challenges all the time. They need new understandings, insights, skills, and behaviors for new approaches because every day is a new frontier. As renowned business coach Marshall Goldsmith wisely said, "What got you here won't get you there."

Your journey as an entrepreneur never stops, and your ability to continually learn, adapt, and grow becomes your greatest strength.

Get to Know Yourself

exali: You have developed a questionnaire together with Peter Harrison and K2Match. It is designed to inform prospective and experienced entrepreneurs about entrepreneurship's intensive psychological and practical challenges. Why should they take the time to complete this questionnaire?

Adam Butkiewicz:
Peter Harrison is a master coach specializing in the principles and practices of entrepreneurial psychology. He has decades of education, training, and experience. He learns from exceptionally qualified Clinical Psychologists with decades of rock-solid business credentials and reputations, the world's number one renowned experts in Organisation Psychology, Change Dynamics & Fast Growth.

Peter's "Entrepreneurial Readiness Framework"aims to educate entrepreneurs to understand the psychological challenges they will face during their entrepreneurial journey. He says there is a critical need for an advanced understanding of a range of essential entrepreneurial psychological competencies to maneuver through a wide range of unexpected and unimaginable challenges they will experience along their odessey from start-up to success.

In today's highly volatile business environment, start-up investors place enormous emphasis on assessing a potential investment based not only on the business idea or innovation but also on the quality of the founder's character, competence, and ability to deliver on their return on investment. In other words, they are seeking the reassurance that the founder is genuinely ready for the rigor of the challenges ahead. It is not uncommon to see a founder misuse the capital after securing significant funding on non-essential expenditures such as luxury travel, flashy offices or personal indulgences, rather than using the investment to benefit the business.

Knowing Peter and the team at K2Match, I was invited to review the original Entrepreneurial Readiness Self-Assessment and share my thoughts on making it interactive for easier accessibility and engagement. The original document was over 40 pages long, with deep insights into 48 entrepreneurial traits and more than 300 questions. While it was rich in substance, it was also dense and overwhelming. During my first reading, I was struck by the depth and impact of Peter's work. It made me reflect on and even question some past decisions as an entrepreneur. So I proposed Something bold: I would lead the development of an interactive Entrepreneurial Readiness Self-Assessment under one condition: we open it up to everyone for private, non-commercial use and not only keep it as an internal tool. A valuable contribution like Peter's Entrepreneurial Psychological Readiness Framework should be shared with every aspiring entrepreneur or start-up.

The Psychology Behind Every Business

exali: So why should a founder or even an experienced entrepreneur complete this self-assessment?

Adam Butkiewicz:

Firstly, most start-ups and entrepreneurs naturally only consider the basic, fundamental, or mechanical aspects of their business. And while they understand that a positive mindset is essential, they may possess some basic understanding of emotional and social intelligence. They fail to understand or are unaware of, the critical importance of the psychological complexities of how we operate our lives, relate to others and deal with the heft of emotional impulse drives during prolonged periods of business stress.

Peter often says that life's biggest problem is being unaware. Now, that may seem harsh, yet it's a hard fact: Most people don't know what they don't know, and regrettably, many don't want to know what is essential for them to know.

The Entrepreneurial Psychological Readiness Self-Assessment helps solve this problem. By completing it, participants will gain essential clarity, confidence, powerful self-awareness, relationship awareness and psychological insights that will prepare them to launch their businesses, thrive, and inspire others. The self-assessment doesn't just show you where to improve. It leads you with clear, actionable steps. Plus, the free web app lets you to track your progress over time. Imagine seeing how far you've come and knowing exactly where to focus next. That's not only reassuring, it's empowering.

A Guided Journey Through the Psychology of Entrepreneurship

exali: How is the self-assessment structured? What questions can participants expect?

Adam Butkiewicz:

At first glance, the self-assessment may look like a standard questionnaire. But in reality it's a guided journey through the psychology of entrepreneurship.

The assessment is structured around seven key entrepreneurial competencies, each exploring a fundamental dimension of what makes an entrepreneur tick. Within these competencies, we assess 48 essential traits. Each of these 48 traits is explored through seven reflective statements that you rate based on how strongly each one resonates with you. These statements aren't generic personality test questions. They're thought-provoking, designed to make you pause and truly reflect.

This reflective process is where the real transformation happens. Think of it like turning on a light in a room you didn't realize was dim. As the unknown becomes known, you see yourself more clearly. That clarity becomes the foundation for confident, conscious action. It's not about being perfect. It's about becoming more conscious of your unconscious and using that awareness to grow.

exali: You also went through the assessment yourself – what did you learn from it?

Adam Butkiewicz:

That experience was unexpectedly profound. I approached the Entrepreneurial Readiness Self-Assessment with curiosity and the assumption that I already "knew" myself fairly well. I've been through the ups and downs of building, scaling, failing, and starting again. I've worked with teams, managed crises, and experienced all of entrepreneurship's emotional highs and lows.

But what surprised me was how many blind spots I still had.

There were areas where I rated myself highly on traits like drive, resilience, and decisiveness. Of course, that felt validating. But there were other traits, especially in interpersonal dynamics, emotional regulation, and leadership, where the assessment challenged me to pause and think. One insight that hit me was realizing that while I may stay calm under pressure, I wasn't always communicating clearly during those high-stakes moments. That unintentional lack of clarity created ripple effects for others around me. That one insight shifted how I now prepare and orient myself before I approach others.

Self Assessment as an Opportunity for Growth

exali: Let's assume that the result of the self-assessment does not speak in favor of my entrepreneurial qualities. Does that mean I should stay away from self-employment?

Adam Butkiewicz:

Not at all. This is such an important question because it touches on a quiet fear that many entrepreneurs carry. The Entrepreneurial Readiness Self-Assessment isn't designed to determine whether you're "fit" to be an entrepreneur. It's not a pass/fail. It's a thoughtful checkpoint, a pause on the journey to see what terrain lies ahead and how prepared you are to navigate it.

If your results show areas that need development, it doesn't mean you're not meant for this path. It means you've identified the areas where growth is possible, and that's a gift. Some of the most successful founders in the world began with more gaps than strengths. What set them apart was their willingness. Their will to prepare, to learn, to adapt, and to grow. The willingness to engage in self-reflection, especially when the results are uncomfortable, is a promising sign of a developing entrepreneurial maturity.

Self Assessment - an Investment in Yourself

exali: What final message would you like to share with aspiring or experienced entrepreneurs who are considering self-assessment?

Adam Butkiewicz:

If there's one message I could share, it would be this: don't underestimate the power of knowing yourself.

In entrepreneurship, so much focus is placed on the external elements of business, such as developing the product, the market, the pitch, and the funding.

But what's essential is invisible to the eye. That's you, your mindset, emotional intelligence, and psychological readiness. These determine whether you have the grit to thrive through challenges and lead through uncertainty, upsets, and relentless, never-ending complexity. The Entrepreneurial Readiness Self-Assessment offers you clarity, confidence, and a conscious path to growth.

For those just starting out, it's a chance to build a solid inner foundation before diving in. 

For experienced founders, it's a moment to recalibrate, refocus, and grow with purpose.

The best investment you'll ever make is in yourself.