Have you ever wondered what makes successful business owners tick? Do you share their good habits? We surveyed 2,000 business owners to help you find out.

What makes a successful small business?

You’ve probably seen daunting statistics about the high failure rate of small businesses. Many don’t make it to their fifth birthday – and yet the entrepreneurial spirit fights on. Those small businesses that survive provide a big chunk of GDP and go on to employ most of the workforce.

So what separates the ones that boom from the ones that go bust?

Researching good traits for a small business owner

We surveyed 2000 current and former small business owners from the US and UK. Some had succeeded, others had failed. We took all their answers and looked for patterns. Here are the characteristics that defined the two groups.