Grandiose perception of self and potential for success:
Outside of the potential for delusions of grandure lies within a dark void of insecurity. This is the place the narcissist becomes their own sabateur. Most don't realize this about themselves which can lead others who are involved with them or work beneath them toward a destructive path if they don't see the warning signs. Essentially, this person is completely deaf to their own inner voice and inner wisdom. They may come across as wise or at the very least intelligent as a part of their initial charm they show their employees, clients, and customers.
For example with an employee: The narcissist will create drama and become his or her own sabateur. The this pathological type combs over details much more than once and quite unnecessarily. The reiterrations can show in the paper work the employee will need to handle, the duties they perform, and the way they are ordered to communicate with customers. If the customers are regular, they know how things go and reiterrations are not needed, but the narcissist will demand these reiterrations are to be done with each transaction or point of communication as if by a verbatum script. If you were ever a customer of a company whose employees were forced to behave this way, you can immediately feel the creepy vibration it gives off. If it's done through paper work or other means of reporting at the end of a shift, you'll notice how much later you stay at work long after you have clocked out filling out the reiterrations than your friend who works with a different company within the same industry. It is nerve wracking, but it's even moreso for the narcissist if he or she points out "mistakes" that don't actually make a difference...or at least they will have you believe. Then comes the meeting based on how you screwed up takes place an hour before you start your shift (which you're not being paid for). You're not only being berrated. The narcissist uses fancy words that aren't even considered your typical jargon as if to be enacting a screen play that expresses how they view themselves while talking with you. Instead of saying, "This is where you made the mistake.", you will hear a dramatic, "This is where the bottom line of the company ends and we end up with no jobs!" The narcissist becomes this dramatic and exaggerates the importance of a small, meaningless thing purposely to get your emotions to raise at a high level. This isn't a good thing. By the middle of your shift, your heart is pounding heavier and faster than normal, your blood pressure may rise, you might start to sweat a lot or feel extremely drained. You think something to perk you up is the answer, but the real problem is how this "boss" completely got under your skin - and the narcissist is very skilled at doing this. It is solely done to intimidate you into doing exactly as they said. There is no room for suggestions, other ways of doing things, nothing! You're barely allowed to speak.
People like this believe intimidation is the absolute gospel to getting their employees to do as they said. More times than not, employees perform much more poorly under these conditions. The narcissist is disappointed yet elated that their supply (you, the employee) is responding to their emotional manipulations. Customers and clients will notice the difference. They notice it in the horrible service they receive, the mistakes made with their payments, and possibly through seeing your condition as a result of how you're treated daily. It's no wonder this narcissistic pathology in such a person is afraid they will lose their bottom line and potentially their company due to attrition. It will happen. So it's best to line up another job as soon as you can and walk out gracefully. Any customer or client with compassion may not stick around long enough for you to keep this awful job anyway.
Sense of entitlement:
The overt narcissist may openly admit what they believe they're entitled to and this is a dead giveaway they will not succeed. Their grandiose perception of potential destruction (as outlined in the first section explains this, but they also have a grandiose perception of their "greatness" as leaders. The tendency to over-estimate oneself or a risk assessment tends to paint such a person as a scam artist at best as a result. The optimist who is not a narcissist, but a nieve beginner, may have these tendencies as well. They hope for the best, but never prepare for the worst as they are big believers and dreamers. The narcissist, however, is aware of the worst case scenarios, but may disregard them in the interest of making money. This is their sole focus as they believe they are entitled to monetary gain for not putting in the necessary leg work to run a business. I have read posts on facebook from such people stating things like, "You don't need to put in any effort. Just get them to open their wallets to you." What a disasterous way of thinking. People don't appreciate being exploited or used in the interest of this person's self gain. Even if they don't say things like this outright, the vibe from such a person can be picked up on over time. Do their actions show you how much they care about solving people's problems? Are they mostly focused on brushing up on their skills so they can better serve others? If the presence of this is not there, you might be looking at someone who feels entitled to everything for doing nothing.
Some narcissists here will go so far as to over-charge their customers for what they offer. They may even fail to deliver a completed project by a deadline that was outlined in a written contract signed by both parties. The worst part of this is when the narc pushes to sue the client for payment when they fail to admit they did not complete a project by the due date. Anyone else would willingly admit and even apologize for not meeting the deadline. Not the narcissist. They don't care about the incomplete or sub par work they had done. To them, they're entitled to your money and expect you to open your wallet to them.
Stinginess:
If you read about the profit margins of medium to large sized companies not paying employees a fair, livable share, it becomes obvious the CEO is quite selfish and trains management to be just as selfish. We're living in a day and age to where firing a boss is not unheard of and is becoming more common place. As mentioned in the second section, an element of entitlement does play a roll in how a company manages their bookkeeping. Budgeting for everything outside of paying employees is normal. What is not normal is having the ability to cover everything, your own salary, and still not providing employees or affiliates a livable income. Advertising companies play a huge roll in this type of narcissism by racking in the dough from advertisers and paying website users under their "partner program" next to nothing for signing over their rights to the content they produce for the website. It is quite disappointing to an artist or self employed person of skill when they're being exploited in this way.
Inability to meet deadlines:
Most people like this choose professions that ask little of them as it may seem on the outside. Industries and niched industries that fall into the arts or design work tend to be quite attractive to the narcissist as they falsely believe there will be very little demanded of them outside of the perfection they demand of themselves. What they don't realize is there are actually deadlines to meet when garnering a wider audience or making the right connections needed to run this type of business. You'll notice a pattern with them when they go from photography to modeling to videography to painting to sculpturing to the next thing within a short span of five years. We all understand it takes at least five years and perhaps more to master just one skill and have it take off. It takes dedication, hard work, networking, studying, a ton of research, and patience to get to a successful place in just one area alone. As all of this is going on, there are so many deadlines to meet from post production times all the way to meetings. Yes, you literally have to change out of your pajamas into a decent outfit to meet with people to get things to take off. Rocking brand names isn't necessary either unless you're being sponsored somehow (a note for the overdoer). This type of laziness attached with stinginess and entitlement show this person does not care about the work they do, because they refuse to do what it takes to get to the next level. From honoring contracts all the way down to the pair of shoes that match the outfit you're wearing to meet with someone includes a deadline - and all of these deadlines must be met without complaints.