Are you among those super-valuable assets in our communities — an inspired entrepreneur? Today there is so much right with our world and so much wrong with it, a “business as usual” address won’t cut it. In this blog, I’ll tell you why striving to be an inspired entrepreneur is your smartest move.
How to Fail 101
You have a choice of what you use your talents and creative energy to do. Choosing wrong can bite you in more ways than you’d suspect!
Early in my career I trained with another executive that was responsible for statistics and ethics in the organization.
Years later as a young, cub consultant I ran into him again. He was working 80 hours/week but totally failing as an entrepreneur. He had started working for a company that made a device to block police radar in automobiles and had somehow acquired the company. These devices are illegal, but by some technical slight-of-hand he had kept his device on the market. But he was unable to make his company viable despite using the exact same techniques which had work great for him previously in the highly-ethical group.
At the time I didn’t spot what is now obvious. He was pushing full-force on the accelerator and the brake at the same time! Although he justified it to himself and took great pride in preventing chronic speed demons from losing their drivers licenses, he was actually misusing his entrepreneurial skills to keep wackos on the road that might run over his little daughter — or yours.
Choose Where You Lean Your Ladder of Success Carefully
We’ve all fallen into situations where what we’re doing really isn’t all that great in the overall scheme of things. It’s blah and we’re just doing it for the paycheck. We can’t really get inspired…so do you think we’ll prosper? Very unlikely.
Hell’s Bells, Man, Get into Something that Inspires You!
Let me point out something important. Before you lean your “ladder of success” up against a particular wall (product, company, job, whatever), look at where (and how high) it goes. Look at the guys who’ve been climbing it for 10 or 20 years. Look at their lifestyle, families, happiness, contributions to our society. Does that inspire you?
If you don’t look before you leap, you can get to the top of that ladder only to be unhappy and either suffer (for years), or try to leap over to some other ladder, or climb down and start over on another ladder.
Where do you think you’ll start when you do that? On the same rung you were on before on the unwanted ladder? Sometimes, but usually you’ll have to start at or near the bottom and climb up for awhile to get anywhere. When you start over, you normally lose ground.
So I advise clients to apply this “acid test” before selecting the type of business, product or service they will pursue:
Would you do it for nothing?
Because frankly, almost any business I’ve ever run (and many jobs I’ve had) there were times I had to do things for free, or even pay money out of my pocket to do it. This is called tuition in the School of Hard Knocks, in which I hold an honorary doctorate degree.
It doesn’t matter what others think. Do something that really helps good people and inspires YOU and you’ll stick with it and climb higher and higher, and make your life count for something.
Be an Inspired Entrepreneur!
Ready to Prosper as an Inspired Entrepreneur?
I can help you become an Inspired Entrepreneur and prosper. You can achieve your potential. I specialize in magic growth formulas and I want to sprinkle them on great people and their companies. Contact me this week and receive a free 1-hour intro consultation.
Send me an email now or give me a call at 727-304-5000