My first two companies failed. Both were planned out in detail on business plans. When I started had no plan and no vision past two years. It was a simple idea scratched out on a napkin. The goal was not millions, nor was it build and flip. It was about figuring out a way to hack together a business that would make me the $4,000 a month I needed to survive
Start with a vision. Preferably, in the words of Joe Vitale: “One that SCARES you a little and EXCITES you a lot.”
We all have different skills. But there’s one skill I feel is most crucial to entrepreneurial success. It’s the ability to sell. I scoffed at the idea of marketing and sales. Tesla was an amazing engineer. He ended up broke and depressed as the Engineer-Salesman Edison took his ideas and made them count.
In that famous Apple ad, “Here’s to the Crazy Ones”, Steve Jobs actually contributed just one line. It was “push humanity forward”. That’s what real entrepreneurs do. Peter Diamand is taking mankind to space. Branson adds fun, quality service and cheekiness to old entrenched industries. Tony Hsieh “delivers happiness”. I believe in teaching the world new things that enrich the human potential.
I’m not asking you to dedicate your life to changing the world just try not to mess it up for our children. I’m just asking you to not launch businesses that sell crap, pillage the environment, take advantage of developing nations or like Coke – market junk that lead to childhood obesity and other health disasters.
Know the difference between and entrepreneur and a businessman? Here’s the difference:
Business people do it for the dollars.
But real entrepreneurs push the human race forward.
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