Knowing Why You’re In Business Can Make You Unstoppable

“When I got cut from the varsity team…in high school, I learned something. I knew I never wanted to feel that bad again. I never wanted to have that bad taste in my stomach. So I set a goal of becoming a starter on the varsity.
– Michael Jordan

What is your reason for being in (or wanting to go into) business as an entrepreneur? Maybe you realised you might never get as rich as you really want to be by remaining in paid employment. Maybe you have some ideas about how to change the world around you to a better place by introducing a new way of doing things (like me).

We can all usually find some compelling reason when we think deeply enough about it. The point is that one should KNOW why one wants to embark on this kind of journey. Knowing why you want to do it, as Jim Rohn said, makes it easy to know why you cannot give it up – ever!

Having Reasons Helps You Achieve Your Aims Faster

And that’s because it gives you conviction.

Some successful people have advised that you avoid making money your major focus. This is because, (from their experience) when you relentlessly pursue
your vision, success inevitably comes with significant monetary rewards (there are those who think differently of course). So,
why bother your self about it up front, they ask. That’s probably why Marsha Sinetar said, “Do what you love, and the money will follow”.

Know yourself! “For most successful entrepreneurs, the real motivation comes from within. Money should not be your motivation. The journey is the thing. Climbing the mountain, not reaching the summit, is what you remember and enjoy. It should be the challenges, the competition, the sense of accomplishment. If you have that inner drive and use it wisely, the money will come on its own.” – Fran Tarkenton (Former Football Star/Millionaire Entrepreneur)

Real Life Examples

My personal experiences so far – even from when I was in paid employment – also make me lean towards this line of argument. I used my ideas to help my former company manage her brewing operations better using my spreadsheet solutions development/problem solving. That earned me attractive career advancement opportunities. And they were accompanied of course with significant monetary and other benefits.

I also remember that many people used to ask me then how I thought all the time I spent collating brewing records on the computer could help me advance my career as a brewer. In their opinion, I needed to spend more time on the shop floor chasing
the men around to do the day’s job.

What they were blind to was the fact that I was already doing that – sometimes staying back in the brewery for extra 5 hours after completing my shift! Only thing was that I never really let on that I was. I had already decided that I wanted to turn around the data management and report generation done manually in the department, to an automated format.

And I had a reason for doing that. It was that I thoroughly disliked the idea of spending hours and hours over 3 or more days (as often happened then) doing weighted average calculations to determine performance indicators for week/month end reports.

Did I achieve my goal, you ask? Yes, I did –and got a lot of recognition for it in the process. But if you notice, my reason for embarking on that activity was initially to solve a problem I
personally found distasteful. So I had
a passionate drive to solve it. And I relished the challenge it presented me with.

In other words, I enjoyed doing it. But in the process, others found my alternative
to be something they also wanted. And that made my department adopt the packages/solutions I developed.

In entrepreneuring, it is generally recommended that your business idea be one that you are passionate about, and which solves a problem that others will appreciate. You usually identify such opportunities from those instances when you experience feelings of frustration/anger or dissatisfaction with a particular situation, product or service condition.

When you feel that way, you might find that others also feel the same, but have no idea what they can do to eliminate the problem. If you can provide that solution, it is likely to be readily accepted by others. You will have met a NEED.

“You must desire a lot of money and acknowledge that you are an entrepreneur in search of this reward. You must stick with it. Remember, the big winners suffer and ache through five, six, or seven years of highs and lows. You may
wind up in a business far from your original venture, but success is inevitable. ” – James Cook

I’ll end by saying if you don’t have a compelling reason for doing whatever it is you’ve chosen to do as an entrepreneur, you will not have enough motivation to keep from giving up
when things get tough.