Why Are You In Business?
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 use your unique gifts and/or skills to change
the world around you to a better place - among other things
- by influencing new ways of thinking and doing things.
The point is that you need to KNOW
exactly why you want 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 no matter how long it takes or
how slow or painful it becomes - because your reasons or motives
give you CONVICTION. A person who is convinced about his/her
concepts will NEVER give up trying to make them work. It only
becomes a question of time then, before s/he finds success.
Find A Reason That Goes Beyond
Making Money
Desiring money can provide adequate
motivation to pursue business success. The problem I have
with it is this: What happens AFTER you achieve your desired
level of business success that results in wealth - and financial
independence or security for you?
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 will eventually come with significant monetary
rewards (there are those who think differently of course).
So, why bother your self about it up front, they ask.
I actually share this philosophy about
having motives for starting a business, that go beyond just
making money. To really be successful, we must be able to
do something that makes a positive impact on others/society.
Or it could be something which gives us fulfillment regardless
of whether or not we get material rewards from doing so. When
its ONLY about the money, a person may not be able to sustain
his/her initial hunger or passion to take things to another
level, once the money comes.
Examples Of Real People Who Have
Motives That Go Beyond Making Money
Painters/Artists and many authentic
entrepreneurs in a way are soul mates of sorts in this area.
They will be very often found willing to continue for unlimited
periods of time pursuing their vision regardless of how much
lack they suffer before succeeding. And even when they have
achieved material success, their passion for work never diminishes,
because they stay focused on achieving the ultimate vision
of making a difference using their unique gifts - visions
that may be pursued for their entire lifetime.
Take the case of Bill Gates. Considering
that he has been the richest man in the world for quite a
while now, if that had been his sole motivation for starting
his business or building it up to its current size, I doubt
that he would still be working the way he does.
Gates - as I learnt from a Newsweek
magazine interview I once read - has a personal vision to
"evangelise" to the world, the "gospel of software
development" as it were. From CEO, he now plays the role
of a chief visionary, for the Microsoft company - influencing
how/where new developments in the business should go, and
bringing in capable hands to complement his efforts as necessary.
On a different front, he is also working hard on the "...Gates"
foundation to help people around the world.
To Achieve Long Term Business
Success - Your Employees Need To Have The Right Reasons Too!
My personal experiences - even from
when I was in paid employment - assure me the above philosophy
guarantees significant and long term success for anyone who
follows it. For instance, by working hard to help my former
company manage her brewing operations better using my self-taught
skills (in spreadsheet programming), I got attractive career
advancement opportunities offered to me fairly early on in
my career - with significant monetary and other benefits.
One example. I thoroughly disliked
the idea of spending hours and hours over 3 or more days (as
often happened at the time I just joined the company as a
brewer) doing cumbersome calculator based computations to
determine performance indicators for week/month end reports.
So, I decided to build a spreadsheet to eliminate the problem.
Did I achieve my goal, you ask? Yes, I did – and I 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. But in the
process, others found my developed solution to be something
they also wanted - so it was formally adopted.
But even if I had not gone the extra
mile to use my free time and self-taught skills to add this
kind of value to the company. Even if I had simply done exactly
what was stated in my job description, I would still have
gotten paid a comfortable salary, and earned the normal annual
performance reviews bonuses for doing my job! It is therefore
obvious that I chose to do more, because of a compelling need
I had, to influence changes I believed would boost workplace
productivity.
Going by the above, it might not be
a bad idea to study each of your employees to determine what
primary motives they have for working in your company. Their
willingness to take the initiative in solving problems; to
develop futuristic solutions or to go the extra mile on the
job when necessary, for the company to succeed, will be useful
pointers.
Summary
In entrepreneuring, it is generally
recommended that your business idea should be one that you
are passionate about, and which solves a problem that your
prospective customers will appreciate. You can 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 (eventually) perceived as useful by others.
You will have met a NEED. Working daily to be able to meet
that felt need to your customers' satisfaction will ensure
long term success for your business: you will always be relevant.
If you make providing this enduring solution - with appropriate
adaptation to changes that occur over time - your primary
motive for being in business, you will easily sustain your
passion to keep the business going for the long term - even
when you experience tough times.
I’ll end by saying if you do
NOT 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 -
and every once in a while, business WILL get tough! 
“Make
your vision so powerful that when you finally accomplish your
goal, you have a sense of deja-vu – Haven’t I
experienced this before?” – Cynthia Kersey
“If
you don’t do what you love you will fail, and fail big
time.” - Michael Ross
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