Successful entrepreneurs make money. Wildly successful
entrepreneurs make serious money.
But money isn't
the sole reward--or the sole driver.
Every entrepreneur also possesses qualities that don't appear on
balance sheets but do make a significant impact on their employees, their
industry, their communities... and most importantly, the lives of other people.
Here are nine things you're too modest to brag about:
1. You find happiness in the success of
others.
Great business teams win because their most talented members are
willing to sacrifice to make others happy. Great teams are made up of employees
who help each other, know their roles, set aside personal goals, and value team
success over everything else.
Where does that attitude come from?
You.
Every great entrepreneur answers the question, "Can you make
the choice that your happiness will come from the success of others?" with
a resounding "Yes!"
2. You're incredibly empathetic.
Unless you create something entirely new--which is very hard to
do--your business is based on fulfilling an existing need or solving a problem.
It's impossible to identify a need or a problem without the
ability to put yourself in another person's shoes; that's the mark of a
successful entrepreneur.
But many entrepreneurs go a step farther, regularly putting
themselves in the shoes of their employees.
Success isn't a line trending upwards. Success is a circle. No
matter how high your business--and your ego--soars, success still comes back to
your employees.
3. You relentlessly seek new experiences.
Novelty seeking--getting bored easily and throwing yourself into
new pursuits or activities--is often linked to gambling, drug abuse, attention
deficit disorder, andleaping
out of perfectly good airplanes without a parachute.
But, according
to Dr. Robert Cloninger, "Novelty seeking is one of the traits that
keeps you healthy and happy and fosters personality growth as you age... if you
combine adventurousness and curiosity with persistence and a sense that it's
not all about you, then you get the creativity that benefits society as a
whole."
As Cloninger says, "To succeed, you want to be able to
regulate your impulses while also having the imagination to see what the future
would be like if you tried something new."
And that's why you embrace your inner novelty seeker: it makes you
healthier, you have more friends, and you'll be generally more satisfied with
life.
4. You don't think work/life balance; you
just think life.
Symbolic work-life boundaries are almost impossible to maintain.
Why? You are your
business. Your business is your life, just like your life is your
business--which is also true for family, friends, and interests--so there is no
separation, because all those things make you who you are.
And that's why you find ways to include your family instead of
ways to exclude your work. You find ways to include interests, hobbies,
passions, and personal values in your daily business life.
If you can't, you're not living--you're
just working.
5. You have something to prove--to yourself.
Many people have a burning desire to prove other people wrong.
That's a great motivator.
But you're driven by something deeper and more personal. True
drive, commitment, and dedication springs from a desire to prove something to
the most important person of all.
You.
6. You ignore the 40-hour workweek hype.
Studies show that working more than 40 hours a week decreases
productivity.
Whatever.
Successful business owners work smarter, sure, but they
also outwork their competition. (Every successful business owner I know who
reads those stories probably thinks, "Cool. Hopefully my competitors will believe
that crap.")
Author Richard North Patterson tells a great story about Robert
Kennedy. Kennedy was seeking to indict Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa (who some
believe is chilling in Argentina with Elvis and Jim Morrison). One night
Kennedy worked on the Hoffa case until about 2 a.m. One his way home he passed
the Teamsters building and saw the lights were still on in Hoffa's office, so
he turned around and went back to work.
There will always be people who are smarter and more talented than
you. And that's okay--because you want it more. You're ruthless, especially
with themselves.
You? You work harder. That's the real secret of your success.
7. You see money as a responsibility, not
a reward.
Many entrepreneurial cautionary tales involve buying 17 cars,
loading up on pricey antiques, importing Christmas trees, and spending $40,000
a year for a personal masseuse.
Wait--maybe that's just ex-Adelphia
founder John Rigas.
You don't see money solely as a personal reward; you see money as
a way to grow your business, reward and develop employees, give back to the
community... in short, not just to make your own lives better but to improve
the lives of other people, too.
And most importantly they do so without fanfare, because the true
reward is always in the act, not the recognition.
8. You don't think you're special.
In a world of social media everyone can be their own PR agent.
It's incredibly easy for of us to blow our own horns and bask in the glow of
our insights and accomplishments.
You don't. You accept your success is based on ambition,
persistence, and execution... but you also recognize that key mentors, remarkable
employees, and a huge dose of luck also played a part.
Instead you reap the rewards of humility by asking questions,
seeking advice, recognizing and praising others....
9. You know success is fleeting... but
dignity and respect last forever.
Providing employees with higher pay, better benefits, and greater
opportunities is certainly important. But no level of pay and benefits can
overcome damage to self-esteem and self-worth.
And that's why you do, because you know that when you do...
everything else follows.
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