What is it that separates us entrepreneurs from other business people?
From e-myth.com:
“MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOUR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS.”
According to legend, this is the ad placed in a London newspaper in August 1914 by Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.
While it’s not exactly the kind of ad we suggest you use to recruit employees (see our article Recruiting Ads That Work), it certainly makes clear the kind of person Shackleton was looking for. Adventurers, visionaries, risk takers, people willing to work hard only for the promise of possible recognition…
Sound like anyone you know?
In a lot of ways, you could use this very same ad for an entrepreneur.
What are Entrepreneurs Made of?
Entrepreneurs posses that indefinable quality or characteristic that drives them forward, that enables them to persevere, struggle, and overcome obstacles in order to succeed at building a thriving and successful business. You can call it the “Entrepreneurial X-Factor” — and regardless of what many believe that “X-Factor” might be (attitude, passion, obsession, or simply abundant self confidence) — most entrepreneurs believe there is something that sets them apart. Although it can be argued that it is not necessarily an intrinsic quality, there is a certain something that sets the successful entrepreneur apart from the rest.
Sadly, I think these are the very factors that can drive architects to starvation and extinction. Clients love these qualities in all of us, but in real life, does it really works ? Most architect are already doing it for years driven by these factors competing to take on big risky projects/clients with lousy fee, and see where it gets us .
We can all take on the entrepreneurial mindset when it comes to failure. Overcome the fear of failure, embrace it, and conquer it head on!