In the article “Are Successful Entrepreneurs Born or Made?” Jeff Sandefer talks about an experience he had when trying to find out what it was that made an entrepreneur successful. Was it skill, character or luck?

There were a couple of quotes from the article that I’ve added to the Quotes to Keep page, but I also wanted to elaborate on them a little bit.

The first, and my personal favorite, was “It is adding value to the lives of customers and employees that builds great businesses.” If what you sell or if the service you provide adds value to someone’s life, that’s great. What’s more important is that you take that value very seriously. It should matter as much to you as it does to them.

I know a girl who has started many different business and hasn’t been super successful in any of them. The reason is that, even though the services she has offered  have added value to others’ lives, she didn’t care as much about that value as she did about how much they would pay her for it. Not only should your product or service add value, but you need to recognize and acknowledge that value. It should mean as much to you as it does to them.

The second quote I liked was “Entrepreneurial success isn’t about money; it’s about freedom. The goal isn’t to make more than you need, it’s to spend less than you make. Because that way your free time belongs to you.”

When we go into business to help others and truly add value to their lives, our lives are enriched in the process. Touching peoples lives and making them better helps us to appreciate our own time and use our free time wisely. It’s not about the money we make but about the difference we make instead. It’s about having the freedom to be able to make that difference.

In one of the videos I watched for one of my classes this week, Peter Diamandis said something I’ve been saying in my head for weeks now. (Sometimes it feels really good to be validated.) He said,

“You have to believe in yourself and what you’re doing passionately enough that you’re willing to give this person the opportunity to help you or to be involved.”

Remember why you decided to do this in the first place. What was the reason why you wanted to have your own business? Is it because you wanted to make a difference? How passionate about that difference are you? We need to be passionate enough about the difference we want to make, or the legacy we want to leave, to be able to look at it like an opportunity for others as well.

Believe in what you’re doing. Treat it as though it’s a dream and you’re allowing others to come along on this incredible journey with you. Then go out there and work like you’re making others’ dreams come true. Because you are. And in the process, yours will come true too.

When I have my own company, one of the first things I want to do is brainstorm with my team. I want everyone to feel as though their ideas and opinions matter. It doesn’t mean that we’ll always be able to make everyone’s ideas turn into something tangible, but we will at least be able to feel as though we’re all important.

While doing an assignment for one of my classes this week, the following image came to mind. This is a great way to start a brainstorming session with a team. I’m putting it here so I’ll have it to come back to later.

I had a bit of an epiphany today when reading in chapter 3 of The E-Myth Revisited.

“The purpose of going into business is to get free of a job so you can create jobs for other people.”

True entrepreneurs understand this and THAT is why they go into business for themselves. THAT is what I want to do. What type of business it is doesn’t matter because I won’t have time to do much of it anyway.

Thinking back to my assets (see chapter 2 in The Start-Up Of You), when I sat down and thought through them, most of them were about helping others. I know how to teach, share, help and serve. I can do that for customers, AND I can do that for employees.

I want to start my own business to give myself an outlet for teaching others what I know and helping them find out who they are.

I don’t think I’m saying exactly what I mean, but I’m not sure how else to say it.

I want to create a place with a work environment that encourages creativity, innovation, and a learning spirit. I want it to be a place where others want to come to work; where we can enjoy each other and learn together. I don’t want to do all of the work – I want to help others learn to do things I already can.