Possibly one of the most important barriers for a would-be entrepreneur to overcome is the fear that she/he can’t really match up to the reigning titans of business. One way to overcome it is to ask: why do I want to set up and run a business?
If you’re already an entrepreneur, you may have been asked, or may have asked yourself at some point in time the reason or reasons for being in business. Even after the business is up, you may find yourself questioning the motivation to continue.
The answers – depending on who is asked, by whom and at what time – may range from gaining (money, fame, power, security, goodwill, etc. etc.), to giving (employment, security, dignity etc. etc.).
However, all of these are on the surface. And they change.
The underlying motivation, to my mind, is: to give expression to yourself. Just as a painting is to an artist, a piece of music to a composer, a book to an author, business is a method of expressing one’s personality. And just as moods change, expressions change – with the changing expression the surface motivations mentioned above may also grow or decline.
And just as we wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) use a cookie-cutter approach to deciding good art, neither should we use the lowest common denominators of financial or scale metrics alone to judge a business as good. (In fact, look where the cookie-cutters got investors!)
So, here’s to finding your expression!
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