10 Startup Tips
Chapter 5: What’s Your Motivation?
Where there is a will,
there is a way. – Pauline Kael
The second part of the definition of an entrepreneur is an “initiative,”
or effort, drive,
or aspiration.
If risk is the brake,
innovation is the fuel to accelerate your business.
Mark Mills wondered
why only Royal Mail was allowed to have mailboxes.
He hopes to find business here.
And he called the company to ask.
They laughed and said,
“Hundreds of people have called and asked us,
by law it’s our monopoly.”
But that piqued Mark’s curiosity.
He enrolled in law school in the evening.
He spends his time studying law.
And he discovered
that Royal Mail was only allowed a monopoly in providing keys for mailboxes.
And the fact that anyone can provide a mailbox.
Mark quickly ordered a series of mailboxes
at gas stations across the country.
Royal Mail provides keys.
He then sold the portion of the mailbox advertising
to a multinational oil company
and eventually sold the business.
What is different about Mark is that he dares to act
and does not give up like hundreds of others.
It is this effort and motivation that makes entrepreneurs successful.
Five Seconds Millionaire Quiz
A famous Hollywood movie actor used this test to see
if aspiring actors could become famous.
He just asked them a simple question:
Do you want to be an actor
or do you have to be an actor?
Then he counted the time they answered.
If they stopped for a second,
he said they wouldn’t become actors.
You might ask yourself the same question:
(a) Do I want to be a successful person?
Do I love not having to answer the boss,
being creative,
having a nice car and having great holidays?
Or:
(b) I must succeed,
at any cost?
You can be successful if you choose option (a),
while the degree of hesitation
when you answer the question shows how successful you are.
Roman Abramovich1,
Britain’s richest man,
was born into poverty in the Arctic region
and orphaned at the age of four.
You can understand his motivation.
Compare this to a reader’s motivation:
“Two weeks ago,
I left the big company I had been with for 14 years
– a high-paying,
high-paying position
– with plans to start something completely different from scratch after leaving.
I always wanted to be free to work and realized
I couldn’t stand the competition,
couldn’t adapt as required
and not be dictated by others,
so I was determined to act.”
It’s also the engine.
We don’t have to try to become millionaires.
Being a relatively successful businessman is also something to be proud of.
And as it is said:
“Unfortunate is the land that needs heroes.”
Here are some ways to keep yourself motivated.
Unravel your dreams
When climbers get out of their tents in the morning,
what do they look at first?
They looked up at the top of the mountain.
If they only thought about the long,
slow journey ahead of them each day,
they would never get out of the tent.
They keep going because they dream of the top.
The same is true in business.
If you focus on the peak,
the rocky mountains
you have to overcome on the way are just a bit difficult.
If you lose sight of the top,
you will only see the slow
and difficult road going every day.
We all had interesting dreams as children:
to be a racing driver,
a millionaire,
a surgeon.
And we let those dreams slip out of our hands along the way.
Secrets of successful entrepreneurs:
The person who achieves the dream is the one who grasps the dream.
As a child, Jim McColl dreamed of having a Bentley.
Now he is a successful businessman
and has earned £100 million from the sale of a branch
of the Clyde Blowers company.
He got his dream car.
The two worst things we often do with our dreams are
to “rationalize” and make it “reality”.
If it had been realistic from the start,
it wouldn’t have been a dream!
Here are some tips for better dreams:
Don’t let others hinder your ambitions.
A teacher asked me what
I wanted to be when I grew up.
I said I wanted to become a powerful person in the world publishing industry.
And she laughed.
If you’re going to tell someone about your wildest dreams,
tell a stranger.
Don’t share with those who stand in your way
because they will say,
“Yes, but…”
Gradually,
this will eat away at your dreams
until there is nothing left.
Don’t worry too much about the path to get there.
Start where you want to go,
then go back from there.
Think: “If I become a Hollywood director,
I have to start working with a portable camcorder” rather than
“I will never make it to Hollywood from this Norwich area.
I should be content with filming local weddings.”
It’s never too late.
Remember:
Ray Krok started McDonald’s at age 60!
1. It is acceptable to start with a rather vague dream.
2. It can only become a powerful motivator
as you improve it more and more.
3. Map out a detailed goal and start visualizing it.
4. Think about positive details in your dream.
5. Some people even carry a picture of what they want.
6. Read books that inspire you.