This was given to me last week by my good friend Jim Basile – one of the smartest guys I know.  I thought you might enjoy it as well!

Few entrepreneurs are born.  Instead they arise from the ranks of the independent minded, odd balls, geeks, hyperactive, subject matter experts, engineers, dreamers and/or professionals who are not smart enough to know better.  What sets them apart is the power to avoid thinking about all the things that can go wrong.  They are incurable optimists.

Why do entrepreneurs deserve respect?  Because they:

• Generate great ideas
• Work hard
• Drive hard
• Pave the way for new industries
• Create new jobs
• keep competitors on their toes
• represent the artists and poets of the business world
• Exude indomitable self-confidence
• Are in a word “wonderful”

Now, some reasons why we fail:

• Allow great ideas to be followed by ordinary execution
• fly by the seat of our pants
• Jump around too much, and struggle focusing on task at hand (a.k.a.  A.D.D.)
• Fail to focus, chase after lots of ideas and run in circles
• Fail to attend to or manage the details
• Good at starting business, but bad at running them
• Exaggerate due to unyielding optimism
• Allow Chaos to reign
• Fail to do necessary pre-work before jumping in
• Cannot let go of control
• Lack patience due to unrealistic expectations
• Fail to see or acknowledge risk

(I’m stopping here.  This is only the first half of the list and I if you can’t see any of yourself in this list so far then you are truly an extraordinarily above average entrepreneur.)

Bottom line?  Top three reasons for entrepreneurial failures:

1. Failure to understand why everyone working for you is not as hard working, bought-in or motivated as you.

2. Envisioning, starting and running a business is like having a child.  As such, it is difficult to see the flaws that are so apparent to others.

3. Too few entrepreneurs seek coaching to leverage their strengths, identify their gaps, and invest in personal development.  They do not modify their problem behaviors.

End Note:  If you are interested in learning more about how Jim helps entrepreneurs overcome these challenges (including myself) you may contact him directly at jbasile@talentquest.com.  The world needs us now more than ever so we owe it to the world (and more importantly to ourselves) to be the best we possibly can be.

Uncategorized | RSS 2.0 | Respond | Trackback |