Keys to Being a Successful Entrepreneur

While you're relaxing on a beach somewhere, is all your hard work still making you money? When's the last time you've relaxed on a beach, gone on a hike, taken the family on a dream vacation without financial worry?

Most of us dream about being our own boss or owning our own business. And most of those who dream will never see it through. This is because as humans, this is our tendency. We dream and wish and pray, yet we cripple ourselves with the following:

1. We don't know how or where to start so we just give up and accept what we have.

2. We are scared of change and risk so we choose the safer, although stagnant, route in life.

3. When it comes down to it, entrepreneurs work hard, REALLY hard, and many of us don't possess that kind of work ethic and self discipline.

4. Though we dream and wish and pray for opportunities, quite often when an opportunity presents itself (unless it fits the mold of what we've been programmed to accept) we close our eyes and minds and hide behind excuses like "it's too good to be true." Sometimes, it's actually just that good.

I've been guilty of all of these at one point in my life or another. And because I chose to live my life according to the programming I had received over the years, I also spent the first part of my career life working for major corporations and other bosses, making everyone else rich and successful except myself. That quote I have on my home page, "build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs," is the God's honest truth. 90% of you reading this right now are building someone else's dreams and still saying someday to your own.

I want to help you to start building your own dreams! But it is going to require one thing from you, without question. Action! You are going to have to step out of your comfort zone and brave some well-needed change in your life and ACT! People go through life's journeys fearing road blocks and caution signs. But the life you should fear is the one that goes absolutely no where with no detours or adventures. A stagnant life isn't comfortable or enjoyable. We are programmed to convince ourselves that our comfort zone is safe and acceptable.

Look at it this way...

Life is going to happen no matter what. Divorce could happen, death could happen, losing your job happens. All the unexpected events still happen to those in their "safety zones." So how exactly is that safe? How is living pay check to pay check safe? How is working 50 hours per week, for 50 years, making $50-$80K a year safe? What if something happens and you can't work for a while? Still feel safe?

As an entrepreneur, your goal is to still be making money and supporting your family and dreams even when you aren't technically working.

However, if you want to dive into the entrepreneurial world you are going to have to turn those crippling excuses from above into entirely different actions.

Entrepreneurs have a very high work ethic. We have a daily drive to be doing and thinking and planning and putting plans into action. Don't get me wrong, we play and we can play hard. But we work our tail ends off in order to feel completely free to play when we want to. Without a true hardcore work ethic, you will never succeed as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are risk takers. We understand that even when we fail, we learned a lesson for our next venture. Failure isn't seen as a terrible thing, it's a learning tool. Fear can be one of two things: Fear can be your enemy, or fear can be the fuel that propels you to success. We understand that the only fear that is acceptable is not the fear of trying and failing, it is the fear of giving up and living a programmed life.

Entrepreneurs NEVER give up. Let's be honest, we are at times annoying as hell in how persistent we are when it comes to our dreams. If we don't have the answers or know-how there is someone out there who does and we will find the answers. And if and when we do hit a hard dead end, we are the ones hacking out another path that others can follow. In short, do not give up on your dreams. Tweak them, redesign them, but don't give up on them.

Entrepreneurs are always curious. I meant what I said above. Think about it. We spend a lifetime dreaming, wishing upon stars and candles, praying for miracles and opportunities. But how often do we have something present itself to us but, because we have been programmed to be skeptical and negative, we turn away from the very thing we wished for without further investigation? All too often, and you know it. Now ask yourself this. What would the time to properly research new opportunities really cost you in the end? I'll answer it for you. Nothing but time.

Which would you rather be guilty of? Being the person that listens to a crazy idea that may or may not change your financial future, or being the person that heeds the advice of all the other drones around you (out of fear of "what would people think") and let's opportunities pass you by because you are super happy with life within the comfort zone. No, really, you are really happy right there beside all the other people working 9-5, making someone else's dreams come true. By the way, relying on the social security system for your retirement plan is probably the one risk that entrepreneurs refuse to take and yet you, just like a well programmed robot, rely on it.

Stop dreaming your dreams, and start living them!