Take Responsibility
While having a quality Mentor and acting on his/her advice is a key element, as a new Entrepreneur you must be willing to accept the consequences for every decision you make. Most Small Business Owners are more than ready to accept the rewards of business ownership, yet there is so much more that goes on behind the glamour of success. The point is that as the Owner of a business you must be prepared to make whatever sacrifices needed to keep the ship afloat. We call this taking responsibility.
I was on the phone today with one of my students who recent took title to 2 duplexes. Once she saw the other side of being a Landlord, she was disillusioned and called me for advice. It seems that the famous Landlords like Donald Trump and the Queen of England never seemed to have personally dealt with broken water heaters and vacancies! While there may be some truth to that, I explained that a true Entrepreneur is willing to stand on the corner with a "For Rent" sign, if necessary. A restaurant owner, for example, may need to miss the family supper to wait tables or work in the kitchen in the untimely absence of the General Manager.
We live in an unprecedented litigious society in which many refuse to take responsibility for anything....yet they all want to be rich! That's like the typical lottery winner, who is broke within 5 years after hitting the jackpot. Even possessing wealth is a responsibility and it requires diligence to keep it. I suggest that this is part of the learned behavior that an aspiring Entrepreneur must adopt. You simply cannot walk away from many problems. You must face the music regardless of the sacrifices involved. I love Covey's definition of "responsibility." It is the ability to respond.
Years ago, as a young Landlord, I learned a lesson that I will not soon forget. I remember observing some of my tenants who had very little materially and their surroundings dirty. Some of these would spend their days sitting around complaining about how they had been wronged in one form or another. They could tell you why they didn't have anything and who was responsible for that...even if the event was several years earlier. They had a bag full of gripes with a variety of "responsible" parties. Curiously, THEY were never the responsible party!
I believe with my whole heart that we are all presented opportunities regularly...some more than others. Prosperity, however, is enjoyed by only a small part of the population. One reason for this is our attitude. If you have had some rough going; maybe someone has even absconded with your money; get passed it now! Work hard to let it go and move on. It's not likely they will show up at your door with an apology. It really doesn't matter anyway.
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