Tip: An entrepreneurial spirit will beat innovation every time!
Tip of the Week
04/01/13
Tip: An entrepreneurial spirit will beat innovation every time!
Anyone who has ever been around other people knows that we are all wired differently. We each have our own strengths and particular view of the world. And, while that is true, I believe we can each learn and grow in certain aspects of life.
Perhaps one of the most important areas in which we can learn and grow is in developing an entrepreneurial spirit. That term signifies someone who is “gutsy,” willing to take chances, lose money, stay up late, and lose sleep. They are willing to be misunderstood, laughed at, scorned, ridiculed, mocked, and anything else they must endure in order to attain success. This kind of person marches to the beat of a different drum. They continue to press ahead with their ideas until they see success. Not everyone is born with that gene, but it is a quality that can be developed.
People who are innovative are very important, as well. In fact, they are often smarter than people who are entrepreneurs; however they sometimes suffer from the “paralysis of analysis” trying to figure out something. They want to see things done in a new and better way. Unfortunately, even when they perfect whatever it is they are working on, it still has to be marketed and sold to the public. That is where the person with the entrepreneurial spirit outshines them. They are able to take a concept that is on paper and by means of sales and marketing, turn it into a successful venture.
I once heard that Stephen Jobs first saw the concept of the hand-held mouse when he was touring a Hewlett-Packard plant. It had only been around for a short period of time and was not widely known or used. While he was on the tour, he realized that was the wave of the future and asked if it was something that he could use. They GAVE him the concept that he could use for free. Can you imagine what the patent would have been worth on that one concept alone?! Although he was innovative, I believe the thing that made him successful was his entrepreneurial spirit.
Not long ago I read an article about Sylvester Stallone. Most of us remember him from the Rocky movies that he made. Even though they were not the greatest productions ever made, they still have influenced our culture and the film industry in general. The thing that intrigued me most about the article was that Sylvester Stallone said that he had struggled his entire career to produce his films. He said that he had to write the scripts, star in them, raise the money for production, market and sell each of the movies and that it had been an incredibly difficult experience. His dream was that someone would come along and fund him so that he could simply write the movies and star in them. But, he realized early on that just wasn’t going to happen. So, he had to be the spokesperson who marketed them to the world himself.
I thought that was so unusual because I had always assumed that he had a lot of money and backers, but the truth of the matter is that he had very little money and no backers. He had to borrow money, promote, sell and market almost all of his movies himself in order for them to be successful. Now that is someone with an entrepreneurial spirit!
Whether you decide to develop that same kind of spirit or not is up to you, but it has been my experience that those who achieve real success in life are the ones who are willing to step out into an unknown future where an opportunity exists. And, the surprising thing is that they may not even know what that opportunity is until they get out into “mid-air” and start looking around. It is usually at that point that they find what they have been looking for all along.
If having an entrepreneurial spirit were easy, then everybody would have one, but the people who succeed the most are the ones who are willing to do something about the status quo that they currently do not like. I heard that the founders of Google were once asked why they wanted to create a new search engine when there were ten or eleven already in existence. Their answer was that they thought they could do it better than anyone else. I believe they were right! Although they had incredible innovation, the thing that carried the day was their entrepreneurial spirit.
Let me encourage you to seek new ways to grow in your own personal endeavors in order to develop this aspect of life. It may be painful at times, but I can promise you it will be the ride of a lifetime! It will help you to be the winner you were meant to be!
Tip: An entrepreneurial spirit will beat innovation every time!
Have a great week! God bless you!
Dr. Robert A. Rohm
