The Top 2 Myths About Being An Entrepreneur
Myth #1 If you love the work you do, you'll never have to work another day of your life:
Ahahahahahhaha!!! What a bunch of BS!!!
Let's sit down for a few, and have some real talk.
Over the past 10 years I've built my company, Dreamshine, from the ground up, starting with my office in a barn-literally!
Throughout the past 10 years I've had times where I've crawled through hell, teary eyed, dirt in my finger nails, and was wondering if I could even go on.
Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. At Dreamshine, we are honored to serve individuals with special needs with a 2 word mission statement : Change Lives.
10 years later, with 20 staff on my Dream Team , serving over 50 clients with special needs, we now have a multi million dollar company, and a beautiful campus.
But It's hasn't been all sunshine and roses along the way.
The problem is, people seem to think that if you become an entrepreneur, you will always enjoy what you do. You never have to "work," because you love it so much.
I'm here to tell you, that's a lie!
Here's any easy example. I've been married to my amazing wife for over 10 years. I love her. Our marriage has taken more work, in so many ways, and also blossomed more I ever could have possibly imagined.
Is it easy? NOOOO!!!!
Is it worth it? YEEEEEEESSS!!!!!!
I've seen so many people so "passionate" about their dream, their marriage, & to use the term that's trending these days, becoming an entrepreneur.
At least, at first.
Unfortunately, not if, but when the going gets tough, then tougher, followed by adversity punching you square in the jaw, you are down for the count.
You were a straight A student, but you never knew the importance of Your "Get Back Up Grade," as my good man, Shane De Garay aka The Shane Train says it.
They give up because they built their foundation on the myth if you love the work you do, you will never have top work another day in your life.
By the way, I'm all about doing what you love, I just need you to understand success and adversity absolutely coexist.
How you choose to react is the key, some people call this emotional intelligence, if you want to get all fancy about it.
I like to call it your reaction/will power muscle. Both these, like, muscles, get stronger as you work them out more and more overtime.
And guess what, this is a lifelong journey.
You said you wanted real talk, right!?
Myth #2 Passion is Connected to Feelings:
"But Mark, I thought Passion was a good thing!?"
Yes, it is.
But most people think being passionate means you are going to be holding poms poms, jumping up and down, and cheering everyday about how awesome it is to be an entrepreneur, allowing your feelings to dictate your dream.
Truthfully, real passion is connected to your foundational why.
Real passion, the kind which endures, has nothing to do with feelings, and everything to do with your why.
Most people fall into the myth that passion is connected to feelings. And as soon as the storms hit, because your foundation is not built upon your why, your passion washes away.
Which makes you wishy washy! So you give up, because you stopped "feeling" the passion.
Think of the book The Tortoise and The Hare. The tortoise enters the race, even though he lacked the talent. The "experts" mocked him, and counted him out as a joke.
Because the tortoise had real passion, which is built upon character & connected to his why, he continued to persevere. One step at a time, and ends up winning the race.
The hare, (let's just go ahead and call him a rabbit,) was talented, had all the charisma (which looks a lot like the myth type off passion,) but had no why.
His only motive was to feed his own ego and pride.
He allowed his feelings to drive his false sense of passion.
If you don't believe me, read the book. It ends the same way every time, the tortoise always wins the race.
Let me sum it up for you:
Success and adversity coexist.
Is it easy...No!!!!
Is it worth it...YEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!!
How you choose to react to the adversity is completely up to you.
Everytime you choose to grow through the adversity, your reaction/will power muscle gets stronger.
Real passion, the kind which endures, has nothing to do with feelings, and everything to do with your why.
Next Time You Think About Giving Up, Do This:
Make a why list.
If I were to give up on________ , how many people will be affected?
Don't just think in the now, look into your vision manifested, and all the lives who will be negatively impacted if you were to give up on your dream.
Here's our webpage for Dreamshine, just to give you a little flavor of what wouldn't of ever been created, had I given up, when times got incredibly tough. http://www.dreamshine.co
What is Steve Jobs gave up? What if Zuckerberg gave up? What if Thomas Edison gave up?
Every time you are going through hard times, look at this list, allow it to remind you of all your whys; therefore, pushing you to endure, to persevere.
This is what it truly means to be be passionate about the work you love!