Entrepreneurship lesson from… a non-Entrepreneur

Posted on September 12, 2007

This week I got a real Entrepreneurship lesson, from one of my colleagues, a “non-Entrepreneur”. The story goes like this.

I have this colleague, Octavian, that every time I look at his yahoo messenger status message says how happy he is, day by day every day (various texts, so it’s not a forgotten status). Now, that’s a complete blasphemy for an continuously worried and tired part time entrepreneur like myself. (I have to admit that I’ve been on the dark side of not being excessive happy all my life).

Ok, so on Monday, I couldn’t take it no more, and I asked Octavian how does he manage to be happy all the time? (In fact I said that I’m really unhappy with his everyday happiness :) Answer hit me in the face like a true and genuine Entrepreneurship lesson:

“I’m setting small, reachable goals to myself very often. Accomplishing these small goals most of the time make me very happy. For the bigger goals, I make sure I have enough small reachable goals to keep me happy until the big ones happen”.

Second lesson came right after:

“I make a lot of sport. Sport keeps me happy.” (Octavian did bring several times some breath taking mountain pictures from his (weekly??) hikes).

Let’s see where the wisdom of Octavian way of thinking is:

  • Before starting, a lot of entrepreneurs set themselves the wrong goals. I want to be the biggest company. I want to be rich until 30’s. I want to build a big brand. I want big everything.

    And somewhere along the way they discover that is harder than they thought. Not enough customers, crippled cash-flow, employee problems. And they get discouraged and they…quit. So what about some smaller steps and goals? I don’t want to be the biggest company in the World, I just want to be a little bigger than before. I don’t want to have a billion dollars in my account. I just want to be a little richer than I was before. I don’t want big everything, I just want a little bigger then before. This can be done.

  • Keeping your mind and body healthy. I don’t think it’s a secret that most of the entrepreneurs have no time for doing sport or whatever they need to keep in good health. Drinking a lot of coffee, working 15 hours a day, not a chance to take a walk, stress. But if you take lets say a 10 minute walk each day, it’s not the end of the World. It just means you might be 10 minute late at the tomorrow meeting! And there is no point of being the World greatest Entrepreneur if you’re sick and dying.

Octavian, you’re doing a great job! Keep up!

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Comments

2 Responses to “Entrepreneurship lesson from… a non-Entrepreneur”

  1. kairno [Visitor] on September 13th, 2007 3:06 pm

    well.. i happen to know Octavian, and i was also wondering how he managed… and now… it really makes sense…. strange though… just by knowing happiness can be achieved,i feel better…not bad Octav, you make other people feel good just by feeling good yourself ;)

  2. bootstrap business [Visitor] on September 23rd, 2007 11:46 am

    I enjoy really these articles, just taking some information that will fit to my styles. Thanks for sharing this article.

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