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How entrepreneurs stay motivated

Guest post by: Fiona Mati

Article Overview: After the initial excitement of the brain wave that will change the world and revolutionize society has long ended; and the entrepreneur sets to the task of actually making their vision happen, sometimes set backs or sheer fatigue sets in. Then the visionary who was once so elated over their business idea starts to view it as work.

How entrepreneurs stay motivated

Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. - Confucius. We recently stumbled upon Meme (pronounced "meem"), a technology site tracking innovation, social media, culture and business. The site features an interview with Richard Branson, the renowned entrepreneur - best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies.

At the conclusion of the interview where Branson is asked about his philosophy on focus he responds: "I tend not to think of work as work, or business as business. I am passionate about any business or challenge I put the Virgin name to, this helps me to stay focused. I truly believe you have to love what you do and be the best in the market - simply by providing the consumer with the products they want."

This triggered recall of another interview with social entrepreneur Ami Dar of Idealist.org on Dowser, a site that tells stories about people who are creatively attacking social problems. For those not in the know, Ami Dar is the founder of Idealist.org an interactive platform where people and organizations can take steps towards building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.

When discussing what motivates him, Ami Dar in the Dowser interview said "It can be frustrating at times, but when people ask me, ‘How do you motivate yourself, how do you keep going,' I've never felt that I have a choice. I've never in a million years imagined working for a different organization. This isn't a job, it's not a workplace. It's what I do."

After the initial excitement of the brain wave that will change the world and revolutionize society has long ended; and the entrepreneur sets to the task of actually making their vision happen, sometimes set backs or sheer fatigue sets in. Then the visionary who was once so elated over their business idea starts to view it as work.

Though it has been said that employees work in a business while entrepreneurs work on their business, however particularly for the micro-entrepreneur sometimes all of a sudden the purpose of the idea looses prominence and the entrepreneur only sees the necessity of getting the work done.

After a while even that business plan we spent so much time on prior to launch gets thrown by the way side and it becomes a matter of survival to stay afloat. At this time it's important to step aside, pick up the plan and assess whether you still see the bigger picture and whether it still excites you. If it does, then like Richard Branson and Ami Dar think of your business as a vocation. Your legacy to the world.

Then ... just get back to work!

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Article Tags: Ami Dar, brain wave, business, business idea, business plan, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, fatigue, idealist, motivation, Richard Branson, social entrepreneur, stay motivated, visionary, workinitial excitement



Related Forum Posts
Re: How to Stay Motivated - Staying motivated is definitely hard. Especially when things get overwhelming and there are no immediate results. This is my personal approach. 1) Use a big white dry-erase board / piece of paper. 2) Pen down everything you need to do or in the process of doing. Point forms with dates. No need for excessive details. 3) Schedule a definitive period of time to relax (i.e. for the next hour and a half) 4) Jump back to working starting with number 1 on the white board! The best way is stay motivated to be organized, re-group then jump back in!
How do you stay motivated as a startup? - Hi Everyone, I was wondering if some of you could share a few tips on how you stay motivated as a new entrepreneur. For instance, what do you do when: • You lose an opportunity, sale or client • You see a competitor doing something very well • An expense costs more than you bargained for • Your hard work and efforts haven't yielded any significant results yet Thanks!
Re: Quote of the Day - "People are not lazy. They simply have im - To stay motivated and work to achieve your goals, first thing is that the goals must be ones that you truly want and believe you can achieve. If the goals are ones that you think you should have,(in other words impotent goals) then forget it, it just won't happen. MichelleJ
Re: Second attempts at entrepreneurship - Great replies! As you can see, if all of those people had given up on the first try, we wouldn't have had a lot of great inventions. There are a lot of great websites that will help you stay motivated and have the endurance that it takes to be a successful person (both personally and financially). I DO understand not wanting to tell the family and friends. I was that way, too. Maybe you could focus more on other leads and then hit up the family and friends after you've had success elsewhere. Hang in there! Believe in yourself and your abilities!
Re: How To Stay Motivated In Your Business - Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are correct. Having the right mindset is critical to being a successful entrepreneur. Kicking the dead horse one more time:::: Write down your goals. And then READ THEM!! I find that most people don't write them down, and of those that do, hardly any read them later. When you are most motivated is usually in the beginning of your project, so write down your goals then. When feeling down, go back and read those goals, this will get you motivated and make you remember why you started your venture. .


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