Tweet

Persistence, Purpose and Passion

Guest post by: Kerri Salls

Article Overview: Think about the business owners you admire or the mentors you listen to. They’ve told you story after story of what they did to be successful. Those stories were a great way to make a point so that you would remember it. Think about all those stories for a minute. There are some common threads you’ll find among all those admirable leaders. Those common threads are key lessons you must apply to your solo business to assure your success and prosperity too.

Persistence, Purpose and Passion

Think about the business owners you admire or the mentors you listen to. They’ve told you story after story of what they did to be successful. Those stories were a great way to make a point so that you would remember it. Think about all those stories for a minute. There are some common threads you’ll find among all those admirable leaders. Those common threads are key lessons you must apply to your solo business to assure your success and prosperity too.

Three of those key lessons are persistence, purpose and passion. These aren’t results from your business. All three are essential drivers you need to bring to your solo business.

Persistence

LOUIS PASTEUR: Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.

If you’ve ever held a sales position where you were paid on commission you know how important it is to keep reaching out to prospects for the 1^st time or the 6^th or 7^th time to offer them what you know is the best solution to their current challenge or need. It’s not quitting on your goal. Whatever your business is or could become, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, it only matters how many times you get back up.

Persistence shows the world what you’re made of. Persistence shows your market how committed you are to them and their success. Persistence shows your team and your family that you take your solopreneur or consultant business very seriously.

Purpose

When you started your own business, you had an idea, a dream and likely a mission to serve your target market. But behind that, what’s the purpose of your solo business? What’s your purpose that drives you every day? What’s the purpose of what you’re doing that’s bigger than yourself, your family or the business itself? If your purpose isn’t big enough, it won’t sustain you intellectually, emotionally or financially.

PAULO COELHO: But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON: Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.

When you know your purpose, nothing can knock you over. Your intention comes through in every offer to clients, each newsletter or email, every marketing campaign, each customer service contact.

Passion

Some people start a business because they are very good at something. Some people inherit or acquire a business. Some people go into a business that is very lucrative. Regardless of how you entered into business ownership or why; there’s one thing you need to sustain you when it gets tough (and it will), when things are not going your way, or when you aren’t having fun anymore. What you need is passion for what you do, who you serve and the value you offer that makes you the only expert your prospects should turn to. You know you have this kind of passion when you can feel it in your gut. It’s a burning desire you can’t walk away from or ignore. Your passion drives you or confirms that you have to be doing what you set out to do in your business.

When you have that passion and commitment to your business, your dream; then you look forward to getting out of bed each day. You are eager to face even the parts of your business you don’t enjoy or that don’t excite you, because your passion for the business overrides any other driver.

MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN: I'm doing what I think I was put on this earth to do. And I'm really grateful to have something that I'm passionate about and that I think is profoundly important.

When you put them all together: Persistence, Purpose and Passion, you have a winning combination of traits that set every entrepreneur up for success. As a solopreneur, they provide a strong foundation on which to grow your own business.

Related Articles
  What is Passion
  The Art of Passion
  Starting a Home Business Requires Persistence
  Blueprint for Building a Business On Purpose
  It's All About Passion and Purpose
  Persistence Creates Success
  What Is The Value Of Persistence?
  PASSION to do it will show through
  Building a Client Base for Business
  What is Passion for Today’s Business Leaders?
  The Keys to Business Success
  If You Persist, You will Prevail
  The Power of Persistence
  Home Business Expert: Passion: Find A Product You Can Believe In
  A pathway to possibility Part Three
  What’s Your Compelling Purpose?
  Lesson #3: Dedicate Yourself And Follow Through
  The News
  Kurlan's Law of Increased Sales Effectiveness
  Smart Women Ignite Their Fire

Article Tags: business ownership, foundation for business, independent business owner, mentors, operations, passion, persistence, purpose, solopreneur, start a business, strategy, tenacity



Related Forum Posts
Re: Persistence gives live to small business. - Persistence is the key to success on any enterprise
Re: Why Some Websites Sell and Others Don’t? - Thanks for starting this inspirational thread,am working on owning my own site.This is a vital info for me. I will take note of this important quote as a beginner "Forget about the magic bullet that will make you rich overnight. Persistence is more important than intelligence"
Re: What I Enjoyed Reading This Week - July 29 - Nice selection - especially as I was able to go through the three that interested me in a 10 minute-dead-slot before dinner time! Persistence = constantly improving and inventing, not banging the same head against the same brick wall! Visual.ly looks really interesting. I'll definitely check it out. I guess you directed us to the seat belt promo for the stunning direction. I have to say, I always wear a seatbelt - except in the back of taxis...
Re: Does Anyone have any New Ideas for a Business - An idea is only the beginning. The solution is the key here. I really like the term "turn key solution" and in fact use it as many times as I can in my life. Successful franchises and businesses know exactly what, who, how, where, when and why prior to ever dropping $1 in the bank account. This is what makes people millionaires. Harvest ideas into well oiled machines. A business needs to run itself and sustain itself. If you can show this on paper and show consistent growth in a real world scenario, you will always have a winner. Sounds easy, doesn't it? I'm still working on that myself. It's amazing how many difficult to answer questions come up. Persistence is then key.
Re: Success - I study success intently, and would like to share: Here's two excellent and nearly identical success-formulas from a couple of the world's masters. FIRST FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Clear, Definite Purpose 3. Committed Decision 4. Take Action In Faith (Bonus Secret Sauce: 5. Repeat Consistently) I made a video about this, but am not allowed to link it yet. Google "Ryze Success Steps" for it. Oh, and this is Napoleon Hill's (Master Of Success Laws)'s Formula. SECOND FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Understand It Is Already Done (Faith) 3. Relax & Allow It To Unfold (Go about your life calmly) This one is courtesy of Abraham-Hicks (inspiration for the movie The Secret). Hope that helps!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM

Ready for a Fresh Image?

Emotional Intelligence in Business

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.