What predicts success as an entrepreneur more than anything else? Not talent. Not luck. But rather, your desire to try and try again until you succeed.
This article will make the case as to why hard work is the #1 predictor of a successful entrepreneur. Here we go:
1. Talent is Not Enough
Innate talent is no predictor of success in business or elsewhere. We all know people who have risen to the top from unlikely circumstances. While we also know people who have had everything in their favor and then fumbled.
To that, Randy Pausch said, “It’s not about the cards you’re dealt, but how you play the hand.”
The people who really win this world aren’t worried about their naturally born given talents. Instead, they’re focused on how they can take matters into their own hands.
2. Challenges Have to Be Overcome
The people who are committed to the pursuit of work hard are the ones who make the tough calls, deal with the pressure and handle the unexpected challenges that arise in entrepreneurship.
Most people say they want to succeed as an entrepreneur. However, they only want it if it’s easy. At the first sight of an obstacle, their efforts compress rather than expand, and they often crumble.
When there are obstacles that need to be overcome, your best bet is to stay calm and put in the work.
3. Opportunities Don’t Happen, You Create Them
Thomas Jefferson had it right when he said, “I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
Of course, luck is not something you can depend upon to magically make the sales happen and keep your lights on. However, you can depend upon your own hard work.
4. Learning Along the Way
The late motivational speaker, Jim Rohn had famously said,
“After you become a millionaire, you can give all of your money away because what’s important is not the million dollars; what’s important is the person you have become in the process of becoming a millionaire.”
The most brilliant thing about working hard to succeed as an entrepreneur is the amount of learning you get about yourself, your venture and the world of business.
That’s why so many entrepreneurs are willing to walk away from their already successful business and start a new one because they’ve now learned the process.