Entrepreneur
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Lifestyle
3 Reasons Why Every Entrepreneur Has To Be A Lifestyle
6:03 PM
There are entrepreneurs that focus on financial gain then there are lifestyle entrepreneurs who build a business to better their lifestyle. Or so they say.
In fact, there is only one type of successful entrepreneur, and that’s a lifestyle entrepreneur. That’s not only because they end up happier and more fulfilled, but also because they make the most money!
1. You have to love what you do
Perhaps you think you can start a business you don’t particularly enjoy, then work extremely hard and before you know it, you’ll be driving fancy cars and living the dream. The reality is you can’t.
As Steve Jobs says:
“You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers.”
Check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMnJLWeo1z8
At the age of 18, I was by far the most motivated person I knew. However, 7 years of blood, sweat, and tears starting and operating my own business taught me that willpower has a lifespan and the only thing that will drive you to persist is to love what you do.
Even if you’re prepared to go to the far ends of the earth to achieve success, you simply won’t be able to in a game you don’t love. Doing something you love pulls you to your objectives. Willpower require effort?
That doesn’t mean you need to love everything in your business. You need to love what you’re doing in a wider sense. For example, I set an up a cash handling company, www.zzaponline.com. I did not start ZZap because I love cash handling equipment! I started it because I love business.
If you’re struggling to think of a business idea that you would love and one that is viable, check out my article “The real truth behind finding a viable business idea.”
2. Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle, it’s not a job
Entrepreneurship isn’t something you do on the side. It’s not something you can walk away from at the end of a long days work. Entrepreneurship is a way of life.
Entrepreneurs have to do what is required when it is required. Success is solely dependent on your work output and the quality of that output, not a set number of hours in a day. You need to be available when an opportunity presents itself, no matter what the time of day or occasion.
You report to the market, not your boss. The market does not care about your working hours or if you’re ill or if you’re on maternity leave. It responds to results. It’s a very tough adversary, and if you’re going to win, your business needs to be your lifestyle, not a just a job.
Gary Vaynerchuk, a hugely successful entrepreneur, offers you a raw view of what it’s really like to be an entrepreneur. Check out his video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTHbFb1fNy4
3. Lifestyle entrepreneurs are happier
Making a ton of money gives you the freedom to do what you want and contrary to the saying “money doesn’t buy happiness,” money really does buy happiness to an extent (I’ll leave that for discussion in another article in my blog!). On the other hand, you have to consider, on average we spend our life:
- 30% sleeping
- 30% working
- 40% leisure (or if you’re like most of us, you spend leisure time doing all the chores before going back to work)
Does it really make sense to spend nearly half of your waking hours making money to enjoy the other half? It doesn’t make sense, but often it’s said “that’s the way it is” or “life is unfair.”
Granted, becoming a lifestyle entrepreneur is probably going to be the hardest challenge you ever embark on, but if you achieve it, just think how precious it would be to spend the other half of your life on something you actually love instead of a job you think is mediocre. It’s an easy answer with the hard solution, so I’ll leave you with a favorite quote of mine.
“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”
Author: Andrew Margison, founder, and director ofZZap Ltd. 1st Class Honours in Business Studies and Enterprise.
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