What’s Your Real Reason for Being in Business?
Last week I had the honor of speaking with Annemarie Cross on her podcast Ambitious Entrepreneur. Annemarie Cross is a coach specializing in both personal branding and social media strategies and money mindset breakthroughs.
The subject we talked about was the three motivations behind starting a business. These motivations are behind the “style” of business they create.
These styles are . . .
- Empire Builders
- Freedom Lovers
- Altruistic Visionaries
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Entrepreneurial Style: Empire Builders
A while back I wrote an article called What is your Entrepreneurial Style? It was featured on a different blog which received lots of comments. I transferred it over to this blog and it’s been tweeted automatically using a WordPress plugin. The post features three different entrepreneurial reasons to start a business based on their goals for the future. The three types I talked about were:
- The Business Builders
- The Lifestyle/Freedom Lovers
- The Altruistic Visionaries
Anyway, I recently received a comment on Twitter asking me why she couldn’t be all three at once. I then realized I needed to explain the difference better. First I went back and changed the business builders style to empire builders. I think that name more accurately reflects what I’m talking about. I’m now reflecting on what I should call these “styles” because what they really are three different reasons or motivations for starting a business.
Two of these motivations are incompatible with each other. Empire Builders are people who start or buy businesses and grow them into major corporations. Think Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Sam Walton, Richard Branson, or Mark Zuckerburg. When I refer to Empire Builders I’m talking about people who build businesses that employ hundreds or thousands of employees. They may start multiple businesses or grow one major one. Yes, they most likely end up with lifestyles we envy but they also worked very hard to achieve them.
People who start lifestyle business want to skip over all that hard work, financial risk and personal sacrifice and start living their chosen lifestyle. There is no limit to their income potential per se. But to be frank, they are not as likely to be billionaires from running a business.
Neither motivation is good or bad. In fact, a lot of us can be thankful to those who become Empire Builders because they provide lots of jobs that keep us many of us employed. They provide products, services, and entertainment that we may not have had other wise.
The whole point of this article was to get people to understand their motivation for wanting to start a business. Let’s say a person who looks at the lifestyle of a rich and famous business owner decides they want that to start a business just like their mentor. They work really hard to build their business, get burned out and they realize they didn’t want all that work and responsibility. They just wanted their lifestyle.
True Empire Builders love the game of business. They feel called to do what they do. In fact, I bet most days they love what they are doing. These are people who could run almost any kind of business and be successful. And if they aren’t, they pick right back up and start something new. So my answer is no under my definition of entrepreneurial motivations.
I am a lifestyle business owner and have no desire to create a major corporation or own more than one business. Simplicity is what I am after. What about you? Have you thought about what you want your business to look like down the road? Do you desire becoming an Empire Builder? Tell me about in the comment section.
Feel Passion For Your Business?
A common misconception about finding our passions and applying them to our business is that we look for what we love to do. I think about passions a little differently. To me the true driving force in business is finding who we are passionate about serving.
Here’s an example. My husband and I recently went to see Tim McGraw at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington State not too long ago. While watching him perform I got to thinking about his career. You can tell he has a great passion for his songs, what he sings and most of all his fans. This passion attracts very passionate fans.
Wouldn’t it be great if we all could tap in to that level of passion? A passion so great it would help get us through all the hard work and personal sacrifice it takes to build a business. How about a passion so great we attract our own passionate “fans”?
The problem with most of us who start a business is we build them around “shoulds and needs.”
- Our business needs to bring in a certain level of income.
- We should do our bookkeeping today.
- We need to market our business everyday or it will fail to grow.
- We should work 12 hour days and seven days a week to get our business of the ground.
What if we lessened the shoulds and needs and focused on a mission of serving with passion? What if we felt so deeply about what we do for a living we delegate what should be done?
How about we focus on providing excellent products and services and build relationships with clients and customers we care deeply about?
If you’re feeling lackluster and not feeling motivated to move forward with your business you haven’t connected with your true passion yet. If you dislike your customers you haven’t connected with whom you are meant to serve. Clear some time to do a lot of soul searching about what you feel passionate about and who you would love to work with and help.
What do you think? Business fundamentals aside, do you see how finding the right kind of passion for your business could propel it to more success? Leave me a comment and tell me what you think!
PS. Check out this blog post and make a commitment to finding and serving your tribe. There’s a free download hidden within the post!
Do You Have Too Many Business Ideas?
Some of us were born with the need to explore. We want to experience life at it’s fullest so we go full speed ahead and pursue all the wonderful things to do and learn. On the downside, we may have so many ideas, passions and interests it leaves us feeling scattered and unfocused.
I have felt this way. My passion is learning. I’m one of those people who love to learn and wants to learn as much as I can about a topic that interest me. I sometimes learn several topics at once or go deep into learning one subject. When it came to my I ended up choosing a topic that I’ve never dropped and that’s career and start up business ideas. I’ve been researching this topic for 26 years. But for a while, I became lost in a sea of options. I just knew each topic I became interested in was the one I was meant to pursue as a career.
In desperation I turned to a book called The Renaissance Soul
My personal tip is when it comes to starting a successful, income-producing business I recommend focusing your efforts on one idea. Narrow down your ideas to one that you feel will create the income you desire. Then start an idea file for the business ideas you may want to do in the future. Better yet, get a journal and write down your ideas and what you love about it. When you’ve launched a business or career successfully consult your journal and see if any these ideas spark an idea for another business or ones that can become hobbies.
The Renaissance Soul
You can view my Affiliate Compensation Disclosure Policy on my Fine Print Page.
The Definition of Leadership
“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” Eleanor Roosevelt
My recent post on “Were You Born to Lead” created some interesting comments. After reading them I realized why we people have problems when they hear some people are more naturally suited to become leaders.
It’s the definition of the word. I found on Dictionary.com this definition of leader:
1. a person or thing that leads.
2. a guiding or directing head, as of an army, movement, or political group.
It’s the first definition that is ambiguous. We all lead in someone or another. In sibling birth orders, in our occupations, in our families, and our businesses. One way or another we fall into roles that create opportunities for using leadership skills.
As a Niche Clarity Coach I want to make clear that when I talk about leaders I’m referring to the second definition of leadership as an occupation, not as a role. Example occupations would be: CEO/Presidents, Board of Directors, Political Leaders, Superintendents, etc.
So, I’m sticking with my assertion that we aren’t all meant to be nor desire to be a leader in that sense.
I’ve learned the saying that we can be or do anything we want in life is a half-truth. The problem with being or doing what we want doesn’t always match who we are in life. You will find that if you fight against your very nature and the skills, talents, and gifts you uniquely have, you will have an uphill battle ahead of you.
I never want to tell people what they can’t be. I only want to help them find what makes them shine. It’s much easier to follow the river of success flowing with the current, not against it.
Developing talents and gifts that come to you naturally and delegating what doesn’t is flowing with the current.
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