Work Like Hell . *
“If you don’t mind things being really hard and high risk, then starting a company
is a good idea. Otherwise, it’s probably unwise. It will certainly stress you out. So I
think you have to be pretty driven to make it happen. Otherwise, you will just
make yourself miserable.”
Musk’s work ethic is legendary. “He is a machine,” who worked under Musk as
the head of talent acquisition at SpaceX.
Elon is said to regularly put in 100 hours of work week between Tesla and Space X
and he considers this the bedrock of his business success. When asked to
give advice to entrepreneurs, Musk offered, “Just work like hell. If other people are
putting 40 hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100 hour work weeks, even if
you’re doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what
it takes them a year to achieve.”
Know Your Limits.
Musk may be the smartest and hardest working entrepreneur of the 21st century,
but even has limits.
Back in 2006, Elon had an idea for a solar panel company. But he knew that if he
started it, he would be overextended and unable to give everything necessary to
SpaceX and Tesla. So he shared his idea with Peter and Lyndon Rive, who
founded SolarCity in July of that year. Musk was the principle investor in the
company and has served as chairman of the board since its inception – but he’s
kept a safe enough distance so that it doesn’t eat up too much of his time and
energy.
Solar isn’t the only industry he sees huge opportunity. Supersonic jets, hyperloops,
and virtual reality interfaces have all earned his attention. He’s skimming the
surface in these fields, but not diving in headfirst.
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