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ARTICLE / BUSINESS
NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOUR JOURNEY SCREWED UP YOUR LIFE OR HOW
DIFFICULT IT WILL BE, ENJOY THE RIDE AND KEEP FOLLOWING YOUR PASSION
by working whenever I wanted to
work – until I read Lori Greiner’s
following quote: “Entrepreneurs are
willing to work 80 hours a week to
avoid working 40 hours a week.”
It all started by little wake-ups in the
middle of the night. At the beginning,
it was because I was too excited
about my ideas and I had so many
of them. I simply couldn’t wait for the
morning to arrive so that I could start
working again.
Then came the exaggeration
phase. I was working too much
because I never had enough of
working for my idea and I wanted
to do more. However, the more I
worked and the later I went to bed,
the more difficult it was to fall asleep
and the lower the quality of my sleep
became.
As a result, at least two or three
days of every week I was having
days with almost no productivity.
Don’t be fooled by over-hyped
funding news about new business
founders becoming millionaires.
The stories behind the scenes have
so many painful days, sleepless
WWW.NORTHERNHILLS.CO.ZA
nights, and continuous rejections and
failures.
The journey to success is long. Very
long. Very often, too long.
“DEPENDING ON
YOUR DEFINITION
OF SUCCESS, THE
DIFFICULTY OF YOUR
ENTREPRENEURIAL
JOURNEY WILL
DIFFER, TOO. IF
MONEY AND PUBLIC
SUCCESS ARE WHAT
MATTERS TO YOU
THE MOST”
5. HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS?
Each of us has a different priority list
in life. For most people, money is the
number one priority on the list, while
work-life balance ranks higher for
others. Consequently, people define
success differently.
Depending on your definition
of success, the difficulty of your
entrepreneurial journey will differ,
too. If money and public success are
what matters to you the most, you are
likely to have a hard time along your
journey.
Remember Hemingway’s wise
words:
“It is good to have an end to
journey toward; but it is the journey
that matters, in the end.”
Successful entrepreneurs are not
necessarily those who raise millions
of investment rounds. Don’t forget,
they are one in a million.
There are, however, thousands of
dreamers out there who manage to
bootstrap their business or live so
well off on their own, but even they
do not make it to the top of tech
news.
No matter how much your journey
screwed up your life or how difficult
it will be, enjoy the ride and keep
following your passion. As Tony
Gaskin puts it perfectly:
“If you don’t build your dream,
someone will hire you to help build
theirs.” NH
CHRISTMAS ISSUE 2014 / NORTHERN HILLS / PAGE 35