Self Employed or Bust

Never Give Up, Never Surrender

July 19, 2008 – 7:00 am

When Columbus sailed on his auspicious voyage, he faced mutiny. After more than 3 months at sea, his crew had lost their patience and wanted to turn around. He convinced them to carry on for two more days. The next day they struck land. Our history might be decidedly different had Columbus simply agreed with his crew and turned around on October 9^th, 1942.

Lewis and Clark invested two years, four months and ten days in their round trip expedition. Donald Trump declared bankruptcy and recovered. Robert Kiyosaki (of Rich Dad Poor Dad fame) lived out of his car for a time and enjoyed 3 business failures before becoming wealthy. Aaron Ralston, trapped by a boulder and facing dehydration in a Utah canyon after 5 days, first broke then severed his arm with a dull knife in a desperate bid to live.

What did a sailor, explorers, two business men and a hiker all have in common? Perseverance.

The odds of failing in a solo business venture are high. The ultimate goal is to build a business, assign others to the day to day job of running it until you can walk away and still have the venture earning you money while you enjoy your life. A staggering number of businesses don’t make it past the first stage, though. If you truly want to be self employed and eventually own a business, you can’t give up on your dream.

As already stated in Why Fear and Impatience Doom the Self Employed I point out that the internet is littered with trickle-failure blogs; efforts which, after not growing quickly enough or large enough, died a slow death of abandonment. Though there may be many reason for each failure, the one reason they share in common is a failure to persevere.

To protect yourself against becoming one of the many failed attempts, take steps to ground yourself in reality. Recognize that success takes time. Plan and set goals, but remain flexible. Grow from adversity and don’t lose sight of your objective. Don’t fear failure but learn from it. Most of all, don’t give up. Doubt and discouragement are obstacles most every successful person has had to overcome. Remember that when you are faced with the same. It is a person’s willingness to persevere that ultimately leads them to success.

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