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As Entrepreneurs, Money Should Be Just How You Keep Score When you stop seeing money as the goal, and rather focus on building your business, serving your clients, and sharing your passion, the game changes.

By Daniel Wood

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

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My mentor shared this lesson with me years ago as we were starting our journey as entrepreneurs.

We had just started our first company, investing in properties, and as many new businesses realize, getting the business off of the ground, and making ends meet is a difficult process.

With 50% of all new startups failing within the first two years, according to the SBA (Small Business Association), I was very nervous about what failing would mean to our family, our reputation, and our future.

This fear had me almost paralyzed, and I had a hard time focusing and getting things done, which only caused to increase the amount of stress, since I could see my to-do list build up, and I wasn't keeping up.

My mentor saw what was happening to me, which is something that is only too common in entrepreneurs, so he sat me down, looked me dead in the eye, and said, "Daniel, you are the type of person who will do whatever it takes. You will never let your family be without. Now, don't worry about money anymore. Money is only energy, and successful people only use money as a point system to see how well you are doing!"

I should also mention here that my mentor is blind, and when he looks at you, it is as if he sees past your outer shell, and straight into your soul. When he said this to me, I felt a calm come over me. It has completely changed the way I act and think about my business and investing.

After that conversation, my outlook on being an entrepreneur has changed.

When you stop seeing money as the goal, and rather focus on building your business, serving your clients, and sharing your passion, the game changes.

Business is meant to be fun, money is a way to keep score- it tells you if what you are doing works, or if you need to make any adjustments.

As an entrepreneur, you have an opportunity to affect the lives of thousands, maybe even millions of people. And by focusing on delivering the highest quality, instead of the money, you will find more calm, more happiness, be more efficient, and therefore have more success.

Related: Getting Off The Hamster Wheel: There's More To Life Than Just Being An Entrepreneur

Daniel Wood

Founder, Swedish Wealth Institute

Daniel Wood is the founder of Swedish Wealth Institute.
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