The Wealthiest Entrepreneurs All Have This Essential Characteristic in Common Do you have what it takes to join the ranks of the most successful business leaders?
By Alexa Dagostino Edited by Amanda Breen
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Many people dream about leaving their 9-to-5 jobs to become full-time entrepreneurs doing what they love. Unfortunately, this dream will never come true for most of them. The reasons vary, from being afraid to risk what they have worked so hard for to self-imposed limitations such as not being confident enough about the change they want to see in the world. But often, it is the misinformation surrounding entrepreneurship that leads people to abandon their dreams.
It is the whole purpose of being an entrepreneur that some people get wrong. Most of those who wish to make it their career but never succeed have a skewed perception of entrepreneurship. The only reason they want to embark on this journey is to improve their own lives or those of their friends and families once they top the next year's Forbes 100 list and befriend the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. But, for some reason, that never happens.
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That is because those people want to become entrepreneurs solely to make money and don't understand the main reason why all of those wealthy individuals have so many zeros attached to their names: The most successful entrepreneurs solve problems. But why is it so important, and how exactly does it translate into wealth?
It is not about money
Contrary to what most people think and how the media portrays it, being an entrepreneur is not all about money. Those who now hold millions or even billions of dollars in their net worths didn't start their businesses to make exorbitant amounts of money. Instead, it was the purpose and strong drive to change the world that made them who they are today, and money was simply a byproduct of the enormous amount of help they have provided.
Entrepreneurship is all about making a mark and leaving the world a better place. It is the mindset that eventually translates into money, unlike hoping to make millions right away, which rarely comes to fruition if there is no passion to support your actions. There will be times when everything seems to be going against you, and when that is the case, what is going on in your head will either make you or break you.
People won't help you unless you help them
Let's face it — humans are selfish. While one or two people might give you something for free, it will never be enough for you to make it big. If you want something from others, you need to give them something first. In the case of entrepreneurship, those at the top of the pyramid solve other people's problems, and if the number of people they have helped is high, or the amount of help they provide significant, they are paid accordingly for their efforts.
Even though it might seem that people have already developed every solution imaginable, the problems that are yet to be solved remain endless. Whether you want to help people earn more money, make their lives more convenient or simply help them forget about life's struggles and bring some fun into their days, you can either come up with a completely new idea or improve one that already exists, and people will be grateful to have it in their lives. In return, they will help you achieve your goals just as you helped them achieve theirs.
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Don't keep your ideas to yourself
If you have an idea of how to change the world and improve people's lives, you can't keep it all to yourself. The truth is that you might be the only person with a particular solution, and if you don't share it with the world, others won't be able to benefit from it, so you will be depriving them of a better life.
To many people, entrepreneurship is a calling. They have an idea they feel like the world needs and couldn't imagine living life asking themselves, "What if?" They have to give it a try and see if the solution is viable. And while this kind of epiphany is rare, and you certainly don't need it to become an entrepreneur, if you feel like the only way to free your mind is to make an idea a reality, you should think twice before deciding not to share it with others.
You can start something big
Helping other people isn't only about helping them achieve their goals. It is about enabling them to spread the solution even further, ultimately making your influence bigger and bigger. Then, as others use your ideas to devise new solutions to get it out to even more people, you will be able to collectively change the world and make it a better place.
And while this means that your solution might be altered and possibly improved, you shouldn't be worried about somebody doing it better than you. Instead, giving them this opportunity will not only benefit both of you, but also everybody who uses the idea. Just like Karl Benz's car patent didn't stop Mercedes from coexisting with other companies, you, too, can do much more with others.
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But is it even for me?
Many people wonder whether entrepreneurship is something they should even care about. Some of them might try it briefly just to decide that the experience wasn't quite what they imagined. But the truth is that the beginnings are always tough, no matter what you do, and entrepreneurship isn't any different. Only this time, the reward behind getting to the finish line is much greater.
Whether you already have an idea or just know you want to help other people but aren't quite sure how, entrepreneurship is your answer. It is the entrepreneurs who build the world around us, and you can bring a meaningful change that will benefit people for decades, if not centuries, to come.
