Wisdom from a young entrepreneur
July 16, 2009 by Sarah Newton
Filed under Gen Y Inspiration
Vanessa Van Patten gives advice
Here is an exert from a recent blog post by one of mu favourite bloggers. I love the way she is so honest and open in all the she writes.
Thanks Vanessa for inspiring others.
I officially started my company 2 years ago on my graduation day from Emory University, May 9, 2007. Here is what I have learned
1) Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should do it.
I am very grateful for the advice I get in my informational interviews with experts and other entrepreneurs, but I often hear, “why don’t you…” And I have, a lot. But, what I realized is, just because you can do something, does not mean you should do something. You must love doing it, if you just ‘can’ and you don’t ‘love’ it will probably not be successful, you will dread it, you will worry about it and it will take you away from things you do love.
Example: Everyone keeps telling me I should do a podcast/radioshow. They have been telling me for two years. “It will be such a great accompaniment to your blog!” “You are so good at talking, you should do it” I prefer to listen than to read, I wish you had some kind of an audio recording.” Finally a few months ago, I tried. Well, I barely tried. I started, looked into getting a channel on iTunes, got a professional mic and made a little intro on Garage Band. I recorded one. In all honesty, it sucked. It sucked (I knew it and a very honest friend told me so) and I hated it. I realized then and there, just because I can, does not mean I should.
2) Just because it makes money, doesn’t mean you should do it.
I found a pretty successful model to make money this year that involved training tutors to work with private families. This is successful and my families benefit, my tutors benefit and I benefit. But, it is not what I love. I love to write. This unfortunately bends the rule on above that if you do not like something it probably won’t do well. I almost wish this part of my business was less successful because over the past year, I followed the money, not my dreams. On my first week-long vacation in a long time over my birthday, I realized that I had my first good night’s sleep in months. I also realized it was the first time I had time to write in 8 months because I was not seeing clients. I love my clients, but because of our very long waitlist, I had given up my time for what I was truly passionate about, and my sleep. I realized it was not worth it. So I…
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Can’t state enough how important the entrepreneurial spirit is.
Curious if anyone has caught this book yet? “The Richest Man in Town” by W Randall Jones. I’ve read half of it so far and let me tell you it is well worth it. Would like to hear what everyone else thought of it?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446537837?ie=UTF8&tag=richestmanint-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0446537837
Oh so true! Great point! I often have “great ideas” and then I put it next to my “triangle” of Passions, talents and goals. If it doesn’t fit, it goes into a pile of “great ideas for someone else!”
I also make this point often when speaking or coaching on social media, and marketing. “Just because you CAN send an email to a zillion people really easily, doesn’t mean you should!” either!
Very wise perspective and good for you for sticking to it!
Thanks Heather,
Love that just because you can does not mean you should
Sarah