Wednesday, 11:32 AMSeal Beach, In The Almost Bankrupt California
I can count on one hand the number of people that are good friends that can relate to me.
The Entrepreneur is one of the loneliest gigs on earth. If you run a small business, you know exactly what I mean.
Whenever you start a project, company or new venture, you are ALWAYS met with resistance from those who’s opinions you value.
“That won’t work…”
“I don’t see it…”
“But you’ve got a good thing already, why risk it?”
Funny how we value the opinions of people that haven’t accomplished what we desire… however…
The crazy entrepreneur goes it anyway…
And then when things are at their darkest for us… we fail.
I know you might have been expecting me to say something else. “Just when it looks like nothing will work, you turn the corner and strike it rich.” While that happens, it’s an anomaly, not the rule.
The cold hard fact is that most entrepreneurs will fail.
The difference between an entrepreneur and everyone else is that the entrepreneur is addicted to trying. When we fail, we fail spectacularly! As they said about Buzz Lighyear it’s “Falling with style!”
A buddy of mine, Peyton Jones, is a church planter. For those that have never heard that term, a church planter is someone that starts a church with no building, no money, and very few people to go on this wild ride with them.
My friend spent 12 years in the UK starting churches. During that time, just about anything “bad” that could happen to him did. He’d been beaten up to the point that his nose will bear a scar forever… He even died on the operating room table for 20 minutes… He’s never had wealth as defined by American culture.
As a church planter, more often than not, he had to have a side job just to support his family. (There’s no money in the church planting thing).
He recently had to meet with the board of directors that supports his church planting efforts and they asked him if he ever got tired of it all. Not having an easier life. Not having enough money. Being afraid for the physical well being of himself and his family…
He addressed this questioning with a story of a group of base jumpers. These base jumpers take incredible risk with the “stunts” they do. The buildings and mountains they skydive off of…
When they were asked why they do it, the answer came out…
They were more afraid of not really living than they were of dying….
For my buddy, being a church planter is living life to it’s fullest.
Imagine that…
I’ve had my hand in the starting of more endeavors than I care to remember, some with more success that others.
In fact, I’ve failed. I’ve failed miserably! And yet, I’m addicted to starting new and crazy ventures…
The entrepreneurs life can be lonely when you don’t have others who “get you” to lean on. I’ve said it before in this blog that I am very grateful for my mastermind group. We are a group of entrepreneurs that are able to lean on and learn from each other. Without this group, in a great many ways, I’d be alone.
If you are a small business owner, being in a mastermind group is a must (please note, networking groups are not mastermind groups!). Without it, you’re just playing at being a business owner. Without one, expect to fail more often. With one, you stand a lot better chance of success!
Incidentally, my church planting buddy heads what we would call a mastermind group for other church planters just like him. Friends that they can lean on and learn from. It’s vital to a successful church plant.
So if even the church planters are in a mastermind group, why aren’t you?
If you don’t have one, get on my waiting list here, or find one somewhere else, but you need this! It is essential to success!
