It has been a couple of months since I read Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Work Week
So, last night I asked myself “Where is my entrepreneurial spirit?” Answering the question led me to a belief that I had formed during childhood:
- entrepreneur = salesman = dishonest
My apologies to salespersons for saying this. It is what I was led to believe, though, and it is a false belief that I have to overcome. Basically:
- My Dad criticized salesmen when I was growing up, saying that they would say anything to convince you to buy what they were selling.
- So, I grew up believing that. I later equated being an entrepreneur to being a salesman, and therefore to being dishonest, and because I was taught to value honesty above everything else, I equated both to bad.
- I do not know where Dad got his belief: perhaps a salesman did him wrong, or perhaps his parents taught him to not trust sales people, or … I do not know. But, he believed it and he passed it on to me.
The irony is that my Dad, who was the most honest human being I have ever known, was an automobile mechanic, and many people have the impression that auto mechanics will tell you your car needs such and such done on it so they can stick you with an unnecessary but expensive repair bill. I know for a fact that my Dad was not such a person. So, at one level I know that generalizations are often wrong, but I still believe many such generalizations because they are so deeply embedded in my belief system.
And, I know that none of us should make such broad statements about other people. Some salespersons are dishonest, some are not. Some automobile mechanics are dishonest, some are not. And so on …
But, knowing that my belief of “entrepreneur = salesman = dishonest” is wrong does not make it go away. It is a deeply embedded belief. And, it is holding me back from entrepreneurial endeavors.
Moreover, I doubt that it is the only limiting belief (and false one) that is holding me back. I probably have some self-esteem issues to work through as well. You would not think that a successful person has self-esteem issues, but my self-analysis is suggesting that I do. Some of these may have started after Vickie passed away. The death of a loved one can wreak havoc on your belief systems and your self-esteem, and it is so easy to feel guilty even when there is nothing you could have done. After all, we all die. But, the mind is a complicated thing and is constantly building and rebuilding beliefs, and these have a huge impact on how we behave: what we do and what we don’t do.
Your thoughts on this? Is there something that holds your entrepreneurial spirit back? Anything we can learn from each other?
Better yet, have you overcome some such false beliefs (like perhaps the one about “money being evil”) to become an entrepreneur? Any tips for us on how we can do the same?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
capo 07.19.07 at 8:50 am
I should go back and re-listen to that book. I enjoyed it, even though it was yet another in a long series of programs that implies much more than it delivers (IMHO).
I recently read a review of a similar book on Amazon which put it like this: “It’s your basic pyramid scheme. left his high-power Wall Street job for the simple life - teaching workshops on how to leave the corporate world for the simple life just like he did!”
That’s my main complaint about every similar book and audio program I’ve consumed. They’re all long on generalities and “if I can do it, so can you” philosophy, but when it comes down to trying to actually pay the mortgage and buy the groceries, the hard fact is you need money. I’m not damning entrepreneurship - I know several and it’s a combination of skill, luck, steady nerves and a lot of good old fashioned hard work.
Bruce 07.19.07 at 10:08 am
Hi capo.
We hold different opinions on the value of T4HWW, in that I believe it delivers more than it promises. Interesting difference in views. But, if we all thought alike, the world would not be a very interesting place.
While I posted on the money aspect of entrepreneurial spirit, to me an entrepreneur is more than someone who focuses on money. To me the spirit of such people generally seems to have the following characteristics:
For example, a few months back some friends were ready to arrange for me to take a contract with an organization in South Africa that would have put about $300,000 in my pocket for working there for 8 months. (I actually never asked about the exact figure but my impression is that it was about 300k from the way they were talking.) Great money. But, after retiring I just did not want to jump right back into busting my ass for 8 months, or to jump into uprooting for that length of time, and frankly I think I had some self-confidence issues lurking in the equation as well.
While I don’t regret my decision, I do regret not having it within myself to ever say yes to such a deal. It’s “too different” for me. I think an entrepreneur would have jumped on it, and I admire that.
I have been complimented by some businessmen for “having it within me” to set up and maintain a blog (while other friends of mine wonder “why I waste my time on it”). But, to me, this was a natural extension of something I already knew how to do. So it really had no gutsy-ness in it. It is not in my view an entrepreneurial move, and it sure as hell isn’t making any money for me (in fact I sometimes wonder if my time and money would be better spent).
So, I suppose what really motivated me to write about this is my sense that I am too stuck in a rut, and my sense is that a lot of people are. Hence, I thought it might be a good article for folks to air their views on why so many of us let ourselves get stuck in a rut. Sure the mortgage is a huge factor. But, my hunch is that many of us have deeply-held, and often incorrect beliefs, that are holding us back.
capo 07.19.07 at 10:29 am
We may disagree on the book but we’re on the same page with entrepreneurship. I’ve had long talks with a good friend who’s started several businesses of varying success. He’s everything you describe in your list and has commented that my strong desire for a sense of financial security (ie: I like to know that I’ll have money to at least pay the bills that are due in the next week or two) is a detriment to being successfully self-employed. I guess that’s an incorrect belief for me. I know underneath it all that financial security is all an illusion. I signed a mortgage for my house some years ago with no guarantee that I’d be able to make the payments every month for the following thirty years… I participate in the American economy which is kept afloat by nothing more than the optimism of the American consumer… That all having been said, I’m open to modify my opinion of the Ferriss book and would be really interested to hear why you think it delivers more than it promises - maybe I totally missed something.
Bruce 07.19.07 at 10:45 am
Thanks, capo. I suspected we were pretty much on the same page.
Regarding the book: maybe we hold differing opinions because I expected so little of it, and found that it delivered more than I expected. I was not expecting much from a $12 book written by a guy I had never heard of. But, I love his time management advice. Maybe just because it confirms what I already knew, but it focuses on what is important, and on good no nonsense goal setting. I also was pleasantly surprised by him describing HOW to automate one’s life more, and HOW to liberate, instead of just saying “do it.” He also gives several examples on outsourcing that I think are worthy of follow-up, once I get off my ass.
Anyway, our differing views on the book are probably just based on having different expectations from it. I did not expect much. I had not read such books in years because I thought most of them are shallow, and I don’t remember why I decided to read his. It turned out being more than I expected it to be.
Time for me and the dogs to take a nap. Later,
Bruce
Pascal Venier 07.19.07 at 11:11 am
Your dad sounds like wise man!
Bruce 07.19.07 at 2:13 pm
Actually, I would love to be as wise as he was, Pascal. Check my post for July 5, in which I talk a bit about him.
And to think that tomorrow my Mom turns the same age that Dad was when he passed away (77) … may she, and her wisdom, remain with us for many more years.