Like a fairy tale, almost every successful entrepreneur has their very own "Cinderella" story, or, more known as a "rags-to-riches" story: from busing tables in restaurants to becoming millionaires by their 20'sfrom living in a dump calling itself a flat, to owning many homes, one for every day of the week.
While all these stories arouse feelings hope and inspiration, the trek up the road to success is really a bit more nasty.
Take into consideration Mike Michalowicz's approach and try asking yourself this, "A 'Toilet Paper Entrepreneur', is that me?"
Mike compares true entrepreneurialism to a typical bathroom experience: "business" is done and you discover only 3 sheets of TP left on the roll! Necessity breeds invention if you want to leave the rest room smelling like a rose.
He adds that successful and serious entrepreneurs are not those who sit around and wait for someone to hand them a "roll of toilet paper".
They're the ones who'll take action, grab the nearest garbage can, root around, pull out the empty cardboard roll and say "AHA!". A little while later, a flush can be heard and he strolls out, whistling, having naught a care in the world.
Serious Entrepreneurs will never sit around, whining excuses. Nor do they have patience for those who do so.
These are things that you will never hear them say. . .
"I don't have enough money right now."
"I'm not smart enough for that."
"I am too busy and I don't have the time."
"It takes too long to build a business."
"There's too much risk involved. I'm too scared."
"I'm too old for that."
They don't sit back on the loo and wait for the toilet paper. They grab it, or they make it. In the same way, they don't wait for their dreams to come true. They MAKE it come true.
They don't sit on their money, waiting for it to grow on their own. They'll go out and make their own moneymaking ventures, whether it's selling lemonade by the street, or setting microchips in Silicone Valley.
And if you think that they're off burning their millions, think again! Warren Buffett, who is, according to Forbes, the third richest person in the world, lives in the same $31,500 home that he brought four decades ago, in Omaha, Nebraska.
They don't, contrary to popular opinion, multitaskthey focus on one task until it's done.
Nor are they perfectionists. They're the ones who say "Good is good enough."
And that's because they have learned that money likes speed.
They know that if they sit around and do and erase and redo and re-erase, by the time they finish their product, their competition would have swooped in, cornered the market, and left them no room at all.
Basically, they're more doers, than thinkers.
They are thrill seekers, but they have gone out of their way to calculate the risks involved.
Dick Costolo, founder of Feedburner.com said, "The key is to just get on the bike, and the key to getting on the bike is to stop thinking about 'there are a bunch of reasons I might fall off' and just hop on and peddle the damned thing. You can pick up a map, a tire pump, and better footwear along the way."
Determined entrepreneurs need no toilet paper.
Why so? Because for sure they have a napkin to spare in one of their pockets with another million dollar project written on the other side.
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