Perhaps the buzzword of the internet in the 21st century, Entrepreneur is a term that is thrown around quite loosely nowadays. With the abundance of opportunities to start businesses online with little to no capital, more and more people are choosing the path of creating their own destiny. Much like myself.
When it comes to being an entrepreneur, there are a lot of things that people don’t consider. For one, it requires a lot of self-discipline and accountability – which not many people have. Fortunately for me, I developed a lot of the characteristics and habits of a high-performing entrepreneur through playing golf at an elite level.
Like many fellow athlete-turned-entrepreneurs before me, they too recognize the similarities between pursuing sport at a high level and entrepreneurship. I personally didn’t see anything that correlated at the time, however, in hindsight, I know for a fact that my sporting endeavours have helped me get to where I am today.
The reason I believe this is because playing sport at a high level requires a lot of work, from none other than yourself. The reason most people are unhappy the way they are, is because they don’t like to do any more work than is required. They don’t take ownership and accountability for their actions or problems, and they simply don’t have a work ethic.
As one of my favourite sayings goes: “how you do one thing, is how you do everything”. If you’re one of the people who work hard and keeps self-accountability on one task, chances are you’ll be able to on another.
Now, onto the topic of did I choose entrepreneurship, or did it choose me?
Having spent my college years dreading getting a job and entering the “real world”, I had no clear idea of what I wanted out of my life. All I did know was that I wasn’t spending the rest of my life sitting in a cubicle, working for the man.
I made a commitment to myself that I’d forge my own path, which led me down a very non-conventional path after finishing year 12.
I spent years traveling and living overseas. Then I pursued professional golf. Then I was offered an opportunity to run a business for two entrepreneurs while they started a new venture. This was perhaps the best opportunity of my life – with no prior experience, but a work ethic second-to-none, they saw me fit to take the reins of their business.
I learned an incredible amount about life, business and communication from my 18 months doing this for them, and skipped years of failures I would have otherwise had, had I been working on my own.
So did I choose entrepreneurship, or did it choose me?
The day I made the commitment to forge my own path in life, was the day my life changed forever – and then entrepreneurship found me.
I am proud to say that I shape a lot of my decisions off what I’d think as my 90-year-old self, sitting in my chair reflecting upon my life. Would I regret them?
Take inventory of your life, ask yourself this question and answer it honestly.
As they say, clarity is power. I got super clear on what I didn’t want in my life, which ended up creating a life that I truly want to, and am proud to be living. Entrepreneurship chose me.
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