Developing A Healthy Definition of Entrepreneurial Success

Through definition, being an entrepreneur is about independently pursuing a career through your on businesses or by exploring industry opportunities. Opportunities come in all shapes and sizes including investing in other businesses etc. The one consistent key aspect of being an entrepreneur is that you are primarily working for yourself on your own terms rather than working for someone else. 

How you then quantify your own success is a completely individual and unique criteria. 

Modern day society has created a potentially harmful stereotype in that success for an entrepreneur means attaining vast wealth, being in charge of a huge company in a large fancy office space and being interviewed by top industry press with a cheesy mugshot printed on the next page. It is extremely important to remember that these are very extreme examples of what could be considered success. This does not mean you have to attain them or anything like them in order to be considered successful.

While it may sound cliché, it’s a perfect example of why it is so important to remember where you started. Or probably better put would be to suggest that when you do get started, that you define for yourself there and then a view of what you’re aiming for and what success is. Because it is likely for your view on success to become murky over time. Write down two different outcomes. What it would take as a minimum for you to feel successful and what would an extreme example of success look like. This should take into account your business or your idea as well as your personal situation. 

Think a little harder than saying you’d like to be rich or for your company to be ‘big’. Look a little more granularly at what that means to you. What does having a big company mean? Is it a big office? Is it lots of staff? Is it your annual turnover? Define your view. 

The same with personal scenario and being wealthy. What does that mean to you? A big house? Lots of nice holidays each year? A sports car? You need to aim for a lifestyle you can really picture rather than aiming purely for the attainment of wealth as a general concept. 

It’s also important to remember the other elements of your lifestyle and what other values being an entrepreneur can bring. 

Balance: Being able to healthily switch between work and your family and social lives so that you’re enjoying your time and not always working.

Reduced Hours: Perhaps rather than significant wealth and long hours you’d prefer to be financially stable and have lots more of your own time. For many, time is more valuable than money. 

Pursuing your Passion: Being in charge of your own career means you are free to follow your passion and your interests. Enjoying what you do is sometimes as important as succeeding at it.