Discover your inner entrepreneur

How is it a physician like Michael Crichton can abandon traditional roads and become a bestselling author and film director? Why would internist Tess Gerritsen give up 16 hour days with cardiac patients to write medical thrillers that evolve on tv and movies ? Why might a pharmacist friend of mine reduce his hours in a Chemist shop to develop an exploding family flower business?

Why would a laboratory tech physician I met in passing turn attention away from cancer grant research to explore creative market advertising? What compels a bioethics expert I met to leave teaching to pursue dreams of playing jazz sax in nightclubs? Why are people like Tony & Maureen Wheeler willing to struggle financially for over 6 years in to develop a baby like 'Lonely Planet?' These people give into passions to pursue what matters to them, and overcome a fear of losing.

For many people, a lack of fulfillment will trigger their desire to step back from life at a given time, and rethink their options. I also know musicians who have feared failure in their area of passion and turned to medicine and other professions to feel safer, and earn predictable incomes. Yet, even for them, the draw of uncertainty and opportunity to earn deeper fulfillment lingers.

Do you ever think about what may be missing in your life or what you would do if money wasn't an option? No matter what job or career you choose, you will benefit from learning how to sell yourself. At times, this skill is useful to land you a job. More importantly perhaps, the art of persuasion may be most helpful to convince yourself you have what it takes to achieve anything.

1) Desire to be accountable for outcomes. If you give yourself freedom to create art, products and services as offshoots of your deepest beliefs and talents, you realize you control the quality of what you offer, as well as how you distribute or shape your image. As you grow to recognize synergy between how you think and what you choose to do, you become accountable for your own dreams and you realize your actions will inspire others.

2) Willingness to pull your weight. Basic salaries in start up businesses may be barely enough to live on. Money isn't supposed to be the primary motivation for the true entrepeneurial spirit. Rather, its gaining the understanding that money comes when you grasp your skills well and take risks to offer them to the world. To make a decent income, you must sell enough to pay off your costs, and then, you will earn profit, commissions and empower investments.

3) Ability to redefine the rules. The constant re-invention of yourself and your priorities can itself become a tradition. Why believe you must be like everyone else? Trend-setters aren't followers. They develop courage to be a visionary or pioneer. As you learn to define the rules of your game of life, you'll do what you discern necessary to stand out from the crowd and your competitors. Being yourself rewards clients for loyalty. Believe in your own immeasurable value. Not conforming requires you to define rules. You must learn to market yourself.

4) Instinct to be bold and adapt. Business has to change in order to survive. You need to be able to sense when trends and climates are evolving, and evolve with them so as to grow in ways that enable you to influence them. Develop media saavy and connect with people and you may emerge as a 'crowd-pleaser.' Ultimately, you'll please more people as you learn what you need to do to please yourself and listen.

5) Insight to recognize 'the good, the bad & the ugly'. Self-examination enables you to better understand yourself and what image(s) and skills you aim to project, as well as assess whether what you are doing is working. Are you achieving worthwhile goals? If not, why not? Truly honest assessments are more likely to generate honest answers that you can work with. In order to nurture those audacious ideas, and begin or revise how you offer meaningful, creative output, learn to understand yourself.  You'll naturally focus on a target market and plan for future surplus profits.