E - is for...

E

Enthusiasm.
Energy.


“He did it with all his heart, and prospered.” The Bible
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"Enthusiasm is contagious. Be a carrier” Susan Rabin




“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might.

Put your whole soul into it.

Stamp it with your own personality

Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object.

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”
Ralph Waldo Emerson


“Enthusiasm is contagious. Be a carrier” Susan Rabin

The great playwright Tennessee Williams, (Death of a Salesman) believed that “enthusiasm is the most important thing in life.” And Henry Moore agreed “There is nothing greater than enthusiasm.”

It has been said that enthusiasm moves the world

Enthusiasm is essential to success.

Can you imagine an American Idol contestant winning who was not enthusiastic about singing?

Can you take the enthusiasm, the passion out of David Cook’s “The Time of My Life” winning song or his voice and still see him as a success?

The actual word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek words “enthousiasmos” meaning possession by the presence of god.

Hmm. Now this is worth pondering over a hot steaming cup of Java!!

No wonder Enthusiasm attracts.

How could one not be attracted by a divine presence sensed in another?

People naturally are curious when you are enthusiastic in your work.


Enthusiasm draws people to you whether your business is producing and marketing a product or offering a service, as put by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, “nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm, it moves stones, it charms brutes.”

Whatever your chosen field on entrepreneurship, you are bound to be more effective if you have enthusiasm for your work.

“A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.” Charles Schwab.

Now maybe crunching numbers and building a financial business doesn't get your blood pumping, but obviously it did for Mr. Schwab. Just take a look at his success.

Consider this:
Some of the greats even rate enthusiasm above professional skill!

Ever wonder why we love children so much?They are endless examples of enthusiasm. Children set out each day to enjoy every bit of the day. Heed this words of wisdom, " The great man is he who does not lose his childlike heart" Mencius

Maybe you have lost some of your innate enthusiasm during the daily grind of solving issues and putting out fires.

Don’t despair.

No one keeps up his enthusiasm automatically.

Not even the greats like Michelangelo or Albert Einstein.

They tired too.

The difference is they continued.

They nourished their enthusiasm with new actions, new aspirations, new efforts, new visions.

And they showed up.

Day in and day out they showed up to continue to paint, experiment, write – not waiting for enthusiasm to come prior to beginning but instead beginning and knowing that the enthusiasm would again show up as they persevered and looked for “newness”.

To paraphrase a common saying..it is your own fault if your enthusiasm is gone; you have failed to feed it. Hm.mmmm. Is that true for you?

Nurture your enthusiasm.

Feed it with new ideas, new projects, new goals.

For if you don’t you burn out could be waiting around the bend.

Pete Rose, the great baseball player, shared this observation about players, "
When his enthusiasm goes, he's through as a player.".

YIKES...pretty harsh? Maybe, but maybe that is one of the Laws of Life. Maybe, just maybe we are not here so much to stack up accomplishments as we are here to go after this life with enthusiasm, using up every bit of creativity and inspiration we have. Maybe out goal should be to have this phrase on our tombstone "Whatever he did, he did it with all his heart."

Next we will talk about...ENERGY

Building Blocks of Successful Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a state of mind, a can-do attitude, a capacity to focus on a vision and work toward it."*Barry Rogstad

Just as a Master Builder would not consider placing his most precious building on a weak foundation, a Master entrepreneur would not proceed to build their business without first considering the foundation.

Building a strong foundation requires being aware of the variety of materials available and choosing those best suited for the job. This is true when building a great building or building a great business.

Our brains work best when we give them familiar "anchors" to hang bits of new information on. So...
Let's have some fun with this using the buildig blocks of language to explore the "building blocks" of successful entrepreneurship.

As Maria sang in the famous "Sound of Music"...let's 'start at the very begining...'

A -

Attitude and Action

Your Attitude ultimately determines your Altitude - how far up can you go in your business?

First let’s look at attitude:

Are you upbeat, positive about your product/service/idea?

Are you one who easily crumbles when things go awry or are you one who is able to focus on looking for solutions rather than focusing time and effort on dissecting the problem?

Let’s be honest here.

You do probably not want to be an entrepreneur just to have your business “break even”

In 2005, BITS showed that 66 percent of new employers survive two years or more, 50 percent survive four years or more, and 40 percent survive six years or more. Wouldn’t you like to be in that 40%?

Do you think possibly those that survive are the ones who have the attitude of solving any challenges which arose or do you think they were the ones who thought “yikes” this will be the doom of me.

Successful entrepreneurs train themselves to immediately look for solutions.

The great Albert Einstein once said “sticking with something is the genius”

Don’t you think this guy should know? After all not only was he a successful inventor he also published a total 450 works in his lifetime.

Not exactly a quitter.

Stay tuned as we move on with a few more great "A" materials for a firm foundation...