The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

May 2Owned Impact

It is simpler to be self-dependent. The height, the deity of a person is to be self-sustained, to need no gift, no foreign force. Society is good when it does not violate me, but best when it is likest to solitude.

Ralph Waldo Emerson—Self-Reliance (1841)

Many people start businesses because they want to impact something, they want to right some wrong. Still more, however, start businesses because they don't have another option, they know how to do something, they figure it's a decent way to make a living, and they come to embrace the notion of impact.

The most potent outcome of being an entrepreneur is the impact that it provides you. In fact, the only way to change the world is to be that change in yourself first. You can't give something you don't possess.

Become self-dependent.

When you need nothing, owe nothing, become internally self-sustained, you can fully embrace the mark you plan to leave on others.

Today, sit quietly and alone and think for a moment about the impact that you're having, the impact you want to have, the impact that you need to have.

If you can start internally to be that impact, it will radiate externally.

Challenge Question

1. When is the last time something really had an impact on your life? Did anything change because of it?