The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

August 21The Following Journey

Hark ye yet again,—the little lower layer. All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event—in the living act, the undoubted deed—there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask!

Herman Melville—Moby-Dick: or, the Whale (1851)

At some point, people will follow you. Your mission will become their mission. That's how this entrepreneurial thing works. At first, it may be because you've proven you have a good idea. And then it's because they grasp your story. Eventually someone, or many someones, may want to join you on this journey—be led and fulfilled by the purpose you hold in your heart.

This is the part where we should recall that Moby-Dick is centrally about revenge. Ahab proclaims that everything happens for a reason, and his reason is to seek revenge at all cost—no matter that there is little money to be made in the quest. He calls his men to “chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames …” (perdition being hell—Wrath of Khan fans may recognize this line).

The point here is that people will follow you. But will you lead them on a journey worth pursuing? Are you even certain you know what purpose, what impact, you've chosen to have and to hold? Fate will arrive and help you achieve your goal, be it for something good or for something offensive, ...