The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

November 2Future Forward

The continuity of life is never broken; the river flows onward and is lost to our sight, but under its new horizon it carries the same waters which it gathered under ours, and its unseen valleys are made glad by the offerings which are borne down to them from the past,—flowers, perchance, the germs of which its own waves had planted on the banks of Time.

John Greenleaf Whittier—“The Scottish Reformers” (1844)

Eventually, you'll begin to wonder about the legacy of your work. Maybe not today, or even tomorrow, but that day will arrive.

It's in many ways the natural measurement of what may be your life's body of work. “What difference did I make?” you might end up asking.

But this is like traditional accounting: “How did we do last year?”

The self-reliant entrepreneur instead may ask, “What impact do we want to have in 10 years, 20 years?”

Often people relate this type of forward thinking with the kind of innovation that disrupts and creates products that no one knew they needed until now.

But it's more likely that your impact will flow from a consistent adherence to the founding principles that guide your life and that of your entrepreneurial journey.

This isn't something that is calculated day-to-day; it's something that is felt in hindsight. But it's intentional—it has a destination in mind—and that's how your legacy will be built.

It's not what you did; it's what you stood for. It will be found in the “unseen valleys made glad” by what you offered ...