Lessons From The Dragon’s Den’s Robert Herjavec Part 23

December 28, 2010

An entrepreneur’s self-interest also demands far greater personal gratification from their work than the typical employed person.  Entrepreneurs aren’t interested in jobs that are just a means to an end IE trading your time for a paycheck, even if it’s a big paycheck.  They want a career in an area they’re passionate about, an area that greatly interests and stimulates them on a personal level.

If they don’t find that personal gratification in their work or find that gratification waning in their current work they’ll look elsewhere for work that’s more stimulating.

This is one of the big advantages of self-employment: the ability to choose the who, what, where, when, why and how of work.  They choose their work, rather than the work choosing them as it is with many employed people.  For entrepreneurs work isn’t a burden as it is to most employees; it’s something they love.

“A few years ago I was invited to attend a training program operated by former US Army Rangers.  The location was a rural region in Kentucky, where all the participants would be challenged according to the training that the Rangers underwent.

Army Rangers are the elite of the US military, selected for their exceptional qualities and sent to three different training camps, each dealing with a different aspect of leadership and endurance.  Out of maybe a hundred thousand candidates, only two thousand are chosen to be Rangers, based on their outstanding mental and physical characteristics.

To put it bluntly, (in Ranger training) you work your butt off, and the dropout rate is very high.  Those who successfully complete the course acquire leadership skills unavailable anywhere else.  Most of the dropouts, by the way, do so not because of the physical demands but the mental challenges.  I find it interesting that the mind will often give up before the body does.  (When I run a marathon, for instance, it is not my body that gives out, but my mind’s ability to believe that my body can keep going.)” – from Driven

Filed under: Inspiration

Tags: Angel Investing, Angel Investment, Angel Investor, Arlene Dickinson, BRAK Systems, branding, Brett Wilson, business plan, business planning, Croatia, Croatian-Canadian, Dragon, Dragon's Den, Dragons, Driven, Jennifer Wood, Jim Treliving, Kevin O'Leary, Laurence Lewin, networking, Nokia, RAMP Networks, real estate business plan, Robert Herjavec, Shark Tank, start-up, The Herjavec Group, Venture Capital, Venture Capitalist