Why Your Question about Entrepreneurship and Relationships is the Wrong One

I was asked to answer this question recently:

Here’s my answer:

One of the challenges of being an entrepreneur (especially for relatively new ones) is that there’s a world of possibility in front of you, as well as a world of pit-traps and mistakes to be made.

The tendency most people have in this position is to seek out advice so they can avoid making the mistakes that others are able to see clearly with hindsight.

The trouble is that mistakes are essential if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, and there’s no substitute for following your heart.

After all, that’s why you set out to become an entrepreneur in the first place, right?

Over here, it sounds like you’ve got it that there’s a right way to be an entrepreneur — or at least a better way.

And if you can find that better way, then you’ll be able to create your success with the most velocity possible. You’ll get where you want to go fastest.

Here’s the truth:

There isn’t a best way to do entrepreneurship.

There’s a million ways, each of them with costs and benefits.

I can show you an entrepreneur that has sacrificed relationship to create their success and is glad they did it, and I can show you another one that says that’s the biggest mistake they ever made. I can show you entrepreneurs that put their relationships as their top priority and have achieved unbelievable success, and I can show you others that feel that is the one thing that stood in their way.

Here’s the question for you to sit with:

What do you actually want?

Do you want to forego relationships in order to achieve success? Or, do you want relationships to be a priority in your life?

Or, do you want both of these things? What if it were possible to be very successful as an entrepreneur, and create relationships in your life that fill your cup and have you filled with connection and partnership?

Would you want that?