How entrepreneurs stay motivated

Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. - Confucius.

We recently stumbled upon Meme (pronounced “meem”), a technology site tracking innovation, social media, culture and business. The site features an interview with Richard Branson, the renowned entrepreneur - best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies.

At the conclusion of the interview where Branson is asked about his philosophy on focus he responds: “I tend not to think of work as work, or business as business. I am passionate about any business or challenge I put the Virgin name to, this helps me to stay focused. I truly believe you have to love what you do and be the best in the market – simply by providing the consumer with the products they want.”

This triggered recall of another interview with social entrepreneur Ami Dar of Idealist.org on Dowser, a site that tells stories about people who are creatively attacking social problems. For those not in the know, Ami Dar is the founder of Idealist.org an interactive platform where people and organizations can take steps towards building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.

When discussing what motivates him, Ami Dar in the Dowser interview said “It can be frustrating at times, but when people ask me, ‘How do you motivate yourself, how do you keep going,’ I’ve never felt that I have a choice.  I’ve never in a million years imagined working for a different organization.  This isn’t a job, it’s not a workplace. It’s what I do.”

After the initial excitement of the brain wave that will change the world and revolutionise society has long ended; and the entrepreneur sets to the task of actually making their vision happen, sometimes set backs or sheer fatigue sets in. Then the visionary who was once so elated over their business idea starts to view it as work.

Though it has been said that employees work in a business while entrepreneurs work on their business, however particularly for the micro-entrepreneur sometimes all of a sudden the purpose of the idea looses prominence and the entrepreneur only sees the necessity of getting the work done.

After a while even that business plan we spent so much time on prior to launch gets thrown by the way side and it becomes a matter of survival to stay afloat. At this time it’s important to step aside, pick up the plan and assess whether you still see the bigger picture and whether it still excites you. If it does, then like Richard Branson and Ami Dar think of your business as a vocation. Your legacy to the world.

Then … just get back to work!