Pride, Greed & Never Smelling the Roses – An Entrepreneurs Struggle with Managing!
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I was having a conversation with my uncle / friend today (we went for lunch) and we were talking about business and how as entrepreneurs we sometimes make terrible business people.
Now do not get me wrong… entrepreneurs are the people that start businesses but what you need to ask yourself is are they necessarily the right ones to run the business?
What he told me was an experience he had some years back when he worked for a company that grew from just a couple of employees to one with dozens of employees and saw revenue grow from $1 million to over $5 million… which sounds great… right?
Well the net profit of the company never changed at all… it was only $50 000 for all those years.
What that means is that the workload, the stress, the resources all increased… BUT THE PROFITS DIDN’T!
In my title of this post i wrote “Pride, Greed & Never Smelling the Roses” and i think that is a huge question to ask yourself, especially if you are an entrepreneur!
I know from my own personal experience, these are certainly areas that I have struggled.
- Pride: Wanting to prove yourself to the neigh-sayers… showing that your ambition has paid off
- Greed: Wanting to be rich and thinking growth is the only way to get there… plus losing site of lifestyle versus the bank account balance.
- Never Smelling the Roses: Never wanting to step back and look at what you have created, taking account on what is already working and how to make it better and not just focusing on the next big project.
What i am getting at here is what do you want… do you want a bank statement or organization chart you can show people… or do you want a lifestyle you can enjoy.
Would not the person in the example above have a much better lifestyle if instead of focusing on growing, he focused on improving?
Do NOT always be looking for the next big thing… do not think that your financial dreams will always be solved by creating one more thing and do not overlook the power of stopping and smelling the roses.
One of the best books I ever read on this is a small book called “Acres of Diamonds”… you can check it out here too http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rconwellacresofdiamonds.htm
Hope this ramble helps at least one of you 
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To stop this from happening it is helpful to maintain the same relationships – it stops you getting caught up in the business world – when this happens our values and lifestyles tend to change to fit in with the world.
“Pride, Greed & Never Smelling the Roses” I love the way you mentioned and describe them Mr. John. This kind of situation is there almost everywhere for each and every entrepreneurs experiences this kind of situation. I also went through same kind of circumstance. Although, I got over it by reducing number of resources and by increasing productivity in work. Thanks for sharing nice information.
This is great. sometimes we lose track of why we are in business in the first place. learning to build a business requires that you balance everything you do. Thanks for the great post.
Hey Jason,
This is a great post. It’s something like the story of “The Fisherman”, a story passed around in emails a few years back. Creating an online business for most people was because they want to spend more time with their family. But I guess some, like you said have pride and greed and they can never just be satisfied with a good size business.
In the book “The 4-Hour Work-week”, if I remember correctly Timothy Ferriss said something to the effect of…you don’t need to build the biggest business, you just need to have something that will give you more time with your family.
Have a good day.
See you in W2M blog!
Regards,
Jon
What a great post Jason. The book “Acres of Diamonds” is awesome.
Thanks
Jason Berkes
Thanks Jason
Hello Jason, I like it when you ramble, it may be obtuse! but it is still Internet Marketer training, as always thanks Jason.
Have you looked below the footer of your site! Jason? some how I do not think that is your work?
not seeing anything… i tried viewing in a bunch of browsers and it looks fine. I sent a request to one of my programmers to look into it.
Great post. So what I needed to hear on a friday afternoon just contemplating that very same thing….does “more” always have to mean more stress, more work, more headache?
Having just gone through a big change in my business that at first seemed horrible, but now that I have more time to myself towork on the project I want to work on….it is so very worth it.
Nice read. thanks again.
Thanks, glad it was something you liked to read.
Excellent post John!
A fantastic reminder and insight into the struggles of Entrepreneurship and especially small business growth.
I would love to hear more Entrepreneurs share their “growing pains”, how they overcame them and mistakes they wish others to avoid.
GREAT SITE!
Thanks,
Marney Lewis
Prepaid Legal and Blastoff will settle everything,this keeps you in front in the race.It’s exciting to know that the cards you now hold gives you the winning hand!
Hi Jason
I have seen it mentioned a number of times in management literature that as a company grows the type of person best suited to run it changes. If the entrepreneur does not get out of the way, the enterprise is doomed to a moribund existence at best. Horses for courses as we say here in New Zealand.
Talk about not stopping to smell the roses, years ago my wife worked for a small but successful and growing firm owned by two partners. They both turned 40 at about the same time. One made the most of his turning 40 and having a successful business. The other had a nervous breakdown. How sad not being able to enjoy the age milestone and being happy with a profitable business.
Great reality check!
I’ve always held in my mind the opinion that the reason I work from home is so I have the time to do the things I enjoy. If I’m not achieving this goal, then I might as well be working for someone else.
Begin with the end in mind. And KEEP the main thing, the main thing.
Thanks for the post, good advice!
Balanced growth of everything should be achieved. If someone is working under me than his life style should also increase, he should be able to get those things which he was not able to achieve before coming to my organisation.
Yes, once you plunge in and see the $$$ behind you tend to forget the basic facts of business or that matter even life as a whole.
Once again a great post Jason!
[...] Pride, Greed & Never Smelling the Roses – An Entrepreneurs Struggle with Managing! – 3 days ago I was having a conversation with my uncle / friend today (we went for lunch) and we were talking about business and how as entrepreneurs we sometimes make terrible business people. Now do not get me wrong… entrepreneurs are the people… Topics: acres of diamonds, greed, never smelling the roses, Ramblings, time m [...]
It sure is hard running a business by yourself, especially if you are the entrepreneur type and have no head for business. You have to be so many things if your in the deep end on your own. Balance is the key!
Greed is the root of all evil.
What an interesting post! I can see how this can apply to people in all areas in business, even if they are not starting one. I mean I could be applying these concepts to my own life. I do not have my own business, but as a student I sort of think of myself as my own business. I’m working on marketing and developing me, for the future. But too often I think I get caught up in what small task I am working on and forget to “step back and smell the roses” and look at the big picture! Thanks for this post!
Hi Jason,
I asked myself the questions you suggest and I definitely want lifestyle and smelling the roses rather than a colossal business and no fun.
The Acres of Diamonds book sounds familiar but I haven’t read it. Instead I listened to a tape by that name. Great story.
Vance