by Joe Lee

Created on: November 19, 2008   Last Updated: January 17, 2009

I gave a talk years ago, and a student asked me, "What do you think makes a successful entrepreneur?" I was wondering, isn't it obvious? On a second thought, I realized that the audience are not entrepreneurs but want to be entrepreneurs. They didn't move forward to become one because of fear. The fear of whether they can make it as an entrepreneur, the fear of do they possess the traits to be an successful entrepreneur.

With that in mind, I understand why that question came out. It was like the Universe present that question for everyone. The Universe wants me to support these people, so I will.

Overcoming fear

Being an entrepreneur doesn't mean you don't have fear, in fact you do and have a lot of it. Fear is always there in everyone of us. The difference is the ability to act in spite of fear. In other words having the courage to act.

Entrepreneurs face tremendous amount of fear everyday. Why is that so? Imagine an entrepreneur journey is like a journey into the unknown jungle. The jungle is filled with uncertainties at every corner. Wild, ferocious animals may lurk at you suddenly. You may encounter the man eating plants leaving not even your bones. You may walked right into the muddy swamp that eats you up completely.

With dangers around, entrepreneurs took that leap of faith, trusting that all will be well, only to find out that it's not as bad as it seems. There are no man eating plants, only some animals attacked once in a while. But it's nothing too big that he can't handle.

When he walked past that jungle, he reached a beautiful waterfall, with clear water splashing down. He took off his shirt, dip into the cool water. The reward of overcoming fear is unlimited. Satisfaction from the business, financial rewards, time freedom and the full control of your life.

By having the courage to overcome fear, does that mean it will be all smooth sailing? Of course not. Sometimes you will miss the results that you desire. What can we do then? It comes to our second point - taking responsibility.

Take Responsibility

Responsibility means taking accountability about the results you created. This is extremely difficult to practice since we were taught to lay blame from young. Even in our society now, when something terrible happened, the government or the people will find a scape goat. They will not rest until someone is "hanged".

On the journey of entrepreneurship, you will make mistakes. You will fall, at times fall badly. It's not the fall that kills you, it's your response

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