Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”
Anonymous
Motivation Monday - Richard's Insight
First, let’s start with the definition of Entrepreneurship: "The capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit." Source: www.businessdictionary.com
Does that sound like what we are doing as property investors…managing a business venture, including it’s associated risks, for profit? It certainly does to me at least, whether that means a single property or a significant portfolio.
If that is the case, then the original quote shared comes into play.
It is all about investment and opportunity cost…or put a different way: sacrifice.
In order to live a life as most cannot, we have to sacrifice what others will not...for a time.
What do we need to sacrifice then? It could be money, it could be time, it could be things we would rather not be doing. The point is, we need to be prepared to do the things that the masses will not for a period of time in order to reap the rewards later…which the masses cannot.
It is a simple truism really; sacrifice, delayed gratification and paying it forward are alternative ways of expressing this same sentiment – it is no coincidence that you will hear these phrases coming from the lips of many that have achieved success. There is no magic formula really when push comes to shove, it is all about hard work today to earn our rich rewards tomorrow.
The good news is that often, the level of sacrifice required today is far less than is expected, with the rewards lasting far longer than thought possible. All that is required is that we get on and do it then!
As we near the end of the year, no doubt we will start to reflect back and also project forward. So, let’s keep this concept in our minds and consider: what is it that we want and what are we prepared to do to get it? Of course, what we need to do must always be ethical and morally correct, never mind legally so. However, it is often surprising just how little we actually need to give up in order to get so much in return. Personally speaking, I started my property investment journey with the intention of plugging a hole in my pension. Setting aside £10k (the sacrifice) enabled me to plug this gap in my pension with my very first property investment. That was it…give up one bonus payment and my base retirement income was secure! That was my reward for that sacrifice...not bad was it?
Bigger goals may carry some bigger sacrifices, but we can always start small and work up…let momentum take over as we train ourselves in the practice of delayed gratification and sacrifice.
The payoff can be for a lifetime after all...