One other interesting finding from the American Express study I blogged about on Friday.
It found that four-in-ten (38%) respondents said the biggest influence in becoming an entrepreneur is passion. As an influence, passion. I tell aspiring entrepreneurs the importance of this all of the time. It is too hard and too much work being an entrepreneur to look for anything else as your main motivation.
Passion was followed distantly by natural entrepreneurial inclination (20%) and being “born into it” (18%).
Business owners are most passionate about building their customer base (34%).
Turning a profit (27%) and closing the deal (15%) were of less importance. This is also consistent with much of the research on entrepreneurial motivation. It ain’t all about getting rich!
Dr Jeff Cornwall
Co-founder of The Entrepreneurial Mind, serial entrepreneur and professor of entrepreneurship.
Jeff – Interesting article. I agree with you, without passion (drive, excitement and enthusiasm) you’re chances for succeeding diminish. I was somewhat surprised about the profit number. With high profits you have a greater chance of giving back to the community and to those who are in need.