“Dear Jan,

I know very few businessmen in my environment that made their fortune quickly. And those that did often also lost it quickly. I also meet many entrepreneurs starting up businesses with the idea of selling them within a couple of years for a lot of money. It always strikes me that for these people the activity of the company is secondary to the final sale of the company. The focus is only on money. There is no passion for the product or service. There is no thought for the users, the customer, suppliers, and employees.

And this is why they all fail. Not because they are not competent, hardworking, and ethical entrepreneurs. But rather, in my opinion, something is lacking. If money is the main motivation, a crucial factor is missing, which is essential for an entrepreneur to ensure long term success. Money as motivation is never strong enough to overcome the constant setbacks and challenges.

Everyone in their working lives has to deal with a constant stream of challenges. The degree of success in one’s career (entrepreneur or employee) can be equated with the number of “victories” over these challenges. While dealing with them, our work takes a lot of energy, perseverance, sacrifice and often blind and unrealistic confidence in the outcome.

In order to realize this all, we need much more than just money as motivation. And that is why I think we see lots of (skilled and talented) people who do not achieve the success they have been aiming at.

The problem is their lack of inspiration. What is needed is a deeply ingrained passion for their product, services, customers, employees, and suppliers. This passion must be so strong that no matter what setbacks are encountered, giving up is out of the question. Quitting is not an alternative. This is not a word in their dictionary. It will be these employers and employees who attain sustainable success. Because being inspired by every challenge represents something to be enjoyed instead of a problem. If you have a passion for your product, services, and customers; you will be able to give a little bit more, which will allow you to overcome everything. This will give you the motivation to carry on.

I remember a quote from Anthony Robbins “you only fail if you give up” and from Ted Turner (CNN) “You can never quit. Winners never quit and quitters never win”. To me, these are great truths, and achieving this (never giving up) we need to be inspired and for me, money as the main motivator is just not powerful enough.

It’s all about being passionate.

Regards

Gerard”