Harness Your Entrepreneurial Spirit

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Harness Your Entrepreneurial Spirit

by Claudette Rowley
Copyright 2003

"Don't play what's there, play what's not there."

- Miles Davis -

Recently, a friend asked me, "What do you love about
entrepreneurs?" I think what I enjoy the most is the *spirit* of
entrepreneurship.

I define this spirit as one of risk taking, innovation, and
pushing the limits of what's known and understood. Entrepreneurs
dream up visions. And when they make these visions real, they
create value - financial, social or cultural. Entrepreneurs view
change as a force of possibility rather than as a creator of
problems. To paraphrase Miles Davis, entrepreneurs play what's
not there.

The Entrepreneurship Center at the Miami University of Ohio
speaks to this spirit: "Entrepreneurship is the process of
identifying, developing, and bringing a vision to life. The
vision may be an innovative idea, an opportunity, or simply a
better way of doing something. The end result of this process is
the creation of a new venture, formed under conditions of risk
and considerable uncertainty."

Throughout my coaching experience, I've noticed a particular
mindset that helps to form the foundation from which this
entrepreneurial spirit emerges. One way of describing this
mindset is internal focus. Internal focus means that what goes
on inside of your head and your heart greatly effects what
happens for you in the outside world.

It's often not the external trappings - the MBA or the business
seminars - that make or break an entrepreneur. It's the internal
focus of believing in yourself, listening to your intuition and
tuning into your emotions that allows the entrepreneurial spirit
of dreaming BIG to spring forth. By managing fear so that it
doesn't become an obstacle, you are able to harness opportunity.
Self-trust is paramount for risk-taking.

Here are some questions for you to ponder:
* Where do you focus your thoughts?
* Are your choices based on fear? Are they based on possibility?

A client described a situation to me in which she understood the
difference between making fear-based choices and choices based on
self-trust. An aspiring entrepreneur, she felt caught between
remaining at her day job and leaping into fulltime
entrepreneurship. Through reflecting and listening to her
intuition, she became clear that the only thing keeping her
chained to her day job was fear.

She also recognized that by taking the risk to leave her job, she
actually had a greater chance of entrepreneurial success. Her
new business required the full weight of her attention and
resources. And over time, she realized that the decisions she
made based on her intuition and self-trust were the ones that led
her business down a successful and rewarding path.

A healthy entrepreneurial spirit requires trust in yourself and
your intuition, an ability to make clear choices, a flare for
mobilizing resources, and a capacity to move beyond obstacles
created by fear. Connect with your entrepreneurial spirit and
see where it leads you.

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Claudette Rowley, coach and author, helps professionals
identify and pursue their true purpose and calling in life.
Contact her today for a complimentary consultation at 781-676-5633
or claudette@metavoice.org. Sign up for her free newsletter
"Insights for the Savvy" at http://www.metavoice.org.