Don’t be a Whiny Entrepreneur

As we all know, these days are challenging for business owners, worldwide. The slow economic recovery, prolonged global recession, and uncertain future push businesses to the limit. Some go out of business; some barely survive; some thrive.

You might want to call the thriving business owners as lucky, but most of the time, lucky is too exaggerated in entrepreneurship. Good entrepreneurs don’t rely on lucky; good entrepreneurs create opportunities, in which the so-called lucky can take place.

A great entrepreneur may fail 1,000 times but succeed 1,001 times. And quite often, a great entrepreneur need to fail 1,000 times to finally discover 1 success – don’t believe me? Just ask Albert Einstein.

Yes, there are powers that we can’t control – we call them “lucky.” I call them “blessings” and “blessings in disguise.” A force majeure, such as an earthquake, is devastating for others, but may be a blessing in disguise for some. A great entrepreneur can turn disasters into a chance to do good.

Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs react the bad way when facing difficulties; it’s understandable when an entrepreneur rants when he saw his business went into bankruptcy. However, good entrepreneur shouldn’t rant. Being sad, depressed and such when you see your business tumbling down is natural, but immerse yourself in such emotion will only destroy you and your loved ones’ life.

Good entrepreneurs don’t whine and rant

Good entrepreneurs see businesses as the tip of the iceberg; good entrepreneurs see businesses as opportunities to make money while doing something worthwhile with the businesses.

Give back to the community through CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities, helping the local economy by providing job openings – all thanks to your thriving business, inspire other entrepreneurs to find success as you do, etc. – those things are what entrepreneurship is all about.

Again, good entrepreneurs don’t whine. They don’t say, “aw, cr@p. The health care reform is killing me, the economic situations suck. My business is in limbo, my employees suck, my entire life is doomed.”

Good entrepreneurs say, “We know things are challenging today, but we must find ways to lean our business, so we can respond to changes better; we need to empower our employees so that they know that their fate and our business’ fate are within their hand; we need to explore new opportunities, as plenty of them available today especially because of the tough times.”

Good entrepreneurs see recession as a chance to be successful

Indeed, there are more successful business startups in recession times than in booming economic times. Do you need some proofs? Microsoft, Hyatt, Burger King, FedEx, CNN, Hewlett-Packard, Wikipedia among others are some of big businesses started out in recession times. Even many established businesses benefit from the recession more than they did in good economic situation: Paypal, Google, SalesForce are some of the examples. (source: InsideCRM.)

Again, good entrepreneurs, instead of ranting, whining, and feeling gloom-and-doom, can make something big in difficult times or use the recession to actually boost their businesses.

Which side are you: Whiners or Winners?

Well, are you a whiner or winner?

Your answer will affect the entire course of your business and personal life. Be wise, as which side you are on will either bring success to you and/or others.

Being a winner, you can bring success to you and others, as well. Being a whiner, you can bring success to others who capitalise on whiners, but not you.

Be wise, pick your side. Which side are you on?

Ivan Widjaya
I choose to be a winner in today’s recession