Passion brings people together around a collective idea. Pride is the relentless determination to succeed because you believe in something. Combining the two is the perfect blend of emotions and stubbornness to ensure that whatever you do, you put 110% into it and see it to the end. Don’t be blinded though and assume that it will always bring monetary value just because you tried hard, there are other factors that come into play. As an entrepreneur, I have a lot of passion and pride for countless things but it’s all about finding my center and balance that will determine the outcome.
“The Golden Rule of Entrepreneurship” is to not fall in love with your idea and confuse passion with obsession and pride with ego. If you fail, fail fast and move on.
Having said that, I want this to be a segue into a series that I’m going to start writing called The Life of a Student Entrepreneur. It will be a story of passion, pride, hardship, excitement and a lot of other things all pertaining to the last few years of my life starting my own company at 19. I want to share my experience with anyone who is interested as my goal is to inspire others to do what I have done and what countless others have done. While Brand-Yourself.com to date (I resigned December 2009) is not cash-flow positive after two years, which may seem like a failure to many, gave me so many tangible and intangible takeaways that it will always be a success in my eyes. So please check back every so often as I will be writing it on and off throughout my last semester at school.
