SUCCESS REQUIRES SACRIFICE – ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE?
Disclaimer: Good Day, Readers. WealthBuildingPowers blog is a financial literacy/competency blog and does not provide specific investment recommendations.
STYRON’S INTRODUCTION
Achieving success requires dedication, hard work, and sacrifices. Think about successful people you admire. Two very successful people I admire are Michael Jordan and Elon Musk.
Michael Jordan is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Jordan made significant sacrifices throughout his career to achieve his goals. In high school, Jordan shot baskets for hours in the dark to hone his skills. He was first in and last out of the gym for his entire career, practicing tirelessly, for hours daily, to perfect his skills. He gave up his time with friends and family to focus on his basketball career. Jordan made financial sacrifices early in his career, signing a lower-paying contract with the Chicago Bulls to help build a winning team around him. His sacrifices resulted in NCAA Basketball Championship, TWO gold medals with the United States Men’s Basketball team, FIBA World Championship, SIX NBA championships, FIVE MVP awards, and numerous other accolades, and he is a Billionaire.
Elon Musk achieved great success through hard work and sacrifice. As the CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and Twitter, Musk achieved what many thought impossible in space exploration and electric vehicles. Musk works tirelessly, sometimes sleeping on the plant floor, putting in long hours, and sacrificing his personal life to achieve his goals. He has taken significant financial risks, investing large sums of his own money into his companies. Musk is willing to make whatever sacrifices necessary to succeed. His sacrifices resulted in Tesla’s valuation exceeding the combined value of GM, Ford, and Toyota. And Mr. Musk is worth ~$200 Billion.
“The Most Overlooked Part of Amazon’s Famous Startup Story Is What Made It a Success.”
In many ways, sacrifice arguably matters more than drive, determination, and discipline because it’s all of those in practice and oftentimes, at its extreme.
“We know that Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, did something many founders don’t: he went all in. At 30 and eager to launch Amazon, Bezos walked away from his lucrative Wall Street job. The takeaway lesson founders often hear from this is that to go all in; founders need to get out of their day jobs in order to fully focus on building their new venture.
Meanwhile, research continues to find the opposite to be true, showing that statistically, quitting a day job doesn’t increase one’s chances of entrepreneurial success and that maybe you shouldn’t quit your day job. But as the debate continues between which is the better path, the key to success–and the barometer of going all in–does not boil down to whether or not a founder quits their day job.
In the case of Amazon, it wasn’t solely Bezos’ quest to sell used books online that drove his success or the fact that he quit his job to do so. The success of Amazon was not limited to what Bezos was willing to do but what he was willing to give up to get it.
Bezos had the willingness to sacrifice. But it wasn’t just that he was willing to sacrifice one career in an effort to build another. He was willing to sacrifice the lifestyle, the amenities, and the creature comforts he had built to that point in order to pursue Amazon.
And it’s this willingness to sacrifice that success demands.
The decision to sacrifice the safety net is a gamble many aren’t willing to take. For many of us, we have worked for the things we have and so letting go of them–or putting them at risk–is something many of us are reluctant to do. It can feel like taking a step backward to give up the things we worked hard for, whether that be our home, our car, or our lifestyle. But the expectation that we can keep all of these things and get ahead is often what sets us back and prohibits us from making progress.
The question is what are you willing to give up in the present to get what you want in the future?
Seeing through the illusion of going “all in” Going all in doesn’t necessarily mean going all out.
In other words, a founder doesn’t always need to quit their day job or risk losing everything. But they do need to be willing to sacrifice what they have for what they want.
For those who continue to work a full-time job, the sacrifice will be their time, their sleep, their social lives, and even maybe a bit of their sanity. The choice to keep or cut a day job will be at the expense of something else, often becoming a decision between time and money. But the ability to succeed either way is dependent on what you’re willing to sacrifice.
Betting on the future instead of banking on the present
Just as a poker player must be willing to relinquish the chips that they have in order to stand a chance at acquiring more, the founder has to be willing to bet on their future using what they have in the present. And as scary as that might sound to many of us, going all in, or going long is the best investment strategy-whether that’s stocks or startups.
Whether we’re talking about Bezos or an aspiring entrepreneur, the key to success that is often overlooked is sacrifice. It’s not the sexy side of startups, but it is the reality of the life of a startup founder–or at least that is generally the case for the most successful entrepreneurs. It’s the founders who are willing to strategically bet on themselves while risking what they have built for themselves thus far, in order to make their vision a reality are those launching businesses like Amazon and shaping the future.”
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ABOUT ME
I am a proud nerd (as my beautiful wife and daughter have told me) investment and finance blogger with an NC. State, Chemical Engineering, University Rutgers, MBA and Harvard University, Advanced Management education.
I left a corporate career because I desired to make a difference as a speaker and writer. I was blessed to be coached and mentored by strong women and men in my family and professional life. It is my time to serve and give back.
DISCLAIMER
I started my first business at ~13 years of age (a small but brilliantly created plant nursery). I am a successful investor in stocks, options, and real estate and am happy to share my finance and investment lessons. I am NOT a licensed financial advisor. Please do not construe my suggestions on this blog as recommendations for your situation. As an investor, you must establish your risk/loss tolerance. Investment in any asset involves risk, including complete loss.
Please seek your licensed CPA or fiduciary financial advisors for individual financial advice.
I write this weekly blog to make an impact by reaching an audience and demonstrating the need for financial literacy. I will help you get there.
