Serious Entrepreneurs Don’t Need Toilet Paper

Most, if not all, entrepreneurs have their own Cinderella stories: from living on welfare and waiting tables, to making their first million before they’re 30 and owning jets.

While all these stories arouse feelings hope and inspiration, the trek up the road to success is really a bit more nasty.

Consider the approach taken by Mike Michalowicz, and ask yourself, “Am I a ‘Toilet Paper Entrepreneur’?”

Mike compares true entrepreneurialism to a typical bathroom experience: “business” is done and you discover only 3 sheets of TP left on the roll! Necessity breeds invention if you want to leave the rest room smelling like a rose.

He adds that successful and serious entrepreneurs are not those who sit around and wait for someone to hand them a “roll of toilet paper”.

They take matters into their own hands and search within reach that they use. If you must, dig through the garbage, or use the roll of cardboard instead and move on.

Moreover, serious entrepreneurs make it a habit of not making excuses and are impatient to those people who do.

You’ll never hear them say

“I don’t have enough money right now.”

“I’m not smart enough for that.”

“I don’t have the time. I’m too busy.”

“Businesses take too long to build.”

“There’s too much risk involved. I’m too scared.”

“I’m too old for this.”

Serious entrepreneurs don’t just sit and dream about when their big break would come, but they get off their butts and make it happen.

They don’t sit on their money, waiting for it to grow on their own. They’ll go out and make their own moneymaking ventures, whether it’s selling lemonade by the street, or setting microchips in Silicone Valley.

And if you think that they’re off burning their millions, think again! Warren Buffett, who is, according to Forbes, the third richest person in the world, lives in the same $31,500 home that he brought four decades ago, in Omaha, Nebraska.

Successful Entrepreneurs do not multi-task. They’re like bulldogs: they’ll latch on to one thing until it’s good and done proper.

They aren’t perfectioniststhey say, “Good is good enough.”

And that’s because they have learned that money likes speed.

They know that if they sit around and do and erase and redo and re-erase, by the time they finish their product, their competition would have swooped in, cornered the market, and left them no room at all.

They don’t spend the bulk of their time thinking, planning, and revising they take action.

They are thrill seekers, but they have gone out of their way to calculate the risks involved.

The founder of Feedburner.com, Dick Costolo once said, “The secret is to simply ride on the bike, just get on the bike without much thought of the reasons you could fall off. Just get on and pedal. You can grab a map, a tire pump, and better shoes while you’re at it.”

Serious Entrepreneurs do not need toilet paper.

Why so? Because for sure they have a napkin to spare in one of their pockets with another million dollar project written on the other side.

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