What is an “entrepreneur”?  When I am asked I normally reply that “it is someone who can see the potential of the world of tomorrow today” (or something similar).  Entrepreneurs have the ability to see what “will be” when it comes to business.

However, I now may have to add this quote from the poem I blogged about on Wednesday.

I want to know what sustains you

From the inside

When all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone

With yourself,

And if you truly like the company you keep

In the empty moments.

Too many people give up moments from success.  However, successful people do not.  They still have an eye on the prize “when all else fades away…”  In addition, they are successful on the inside prior to being successful on the outside.  They will still be able to live with themselves and their decisions when success appears to far away.

There is a story of a swimmer…

In 1952, Florence attempted to swim the 26 miles between Catalina Island and the California coastline. As she began, she was flanked by small boats that watched for sharks and were prepared to help her if she got hurt or grew tired. After about 15 hours a thick fog set in. Florence began to doubt her ability, and she told her mother, who was in one of the boats, that she didn’t think she could make it. She swam for another hour before asking to be pulled out, unable to see the coastline due to the fog. As she sat in the boat, she found out she had stopped swimming just one mile away from her destination.[2]

Two months later, Chadwick tried again. This time was different. The same thick fog set in, but she made it because she said that she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind while she swam. (Note: from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_May_Chadwick.)

The single difference between the two attempts was what she saw in her mind.  If you have a vision, focus on it.  Don’t let success slip away because you think you are too far away from the coastline.