By: Laurie
Penn-Moyer
The title Entrepreneur
is often looked upon with respect and admiration. As children, many of us dream
of changing the world in a unique way, or starting our own successful business
ventures. Then, along the way, life
happens and we begin telling ourselves untruths like “I’m not smart enough,” or
“I don’t have enough money” to follow those dreams.
Surprisingly, off-the-charts intelligence and flush bank
accounts are not cited as the most important criteria for entrepreneurial success.
Instead, thriving entrepreneurs often point to 2 crucial personal qualities: Passion
and Persistence.
Entrepreneur Jessica Herrin is the Founder and CEO of Stella
& Dot, a boutique-style accessories company based in San Francisco. Jessica
has been honored by Ernst & Young and Inc. 500 as a Top Entrepreneur. In this short video clip, Jessica is speaking
with Forbes on what it takes to find success as an entrepreneur.
According to Herrin, “I think entrepreneurship is ultimately
persistence, and the willingness to
seem crazy for a long time.” Jessica emphasizes that success doesn’t just happen
overnight. She advises “sticking with it until you get the right incarnation of
the idea… It’s just getting up in the morning every day and chasing what it is in your gut.”
Apparently, perfection isn’t a necessary part of the
equation, either. “You can’t wait for something to be perfect to run with it.
You have to iterate, you have to do it and build. Just doing something is
better than doing nothing.”
At the 2010 D5
Conference, the iconic entrepreneur and Apple co-founder, chairman and CEO,
Steve Jobs was asked what would be the single most valuable piece of advice he
would give to aspiring entrepreneurs.
Jobs response? “You have to have a lot of passion for what you’re doing… and it’s totally true and the reason
is because it’s so hard… The ones that are successful loved what they did so
they could persevere when the going
go really tough.”
If you find yourself feeling a bit apprehensive about all
this hard work and tenacity, find ways to continually stoke the initial passion
that led you to this journey. And, remember Herrin’s sage advice, “It’s not
easy - but it is worth it!”
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