The ‘P’ In Entrepreneur Stands For Passion, Persistence, Patience & More
A recurring theme I hear and read about is how passion is an important trait when starting a new business. In Mark Cuban’s 12 rules for any startup, the number one rule is “don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love.” I don’t agree 100% with that statement, but I would say that passion about your business and industry is crucial for entrepreneurs. For me, even though I was not initially obsessed with meal delivery or healthy eating, I was obsessed with building a great startup and changing the industry I’d just dived into.
While “Passion” is a key to any small business owner’s long-term success, there are several other important “P” qualities for startup leaders. Words like “Persistence,” “Patience,” “Pain,” “Pride,” “Precaution,” and even “Paranoia” come to mind. This article will look at just a few of those important “P” qualities.
Passion:
When I launched The Fresh Diet, I had no background in food, health or nutrition. I only heard about the concept of high quality meal delivery when my best friend, a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef, ran into a colleague who was working for a Los Angeles-based zone diet meal delivery company. When I Googled the company I discovered a niche market. Although I wasn’t obsessed with the concept, I realized it was a business model I could start from my home with little startup capital, and that the segment filled a big gap in the market. So I decided to launch my own meal delivery company and I threw myself completely into the industry.
After I had been running my business for only a few months, people began commenting on how passionate I was about the space. They figured I had some history in the diet world. Most were surprised to learn that my previous career was in real estate, and that I had no background in food or health. I explained that research and study helped me develop my passion, a passion that fueled my need to succeed and which flowed to the people around me and to those who worked for me. I found meal delivery an exciting segment with a fascinating history, so it was easy to be passionate about.
Persistence & Patience:
In one of my first Forbes posts I wrote how persistence is a key to success. Persistence was something I always struggled with: on some days it came easily, but on others, I found it difficult to follow through. But persistence may be more important than passion, because no entrepreneur can succeed without it. Without persistence, millions of small business owners around the world might never have launched their companies. Many people have great ideas, or want to start their own business, but few have the persistence to follow through. Persistence is also a key quality in networking and building the kinds of relationships that take startups to the next level. How many times have you connected with someone who could help you grow your business but you failed to follow through?
Persistence is something no entrepreneur can ever have enough of. Over the last ten years, I can think of countless times where persistence led to great things for my company, whether it was landing a spot in a national magazine or garnering an amazing partnership with a Fortune 500 company. Persistence helped me grow my startup from a small business to what it is today.
But all the Passion and Persistence in the world won’t help you if you don’t have Patience, another key trait for any successful entrepreneur. Patience allows you to reap the benefits of your other attributes, because without patience everything else may fall apart. Patience has been key to my success. Without patience, I would have given up on many initiatives my company built, and I might have even given up on the company all together.
Persistence and Patience need to work in harmony. One great example for us at Fresh Diet happened back in 2009, when I discovered that Nutrisystem had purchased a small local competitor in New York called Nu-Kitchen. When I heard about the acquisition thru a Google alert, I was a bit nervous to think that Nutrisystem — a company that then had a billion dollar market cap — was getting into the fresh delivery segment. I kept my ears and eyes open and waited patiently for my opportunity to act. Within a few months, I learned that Nutrisystem was having problems with the acquisition. I acted quickly, making it known to the key players that I would be interested in taking the acquisition off their hands. Eventually my persistence and patience paid off: when Nutrisystem shut down the acquisition, I convinced them to sell me the customer list.
These are just some examples of how I have used passion, patience and persistence to my advantage over the last ten years. The great thing about being an entrepreneur is the ability to work toward being the best leader you can be. These important traits don’t only play a role in your business, but they can be applied in your other relationships as well. So get out there in your everyday life and have some more passion, some more patience, and a lot more persistence.
You can find me on Twitter (@ZalmiD) and learn more about my work at www.ZalmiD.com
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Originally published at www.forbes.com on October 30, 2015.
