3 Drivers of Entrepreneurial Success: Purpose, Passion & Presence

Business isn’t paintball — people are playing with live rounds. Most owners of small and medium-sized businesses are competing head-to-head with corporate Goliaths, and ultimately, 96% fail.

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I find that staggering. I know very few business owners who aren’t working incredibly hard; most are doing the best they can, but many eventually run out of steam and are forced to close up shop.
My personal road to entrepreneurship was paved after a near tragedy. Prior to 2002, I was reckless, directionless and pretty ineffective. But after a life-threatening head injury put me in a coma, which the doctors didn’t think I’d recover from, I realized that in order for my life to change, I had to change first.

Upon my recovery, I came to the conclusion that at the end of our lives, we are going to ask ourselves three questions, and our answers will determine whether we are fulfilled and successful in life, as well as in business:

• Did I live with purpose?
• Did I live with passion?
• Did I live with presence?

Most business owners with thriving companies are able to answer “yes” to all three questions, because their purpose, passion and presence helped them to focus their attention, direct their actions, and persist in the face of adversity.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these elements.

Purpose
This simply means figuring out why you matter and making a real difference. Having a purpose leads to success because we access so much more of our personal power if we are doing something that has a positive impact for others. If you’re only in it for yourself, the world will eventually find out and stop paying attention.

Passion
Purpose alone isn’t enough — to be successful in the long term, you need to find that thing that makes your heart sing. Passion is a combination of love and enthusiasm, both of which are critical to overcoming challenges. Entrepreneurs may fall 1,000 times on their path to success, but their passion pushes them to get up 1,001 times. Finding your passion is as much about doing what’s important, as it is about not doing the unimportant, so it starts with getting clear on what you want and why you want it.

Presence
There is no future, there is no past, there is only this moment. Successful entrepreneurs keep an eye to the future but live in the present, because they know right now is where they can have a massive influence. Presence is an outcome of purpose and passion, and it can be perfected through focus and peak-state physiology, both of which can be learned.

People tend to lose sight of what’s important, which is why so many businesses ultimately fail. But great business leaders are not born — they hone their skills in the crucible of experience.