One of the problems with our business culture is that we celebrate success in a way that makes it seem as if it is only the very smart, very gifted, and very well-funded people who succeed. Superheroes.
The rest of us? Well…
We’re not inventors like James Dyson or Sara Blakely.
We’re not savvy marketers like Phil Knight and Martha Stewart.
We’re not tech geniuses like Sergey Brin or Michael Dell.
And we’re not artists like Van Gogh or Picasso.
We’re just normal people without capes, tights, or secret hideouts.
We celebrate people like Steve Jobs and Jack Welch as if they are super heroes, blessed with amazing powers, meant to succeed from day one. Even when they fail.
What chance do the rest of us have?
There are 23 small businesses in the USA, another 480,000 small businesses in Australia, plus almost 5 million in the United Kingdom. And there are millions more around the world. All of them run by perfectly normal people without super powers.
None of these millions of small business owners will ever be featured in INC Magazine or The Wall Street Journal.
Most of these small businesses will never be billion dollar companies or even million dollar companies.
Most of these owners don’t have MBAs, venture funding, great programming skills, or any other single qualification to succeed in business.
What do they have? Something better:
They have an idea.
They care for their customers.
They work hard.
They are building something they believe in.
They won’t quit.
Most of the time that’s all it takes.
Photo credit: JD Hancock via photopin cc
