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Entrepreneur-Star... Not a Celebrity, But a Sea Star

How can one harness the compound interest effect, leverage, and capitalize on their entrepreneurial activities without going insane (well, maybe just a little) or turning into a robot?

Entrepreneur-Star... Not a Celebrity, But a Sea Star

How can one harness the compound interest effect, leverage, and capitalize on their entrepreneurial activities without going insane (well, maybe just a little) or turning into a robot?

Choose the right direction as early as possible, concentrate on it, enhance your knowledge and skills, gain experience in that field, focus, focus, and focus again... over time, all those pleasant "laws of the universe" such as compound interest and others will start to manifest.

The result is you becoming an extremely successful individual in your field.

You hardly know what you're doing, jumping from one topic to another. You didn't properly develop fundamental knowledge and skills in time, so they're like a sieve—you know something here, but there you didn’t even know there was something to know.

There's no talk of concentrated effort. You grab at everything that comes your way, whatever seems profitable at the moment or blindly believe in (though you should have left that poor dead horse alone long ago).

Figure yourself out, once and for all. Globally determine what you want from life and what it wants from you. Gather the fruits of these explorations into a single guiding and simultaneously attractive system. We'll call its brightest and most emotional part the Vision.

Incorporate movement towards this Vision into all your activities. Let everything more or less significant (excluding teeth brushing and taking out the trash, though even here you can see a connection) in your life: self-development, entrepreneurial activity, and so on—contain at its core, in its DNA, that unwavering drive towards the Vision.

The Vision is the most visible part of the guiding and organizing system. The system itself can vary, but ideally, it is self-adaptive. This is a separate discussion and a big topic. I'll hint at the subject area of my selftech startup Membra. For now, let's assume when I say "Vision," it means the entire system supporting its realization is behind it.

If the Vision and the system supporting its achievement (including personal Philosophy) permeates your entire life, it becomes a system-forming factor. You get a thread that unites all your efforts into one flow. You find an alternative to that laser focus everyone talks about.

Sure, narrow concentration on global and local matters is great. But, since robots haven't taken over the world yet, and people are not robots yet, approaches that partly accept my history, my path—with all its flaws and wanderings—still allow me to derive benefit from what exists, reassemble it in my logic, and continue moving into the future, bearing fruits in the present, feel more organic to me.

These sea stars have been somewhat overused in metaphors by trendy books. But, what can you do if it turned out this way - with unique abilities (well, okay, some others have them too) for complete regeneration from a very small fragment of its body?

What interesting things does this metaphor offer us? It aligns well with the approach to an entrepreneur's life, who, despite any life's vicissitudes (mostly provoked by their own blunders) - continues to live and conduct entrepreneurial activity.

An entrepreneur may launch many directions, grasp at different market segments, products, and so on. Meanwhile, all initiatives can fail spectacularly or linger in a semi-lethargic state indefinitely. However, the entrepreneurial endeavor lives on.

That is, survival and self-recovery DNA are already embedded in the entrepreneur and their business system. Consider half the job done! He and his business are already a star!.. Yes, yes.. just a sea star for now, not a unicorn galloping around the world.

We can be almost 90% sure that an entrepreneur will survive under any conditions and be able to feed themselves and their family. But, this does not guarantee that their business will flourish, the family will live in abundance, and they will be happy. No, it's only about survival.

If after a certain period of life, a person has not managed to establish themselves in the role of an entrepreneur, i.e., they cannot provide for themselves (and their family) through entrepreneurial income (this includes not just dividends and other proper things but also paying themselves a salary and other benefits from their business), then they have not survived as an entrepreneur.

Writing this, I realize that the quite popular and controversial question of whether entrepreneurs are born or made is very simply resolved by the realities of life. If, as I've described above, an entrepreneur can at least survive through their entrepreneurial activity, then they are an entrepreneur. Period. Further, we can discuss how successful they are, how timely and relevant, and so on.

We've dealt with our sea star's minimum. Chop off its limbs, or leave just one—it will survive beautifully and regrow the rest!

Let's amplify this metaphor, and at the same time, understand how we can practically guarantee to strengthen any entrepreneur.

You've probably guessed it - embed the Vision into the star's DNA. It turns out, no matter what happens to the entrepreneur - which projects they close or open, into what venture they get involved and subsequently deal with the consequences, the star internally (it already has mechanisms for self-recovery) will remain whole, and it's just a matter of time before it becomes whole externally.

That is, in any state of being, the entrepreneur will be permeated with that all-gathering thread, which links them to the Vision. Accordingly, all their activity, to some extent, is subordinate to its achievement.

And now we return to the first thesis. About doing it right - like laser focus. And what we get if we do as we can and should, with adjustments for the sea star and Vision. We achieve exactly the same effect, with all the same benefits, as with total concentration, but we go our own, organic way.

Yes, of course. The speed might not be the same, the outcomes (in terms of multipliers) might differ. But the chances are much higher. Because the foundation is based on survivability (already proven by the entrepreneur's life), adaptability, integrity, and coherence of all entrepreneurial activity (not just business, but also in self-development, life organization) with the guiding vector of development - according to the Vision and the entire development system behind it.

And another crucial factor. You're not just working, achieving, and so on, but also enjoying life - from all its manifestations. Overcoming difficulties is good! To bask, albeit briefly, in the glow of achievements is wonderful! A new, puzzling topic, where even the devil may break his leg - damn interesting! Stuck in a quagmire, mired in daily grind, no way out of the fog - all normal, and you'll dig yourself out, it's not the first time! And here are new horizons, new projects - and once again, you are filled, and your entrepreneurial life is imbued with inspiration and energy!

Sustainable development, flexibility, resilience, naive curiosity, pragmatic decisions, risky moves, energy-saving mode, acknowledging defeat and retreating, solving a problem through a stratagem, ambition and modesty, realistic goals, and possibly even creepiness and flamboyance - all can coexist, change, and complement each other. And of course, there's no end to all variations. The main thing is to know that you're indestructible (to a certain extent, of course), you're adaptable, and you're goal-oriented - everything else turns into an adventure.

And another significant moment! It's logically clear, emotionally organic, but in practice, in life, it's always subject to the pressure of internal doubts and external pressures. I'm talking about the self-sufficiency of your path, your adventure. We understand that only we can judge ourselves and should not be subject to external influence (that which drowns you out, not supports you, of course). But doubts, like pressure, are always there.

This is the entrepreneur's second level of survival.

The first was material. With it, everything is simple - provide for yourself and your family a minimally sufficient standard of living through entrepreneurial activity.

The second is more complex - provide for yourself and your family a sense of life, wrap it in adventure, invest in its strength and confidence, and most importantly - make this adventure real. And of course, your dashing adventure should not jeopardize the first level of survival.

I'll end the post here. But not the topic. We'll return to it in subsequent publications - gradually extracting from the conceptual level a practical toolkit that can be applied to your own life and business.

Choose the right direction as early as possible, concentrate on it, enhance your knowledge and skills, gain experience in that field, focus, focus, and focus again... over time, all those pleasant "laws of the universe" such as compound interest and others will start to manifest.

The result is you becoming an extremely successful individual in your field.

You hardly know what you're doing, jumping from one topic to another. You didn't properly develop fundamental knowledge and skills in time, so they're like a sieve—you know something here, but there you didn’t even know there was something to know.

There's no talk of concentrated effort. You grab at everything that comes your way, whatever seems profitable at the moment or blindly believe in (though you should have left that poor dead horse alone long ago).

Figure yourself out, once and for all. Globally determine what you want from life and what it wants from you. Gather the fruits of these explorations into a single guiding and simultaneously attractive system. We'll call its brightest and most emotional part the Vision.

Incorporate movement towards this Vision into all your activities. Let everything more or less significant (excluding teeth brushing and taking out the trash, though even here you can see a connection) in your life: self-development, entrepreneurial activity, and so on—contain at its core, in its DNA, that unwavering drive towards the Vision.

The Vision is the most visible part of the guiding and organizing system. The system itself can vary, but ideally, it is self-adaptive. This is a separate discussion and a big topic. I'll hint at the subject area of my selftech startup Membra. For now, let's assume when I say "Vision," it means the entire system supporting its realization is behind it.

If the Vision and the system supporting its achievement (including personal Philosophy) permeates your entire life, it becomes a system-forming factor. You get a thread that unites all your efforts into one flow. You find an alternative to that laser focus everyone talks about.

Sure, narrow concentration on global and local matters is great. But, since robots haven't taken over the world yet, and people are not robots yet, approaches that partly accept my history, my path—with all its flaws and wanderings—still allow me to derive benefit from what exists, reassemble it in my logic, and continue moving into the future, bearing fruits in the present, feel more organic to me.

These sea stars have been somewhat overused in metaphors by trendy books. But, what can you do if it turned out this way - with unique abilities (well, okay, some others have them too) for complete regeneration from a very small fragment of its body?

What interesting things does this metaphor offer us? It aligns well with the approach to an entrepreneur's life, who, despite any life's vicissitudes (mostly provoked by their own blunders) - continues to live and conduct entrepreneurial activity.

An entrepreneur may launch many directions, grasp at different market segments, products, and so on. Meanwhile, all initiatives can fail spectacularly or linger in a semi-lethargic state indefinitely. However, the entrepreneurial endeavor lives on.

That is, survival and self-recovery DNA are already embedded in the entrepreneur and their business system. Consider half the job done! He and his business are already a star!.. Yes, yes.. just a sea star for now, not a unicorn galloping around the world.

We can be almost 90% sure that an entrepreneur will survive under any conditions and be able to feed themselves and their family. But, this does not guarantee that their business will flourish, the family will live in abundance, and they will be happy. No, it's only about survival.

If after a certain period of life, a person has not managed to establish themselves in the role of an entrepreneur, i.e., they cannot provide for themselves (and their family) through entrepreneurial income (this includes not just dividends and other proper things but also paying themselves a salary and other benefits from their business), then they have not survived as an entrepreneur.

Writing this, I realize that the quite popular and controversial question of whether entrepreneurs are born or made is very simply resolved by the realities of life. If, as I've described above, an entrepreneur can at least survive through their entrepreneurial activity, then they are an entrepreneur. Period. Further, we can discuss how successful they are, how timely and relevant, and so on.

We've dealt with our sea star's minimum. Chop off its limbs, or leave just one—it will survive beautifully and regrow the rest!

Let's amplify this metaphor, and at the same time, understand how we can practically guarantee to strengthen any entrepreneur.

You've probably guessed it - embed the Vision into the star's DNA. It turns out, no matter what happens to the entrepreneur - which projects they close or open, into what venture they get involved and subsequently deal with the consequences, the star internally (it already has mechanisms for self-recovery) will remain whole, and it's just a matter of time before it becomes whole externally.

That is, in any state of being, the entrepreneur will be permeated with that all-gathering thread, which links them to the Vision. Accordingly, all their activity, to some extent, is subordinate to its achievement.

And now we return to the first thesis. About doing it right - like laser focus. And what we get if we do as we can and should, with adjustments for the sea star and Vision. We achieve exactly the same effect, with all the same benefits, as with total concentration, but we go our own, organic way.

Yes, of course. The speed might not be the same, the outcomes (in terms of multipliers) might differ. But the chances are much higher. Because the foundation is based on survivability (already proven by the entrepreneur's life), adaptability, integrity, and coherence of all entrepreneurial activity (not just business, but also in self-development, life organization) with the guiding vector of development - according to the Vision and the entire development system behind it.

And another crucial factor. You're not just working, achieving, and so on, but also enjoying life - from all its manifestations. Overcoming difficulties is good! To bask, albeit briefly, in the glow of achievements is wonderful! A new, puzzling topic, where even the devil may break his leg - damn interesting! Stuck in a quagmire, mired in daily grind, no way out of the fog - all normal, and you'll dig yourself out, it's not the first time! And here are new horizons, new projects - and once again, you are filled, and your entrepreneurial life is imbued with inspiration and energy!

Sustainable development, flexibility, resilience, naive curiosity, pragmatic decisions, risky moves, energy-saving mode, acknowledging defeat and retreating, solving a problem through a stratagem, ambition and modesty, realistic goals, and possibly even creepiness and flamboyance - all can coexist, change, and complement each other. And of course, there's no end to all variations. The main thing is to know that you're indestructible (to a certain extent, of course), you're adaptable, and you're goal-oriented - everything else turns into an adventure.

And another significant moment! It's logically clear, emotionally organic, but in practice, in life, it's always subject to the pressure of internal doubts and external pressures. I'm talking about the self-sufficiency of your path, your adventure. We understand that only we can judge ourselves and should not be subject to external influence (that which drowns you out, not supports you, of course). But doubts, like pressure, are always there.

This is the entrepreneur's second level of survival.

The first was material. With it, everything is simple - provide for yourself and your family a minimally sufficient standard of living through entrepreneurial activity.

The second is more complex - provide for yourself and your family a sense of life, wrap it in adventure, invest in its strength and confidence, and most importantly - make this adventure real. And of course, your dashing adventure should not jeopardize the first level of survival.

I'll end the post here. But not the topic. We'll return to it in subsequent publications - gradually extracting from the conceptual level a practical toolkit that can be applied to your own life and business.