The Hidden Entrepreneur in You: You Already Have What It Takes
4 qualities you can easily develop and change the direction of your life
Can you be an entrepreneur as a kid straight out of college working a 9-to-5 job, a stay-at-home mom raising wonderful children, a pastor planting a church, or a professional changing lanes in his mid-fifties?
The answer is, of course you can. And you should!
The word “entrepreneur” comes from the French entreprendre, meaning “to undertake.”
Entrepreneurship isn’t just about launching tech startups that take over the world.
Let’s reclaim its original meaning: anyone trying something new, challenging the status quo, and creating a different future is an entrepreneur.
If you can vividly imagine a future that is so real you can almost taste it, you’re already halfway there.
Forget the stereotype of the hoodie-wearing college dropout turned tech billionaire. Most successful entrepreneurs don’t hit their stride until mid-forties, often after two or three failures. Life is messy, unpredictable, and far from a Hollywood script.
Because of this perceived chaos and unpredictability, most people will hold back, trapped by the illusion of limited resources (ILR). But here’s the truth: entrepreneurship isn’t about having everything you need at the start—it’s about imagining the future, taking that first step, and finding a way forward.
I will illustrate by taking you back to one of my starting points. But first, this important new thing I want you to lean into with me.
I’ve decided to add a weekly post for paid subscribers that explores the strategies for success and significance in more detail for those serious about fully redirecting the trajectory of their lives.
For just $11/month - just for the next 100 paid subscribers ( we’ll raise it to $15/month after that; here’s what you’ll get.
In addition to weekly exclusive insights and strategies, you’ll get early access to new podcast episodes, webinars for subscribers, and…
If you sign up in the next 7 days, I will personally send you a signed copy of my book.
I have big plans for this and will keep adding perks and goodies exclusively to our paid subscribers to thank you for supporting the team that does great work.
Who’s with me?
Back to my starting point and this crazy story, (there are more in the video at the end of this post.)
I spent my teen years in the USSR. In high school, I often found myself bored in class, my mind wandering far from the monotony of the Soviet educational system, exacerbated by my ADHD and the ridiculous uniforms we had to wear. It felt like a scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but on steroids.
In my daydreams, I’d scribble in my school notebooks anything but the subject my poor teachers were trying to teach me. My notebooks were less about Algebra and more about dream boards of life on the other side. I drew logos of Western brands like Adidas, Nike, and Sony—icons of a world brimming with opportunity yet blocked by the absurd Iron Curtain.
While my teachers tried to explain quadratic equations, I was more concerned with perfecting the Coca-Cola logo—priorities, right?
I would also scribble the names of Western bands like Queen, Michael Jackson, ACDC, and KISS, whose shows I would never see in person.
The brands and artists I obsessed over represented the essence of freedom, creativity, and entrepreneurship. The opportunity to create something from nothing.
Unfortunately for me, being an entrepreneur in the USSR was illegal, and getting to live in the U.S. was as realistic as a rock concert in Red Square under the watchful eyes of the politburo.
Fortunately for me, circumstances changed unexpectedly. The Communists’ grip on power collapsed, and free enterprise became a thing. For some people, it changed nothing and made life much harder in the chaos that ensued. For those of us who just wanted a chance to try, maybe fail, and try again, life got exponentially better.
Those doodles of brands and artists I made in my notebook as a bored schoolboy took a life of their own. As a recording artist, I had endorsement deals with Adidas, Guess, and Head & Shoulders shampoo.
After dreaming about just owning anything by Adidas, I now saw my face on posters in Adidas stores everywhere, with Head & Shoulders commercials on bus stops and playing across fifteen countries in multiple languages.
When I doodled the names of bands and artists like Michael Jackson and KISS, I could not have predicted that just a few years later, Michael would visit one of our charity events, and I would someday help create a music album with the producer of KISS in Los Angeles and produce music videos with some of the top directors in Hollywood.
That is the magic of entrepreneurship.
You don’t have to start a billion-dollar company or be a zillionaire by age 20. You just need to imagine what’s possible and have the courage to take action, even when failure seems more likely than success.
Entrepreneurship is about cultivating the qualities that make extraordinary leaps possible.
I’ve worked with entrepreneurs for a long time, and these are the top four qualities of the ones who succeeded in creating a new future for themselves and their loved ones:
1. They imagine the future so vividly that they can almost taste it. This quality fuels the inevitable baby steps that help overcome the challenges.
2. They are willing to invest. Time, treasure, and talent are poured into something that feels real enough to be worth the effort—even without guarantees.
3. They actively learn. They expand their skills to bridge the gap between their current abilities and the future they’re creating.
4. They seek guidance, coaching, and mentorship. They know that speed matters and the fastest way to accelerate progress is to learn from someone with a map of their destination.
Anyone can nurture every one of these qualities. Ready for some perks of sticking with me?
My next group coaching webinar focuses on the exact steps to recalibrating or reinventing your career. We’ll go in-depth and have space for Q&A throughout. It’s coming up on February 5th at noon CST—claim your spot here. Spots are limited.
Can you see yourself as an entrepreneur, ready to undertake the future you imagine? Let me know in the comments or hit reply to this email—I read all of them.
Check out my podcast episode on entrepreneurship from the limited series Little Book Stories for more stories. I tell more crazy stories you’ll love.
If you like the insights in this post, I'd like to ask you for a favor.
a) become a paid subscriber and support the work of our team, and
b) forward this to someone who needs to read it and start building a new future.