Can Ambition and Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

AllBizNiz

AllBizNiz

Living The Dream
Oct 27, 2009
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Ohio
I'm just kind of curious what people's thoughts are or if they've been successful at doing this. My brother for example, always complains about money and I've offered work and what not and even offered to do joint projects to bring in more revenue but always get denied.

I for one, think entrepreneurship is unique and can never be taught. Either you have it or you don't. Thoughts? And just to vent a little more. Has anybody noticed that when you're in the middle of trying to establish your business you notice a sense of alienation from family and friends?

For instance, my Wife's sister thinks that she's "way" more busy than my wife because she is in school full time, works a full time job, and has a kid to take care of. But she totally disregards my wife for trying to establish her business, work full time, and also taking care of a little one.
 


It can be gained, but not taught

You can't force it upon somebody, but somebody who isn't ambitious or entrepreneurial can hit hard times and change their mindset.

Lack of ambition is usually a result of living too comfortable a life. Take that comfort away and people are willing to do much more to get it back.
 
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPRZfIr67Sc&ob=av3e]Wale - Ambition ft. Meek Mill & Rick Ross (Lyric Video) - YouTube[/ame]
 
Doesnt have to be taught. Its part of human nature. But many parents excel in destroying a childs will to live.

Just like intelligence. You cant necessarily teach intelligence at an adult level, but what youre doing to your infant is a huge factor.
 
You can learn how to b an entrepreneur but nobody can teach desire and ambition you have it or you don't
 
Parenting thread! I'm in.

My take on ambition:

It takes both Nurture and Nature. They've got to have the genes that give them the ability to have drive in the first place, but even then this can sit dormant unless properly encouraged as a child.

I know three siblings that were all brought up VERY well, one year apart, given everything they could ask for with all the love and encouragement in the world. The 1st and 3rd child turned out spectacular, both 1st in their classes in world-class schools, now both vice-presidents of big corps, while the middle child, who had all the same opportunity, never chose to take any.

His grades sucked and he didn't even go to difficult schools. He'd often listen to his peers more than his own immediate family and value his friends' opinions more, even when they were obviously horribly wrong. Today he's got 2 mortgages and tons of debt attempting to be an entrepreneur but not doing too well at it. He'll likely wind up working a J.O.B. before too long... His critical thinking skills just aren't there.

All genetic limitations in his case.

So be proud, ambitious WFians, you all have great genes AND a good enough education/support system to become what you are today... Which is very rare in this world indeed.
 
lukep said:
So be proud, ambitious WFians, some you all have great genes AND a good enough education/support system to become what you are today... Which is very rare in this world indeed.
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fixed for ya, dont give away too much hope now.
 
AmpedTyler said:
fixed for ya, dont give away too much hope now.
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If you spend time on this forum away from shooting the shit actually trying to learn this stuff, you're already far and away from most people in the world. I have friends and acquaintances that I could tell "hey, I can give you a great resource of how you can make a comfortable living online" and they might look at the forum one time and never look again.

Lots of things come into play here - motivation, determination, consistency, ambition, drive, risk aversion, entrepreneurial mindset, desire, etc.
 
As far as I've seen, there sure are genetic factors that matter a lot.

Like if you're jewish, you're like 10x more likely to be filthy rich and successful
 
AllBizNiz said:
I for one, think entrepreneurship is unique and can never be taught. Either you have it or you don't. Thoughts? And just to vent a little more. Has anybody noticed that when you're in the middle of trying to establish your business you notice a sense of alienation from family and friends?
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1. Aye. Never try to "help" your family members with various business ideas/partnerships. Only offer help if you see that they're actually trying to do this stuff themselves.

2. Yes, because that shit is out of their comfort zone. The only person who supported me through all the fucking struggles when trying to establish a business was my dad (he's been running a small biz for over 20 years now, so yeah). Not my mum, not my gf and not my friends. Get used to it or change your environment.
 
You're either a drone and you will fail. Or you have ambition, drive, discipline, determination and take risks. Nobody gets rich sitting behind a desk being someone elses bitch.
 
absolute said:
1. Aye. Never try to "help" your family members with various business ideas/partnerships. Only offer help if you see that they're actually trying to do this stuff themselves.
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I have some interesting stories about shit that happens when you try to help your family. Maybe i'll tell you guys one day. Lets just say - be careful who you try to help and how much you tell them. They may just try and stab you in the back one day.
 
I think there's a lot of personality traits that goes into being successful. People lack get up and go and some people just have it and some people have none. I guess that's what makes us all different.
 
Most people will complain all day long sitting on their broke lazy asses, but they won't do anything. People are just fucking lazy.
 
jacky8 said:
As far as I've seen, there sure are genetic factors that matter a lot.

Like if you're jewish, you're like 10x more likely to be filthy rich and successful
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Jews will typically employ other Jews, fund their business ventures, give each other closely guarded knowledge and generally help each other. Cronyism really does work in getting you ahead and giving you an unfair advantage.

It pays well to be part of a tight community, wheather that be secret societies, old boys networks or religions or whatever.
 
one thing I've found to be really helpful in keeping myself motivated and my head on straight while dealing with the roller coaster that is entrepreneurship is to simply not even try to relate to my friends who aren't interested in running their own business. 99% of my friends are content working their jobs and having the weekends off. Trying to explain to them what motivates me to work for myself and my utter hatred for jobs/bosses/resumes/etc is just a losing battle and not worth my time.

To me, being an entrepreneur isn't a "job". It is who I am, it's a much deeper part of my own personal philosophies than just what pays the bills. It aligns with my values and desires for life much more so than people punching in and out 5 days a week.

Most people define themselves by what they do with their free time, like scuba diving or woodworking or something. I am what I do though, I only work on what I want because I believe in it and that is what defines me.
 
dchuk said:
one thing I've found to be really helpful in keeping myself motivated and my head on straight while dealing with the roller coaster that is entrepreneurship is to simply not even try to relate to my friends who aren't interested in running their own business. 99% of my friends are content working their jobs and having the weekends off. Trying to explain to them what motivates me to work for myself and my utter hatred for jobs/bosses/resumes/etc is just a losing battle and not worth my time.

To me, being an entrepreneur isn't a "job". It is who I am, it's a much deeper part of my own personal philosophies than just what pays the bills. It aligns with my values and desires for life much more so than people punching in and out 5 days a week.

Most people define themselves by what they do with their free time, like scuba diving or woodworking or something. I am what I do though, I only work on what I want because I believe in it and that is what defines me.
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I think it has to be something that is instilled at an early age by people around you or it has to be realized and from there it can be learned and improved. I think everyone can be ambitious but it mostly lays dormant in most people. The reason for this is either comfort, fear or the inability to see a better way.

For example those who are somewhat comfortable and happy living 9 to 5 and following the status quo are simply not going to be ambitious because their comfort level hasn't been breached and they feel okay with their day to day life.

Then there are people who let fear stop them from being ambitious. They think of an idea and get criticized for it or maybe they fail initially and stop because they fear what others may think of them if they publicly fail. This is something that can be overcome though.

Then there are people who see no alternative so they simply don't try because they feel there is no other way to live life other than what they've been told. They see the 9 to 5 life as the only option. These people can be ambitious and driven if shown the light but instead accept what's in front of them as the only option.

Personally I never came from a background that encouraged following dreams or being ambitious or starting a business, quite the opposite actually. I was told (and still em today) to follow the status quo and stick to a 9 to 5 job by family (Except my brother). I also never did well at school since I could never accept learning about shit I didn't care about because that's what everyone else was doing. I do think education is important though but the current system is a joke.

Anyways for me it was a realization that most people where just sheep following status quo and never questioning why something was done the way it was. That's where I got most of my ambition and entrepreneurial "spirit". I wanted to break away from the system and live a better life. I taught myself to be more ambitious because it helped me achieve my goals.
 
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