Perhaps the widest acclaimed piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is: Know Thy Purpose. Followed closely with some synonym for “Make an impact”.

Hundreds of seminars and bulging business books howl urgent encouragement: Set aside all other thoughts and ideas until Clarity-of-Purpose is yours. Make a difference. Motivation and success will flow.

The underlying presupposition is that by somehow divining the precise correct business plan – the one you were perhaps “sent here” to perform – you’ll immediately hop in the carpool lane to business success and skip the worst parts of the journey. Make your purpose about “helping people” and you’ll get an even quicker shortcut to easy-street.

This feel-good cult of purpose has spawned thousands of wannabe entrepreneurs who claim they’re here to help others – but what if this attitude is actually sabotaging their business success?

Read on, to discover why making “Help People” your ultimate mission is a commercial and psychological disaster of colossal proportions.   Continue reading “Why Helping People is a Crock”

I often write about the tussle between the conscious and unconscious mind of the entrepreneur. On one side of the ring, the logical and analytical. On the other, the intuitive and animal. Money might be one of the big wrestling matches of them all.

Money is the ultimate panacea of our time. It solves every problem. Though it can’t buy happiness, it sure as hell can rent it for a while.

For business owners, more cash is always better than less. In an interview, John D Rockefeller was asked “how many more dollars until your satisfied?” His reply: “Just one more dollar”.

More money, fewer problems. This is the logic of the conscious mind. But for entrepreneurs, it just isn’t true – only half of you really wants more money. And it’s killing your ability to make it. Continue reading “More money more problems – How you may be sabotaging your earning potential”

I love personal development, but it kinda poisons our minds.

Don’t get me wrong, some of the biggest shifts and growth in my life happened because of a seminar attended, a book read or a coach consulted. That stuff really does work – if you work it.

Nevertheless, personal development will suck the happiness out of your life if you’re not careful.  Continue reading “Why Self-Help Can Become an Addictive Trap”