FORBES 29th list for 2015 of the Globe’s richest men shows that entrepreneurs are most likely the ones who become super rich. The list is topped by 1,191 self-made billionaires, 230 of whom inherited their wealth and another 405 inherited a portion but are working to increase their fortunes. Those who founded companies and created a product are getting richer.
Uber cofounders Travis Kalanick and Garret Camp, including their first employee Ryan Graves, are among the 46 billionaires under the age of 40. The people under age 40 became rich because of the products/services they invented or introduced, which became super successful, such as Mark Zuckerburg’s Facebook, Elizabeth Holmes’s blood-testing firm Theranos. Most notable among these super rich was Evan Spiegel, who at the age of 24 became the youngest billionaire in the Forbes list. Spiegel is cofounder of photo-messaging application Snapchat.
It pays to be a genius. But without entrepreneurial skills, genius will amount to nothing. To become rich is not a walk in the park. And when you come to a point when you are thinly spread, you will be wishing that you are once again a paid executive or employee. There are those who are happier to be an entrepreneur, and there are people who find joy and satisfaction in a paid career or job.
Entrepreneurs enjoy the freedom of time and the satisfaction of being able to put their ideas and creativity into use. There’s a feeling of empowerment and a sense of achievement when the business succeeds. But without a proper strategy, an entrepreneur will likely suffer from killer stress. As an entrepreneur, you need to let go of some of your tasks and learn to delegate.
The Forbes billionaires became rich because they do not have to do everything to make their businesses grow. Thus, they gain valuable time to study further how to enssure the success of their respective businesses.
A successful entrepreneur is not one who must be a slave to his business. Instead, one must learn how to make his business his own slave. If an entrepreneur feels he has to be in the office all the time because of the fear that the business will not run smoothly without him, he will never grow big. This kind of entrepreneur may be successful in that particular area where he spends most of his time, but he will never grow as big as the Forbes billionaires. One should invest in people and systems and proper controls so that, even if the owner and founder is not physically present, the business will still prosper.
Of course, for start-ups, much time and effort are invested to launch a product or service. As a consequence, relationships are sacrificed and finances must be ensured.
However, physical and mental exhaustion are challenges that are not easy to handle.
I remember watching the movies that showed how Facebook and Apple were created and launched. Zuckerburg and Steve Jobs and their teams literally spent most of their time at work. Persistence and hard work, with a great amount of intelligence and entrepreneurial skills are, indeed, needed. But the significant aspects include the contribution of team members, and the learning process to acquire the entrepreneurial skills needed to succeed so as not to disappoint the people who believed and invested in their endeavors.
One can just be an investor and let others take care of the business. But this is only true if one has the needed financial resources. In other words, success has its own price. Again, this depends on how one defines success because some people define success not only in terms of material wealth.
I think maintaining a balance between handling a business and personal life is the best option. We may not become like Bill Gates who remains as the richest man on earth, or Warren Buffet whose wealth surged from $14.5 billion to $72.7 billion, or be included in the Forbes list for that matter, but we can be the happiest and most successful entrepreneur or paid executive based on our own definition of “success.” And that is the most important thing a human being can achieve in this world.
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Wilma Miranda is the chairman of the Media Affairs Committee of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, Managing Partner of Inventor, Miranda & Associates–CPAs, Treasurer of KPS Outsourcing Inc. The opinions expressed herein are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of these institutions.