by Case Lane

Getting rich is part of the entrepreneurial story. Successful entrepreneurs start out focused on the product or service they will bring to the marketplace, but when their idea takes off, they become even more defined for having achieved wealth.

To learn how the wealth emerges, the biographies and autobiographies of successful entrepreneurs form a blueprint for an aspiring entrepreneur to understand the process.

But many people do not take the time to read the books, and remain curious about how an entrepreneur was able to become wealthy.

We have a natural curiosity about how people became wealthy.  There are many wealthy people who are not entrepreneurs and never were in their whole family line.  You can get rich by winning the lottery or inheriting.  You might even just buy an expensive piece of art for a bargain price at a flea market.  Multiple roads to wealth exist.

But people primarily equate entrepreneurship with getting rich and living the life.  People tend to forget about the work part, and only focus on the money and the life of leisure money can buy.

But if you dig deeper into the lives of entrepreneurs, the millionaires and billionaires who highlight all the stories, you might discover a reality about achieving wealth that people seem to be forgetting. 

If you investigate a little further, you may realize, the secret to accumulating wealth is, as it has been for millennia: doing the work.

Part of the entrepreneur story is about money, the books and articles are written about the people who get rich. But for the wealth generated by entrepreneurs, the story is simple: Wealth is achieved through work – continuous, dedicated, unwavering work. 

Build the Business Over Everything Else

On the road to wealth, you cannot have your cake and eat it too – meaning no birthday parties.  When the most successful entrepreneurs tell their stories, they have nothing to say about going to parties, hanging out with friends, gossiping, surfing the Internet, playing video games, or binge-watching videos. 

They talk about focusing day and night on their business idea, and bringing it into reality. 

The willingness to be singular focused on business separates the wealth creators.  You have to be obsessed with your business idea.

For some people, dropping all leisure pursuits sounds frightening, especially if you have already begun a regular life full of birthday parties.  The most successful entrepreneurs never seem to have succumbed to the repetitive socializing routine, at least not once they were working on their business.

Change Your Life Routine

But for aspiring entrepreneurs who already have a ‘regular life’ full of social obligations and friendships, switching gears is a daily challenge.

If no one you know is doing what you are doing, and you want to focus on business 24/7, you have to make a choice. 

The next time you receive an invitation for a general social function – not a wedding or funeral – but a theme party or drinks or dinner with friends – you have to decide what’s more important to you.  Having yet another drink in yet another bar, or bringing your business idea into the global marketplace.

You are already someone who thinks differently from your circle.  You are interested in delivering value into the world by helping people solve a problem using the product or service you create.  Not everyone thinks like this.  Most people do not think about big world problems at all – but you do. 

And because you do – you have an opportunity to transform your life by bringing your business into the market.  But you have to do the work.  No one is going to know about your great idea if you do not develop it.  No one is going to see or hear about it if you don’t market and promote it.  The entire story is in your hands, and therefore it’s your responsibility.

Wealth is achieved by making the commitment to fulfill a need and then doing it.  Once people become consumers, you can manage the market, and the reward that comes from helping them.  But they know nothing about you until you’ve done the work to make yourself relevant to them.

The wealth that’s waiting for you is dependent on the effort you put in to obtain it.  The question you have to ask yourself is – are you willing to do it? 

Summary for How Entrepreneurial Wealth is Achieved

As a rising entrepreneur, you are curious about how wealth is achieved.  You see many entrepreneurs who are rich, and you know their products or services, but how did they become the people who delivered those ideas to the market. 

• They did the work.  It’s that simple and that difficult.
• If you already have a regular life, and have not been tinkering in your garage since you were 10, you have to make an adjustment, which other people may not understand.  You have to begin turning down social invitations, stop idle conversations and focus on your business
• Change your day, change how you behave and start operating like an entrepreneur by working on your business in every spare moment
• Change the conversation to business.  If people in your life are not interested, you have to make a choice.  You are not trying to convince other people that you can be an entrepreneur.  You are trying to bring your great product or service to the people who need it.
• Make a commitment to yourself that you will work to success, just like every big-name entrepreneur has done in the past