Entrepreneurship And Happiness

Most people think that a successful business can give you a successful life.... is it true?

I'm talking about living a good life, being happy most of the time, and having full control over your time.

Allow me to share with you a personal story about entrepreneurship and happiness....

My father had several businesses in his life. He was always busy with something - whether it was his supermarket in the town we lived in, or expanding his business from a small store into several businesses.

When I was younger, my dad was always my biggest inspiration. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and become an entrepreneur.

But as I got older, I started to notice something about my dad. He was never really happy and he always seemed to need more money to fund his businesses. I realized that money wasn't the only thing that my father was chasing after; he was also chasing after something else that he thought would make him happy.

He was so busy with his business that everything else took a backseat. He had no time for himself or his family. His health started to decline, which led to financial trouble.

But I always thought that being an entrepreneur was pretty cool. I mean, you get to be your own boss, make your own decisions, and hopefully make a lot of money. And I always thought that being an entrepreneur is in my blood.

Years later, when I was in my 40's, living in New York... my parents visited my house. Every evening, after dinner, we had a habit of going for long walks... And one evening, while I was walking alone with my dad, I asked him a question... "Dad, why did you become an entrepreneur? Did you always want to be an entrepreneur?"

My father looked at me with a somber face and said, "I didn't want to be an entrepreneur. I always wanted to be a college professor or a writer, but I had to start a small business to take care of my family." I was shocked to hear that because, in my mind, he was a very passionate entrepreneur!

But in fact he turned out to be a reluctant entrepreneur... like most Immigrant families in the West.... someone who started a business because of dire economic conditions.... and a deep desire not to work for someone else.

In other words, he's just like most of us! We all start our businesses for different reasons, but in the end, we all want the same thing: to be our own boss.

I see the same thing happen with a lot of people -- they want to become entrepreneurs out of desperation. They want to have a second income, and I often wonder if that's really what they want to do. Maybe they wanted to be a college professor, or a writer. But becoming an entrepreneur takes a lot of work, and it's not always the right fit for everyone.

So why are so many people flocking to become entrepreneurs? I'm not trying to diss entrepreneurship here...I'm just saying that it's not the only path to a life of contentment and happiness. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing: a life that makes us happy.

I love my parents, they were living God and Goddess to me. I will always love them.

I hope you have a beautiful journey no matter what you do.