Being an entrepreneur is tough. It’s tough because you have to find a way to have vision and lead your team when non-entrepreneurs tell you that you are crazy. It’s tough to put on a smile every day and go to work to prove that your ideas make sense. Every entrepreneur has their days of doubt when maybe the noise made by non-entrepreneurs is louder than their own internal voice of optimism. If you feel like this maybe Tesla can put some wind in your sail today.
On paper it generally makes no sense to be an entrepreneur. You have to take an idea and turn it into reality. Your ability to do that is based on how well you can manage your emotions, time and energy. The more focused you are the more likely you are to get to where you want to be. The more distracted you are the greater the chance that your business will be one of the many failures that occur every day in the market. I think entrepreneurs play an important role in helping make the world a better place. They don’t do it alone but they do take the first step in a direction that many are unprepared to do.
Tesla. There is so much to say about Telsa, Elon Musk and the nuggets of wisdom that entrepreneurs can glean by simply observing and following their progress. It has been widely reported that there are currently two schools of thought on Tesla and what they are trying to do. Some believe that electric cars are a charade and that Elon Musk is a great showman who will ultimately fail. They are so convinced that they continue to short the stock which means Elon has to keep reminding his team (who own stock) that what they are doing will be worth it. On the other hand, there are fanatics who believe that Tesla is the beginning of a new era in transportation. Over the past few months it looked like Tesla was going to miss the quarterly targets that the market had set for them and the short sellers would ultimately cash in, ruining Tesla. The expected target was simple: Telsa was expected to lose $0.46 per share. Instead Tesla earned (not lost) $1.91 per share. You don’t need to be an expert in stocks to understand what happened. The naysayers thought Tesla was going to fail and the failure would be proof that the company simply doesn’t make sense. Beating the target means a lot things to a lot of people but none more than Elon and his team. After struggling to get their feet beneath them they were able to demonstrate that they have a real shot at creating a meaningful and successful company.
Leading a public company while trying to deal with the noise in the market is no different than an entrepreneur trying manage their business while dealing with their team, creditors, bankers and anyone else that distracts them from getting to their goal. It’s not easy to lead when every one seems to be working against you. Take heart. You are not alone.
