The Singular Focus An Entrepreneur Should Have

Make as much money as possible. One of the enduring legacies of our generation will be our desire to work in jobs that ignite our passion and not just work to earn a paycheck. It’s a conversation I have with friends and strangers on a regular basis who think I’ve found my passion in the work I do and because of the way I live my life. The truth is, I’m generally passionate about the social issues in our culture with a belief that education has the best odds of delivering the change I hope to see in the world, but I’m still unsure as to wether or not the precise company we are building will serve as a conduit in this movement. It may – it may not; the results at the end of the day will reveal themselves without my guessing as to what the outcome may be. All I can do is believe in the outcome we hope to achieve and build the best damn company in the world. The part that may surprise my friends and colleagues about the work I do is my unyielding belief in capitalism. Simply put – making money is very important to me. Actually, it’s of paramount importance to me at this juncture in my life. I am an entrepreneur and this is the profession I have chosen. No one forced this on me and I understand that I could have an impact in my field of interest (education) in many other ways, butthiswas the pathIpicked. I believe in order to be a successful entrepreneur I must return as much capital to our investors as possible. And before someone makes claims that I would sacrifice the outcomes of an education company in order to achieve higher profit margins, let me be clear in another unyielding belief of mine. The greatest margins in a business are created when you produce the best possible product or service for your customers. If I only cared about profit, we would fail miserably. If I only focused on creating a product without focusing on a business model, we would fail miserably because there’s no mechanism for sustainability. In fact, I could argue that creating a viral product that rises and falls as quickly as a wave in the ocean is even more disruptive and destructive to learning outcomes than products and services that that figure out the entire loop of success in the marketplace. It costs money, time, energy, training, and effort in order to get millions of people to use a product. That is wasted money, wasted time, wasted energy, and wasted training if that businesses ceases to exist the following year. Great entrepreneurs recognize that it’s truly a win-win if you believe in a product-profit philosophy in building world class organizations. Most entrepreneurs I speak with talk to me in depth and with intense passion about their product, but rarely do I meet an entrepreneur who spends an equal amount of time talking to me about how they will make more money than anyone else in the world. Too often they assume it will “just happen” – which is why I believe 99% of businesses fail. If you’re an entrepreneur, I’m sorry to say this, but the mathematical odds are that you are most likely in that 99% bucket and you’re there for a very simple reason. You don’t care about making money as much as you care about building a great product. Here’s some advice I can provide in order to remedy that situation. Learn to make money and focus on your business model just as much as you focus on your product, or you’ll learn that you’re no longer a CEO, but the Director of non-profit organization.BY Fahad Hassan