"Entrepreneur" is one of those umbrella terms that can cover a range of meanings. In essence, an entrepreneur wants more out of life and is willing to do what it takes to have it. An entrepreneur is a dreamer, but dreamers are not always entrepreneurs. The primary skill of the entrepreneur is to imagine what doesn't now exist, and to take actions to create it.



Compare someone who buys lotto tickets each week with the hope of striking it rich with the entrepreneur who sets out to create a profitable business. One hopes for an outcome. The other takes action to create an outcome.

Of the two choices, acting to create wealth has vastly greater probability of success than hoping to win a jackpot. Certainly, people do win jackpots, but the odds are miniscule. And the sad result is that many lotto winners end up worse off than they were before winning because they have no idea how to handle the money.

When my adult son first watched the movie, "The Secret," he objected to one dramatic episode. A boy wants a bicycle. He hopes and dreams for the bicycle and spends time gazing excitedly at a picture of the exact bike he wants. And then he sees the bike in the window of the bicycle shop with a "SOLD" sign on it. The boy becomes upset and gives up hope for the bicycle. After a period of despair, he again focuses his hopes and dreams upon receiving the bicycle. Throughout the entire episode, he does nothing but dream. The episode ends when the child opens the door to find his grandfather with the coveted bike as a present. We last see the boy riding off happily on his new bicycle.

The episode is meant to demonstrate that happy and excited thoughts focused on a desired outcome will result in getting what you want. In the language of "The Secret," the boy "manifested" his bicycle as a result of his concentrated positive thoughts and feelings.

My son contrasted this story with his own experience. When he was in middle school, he wanted a Go-Kart. We said he could have one if he earned the money for it. So he went out and offered to work for people in the area. He raked leaves, swept driveways, and did other odd jobs. In a short period of time, he earned enough money to buy his Go-Kart. He manifested his Go-Kart as the result of concentrated intention and hard work. He has commented more than once in the years since that we did him a great favor by encouraging him to work to buy his Go-Kart rather than to buy it for him. It taught him that he could have what he wanted by taking focused action to get it.

I don't mean to dispute the possibility that people can manifest what they want to have by concentrated thought. In a world of quantum possibilities, the mind is a powerful creator. I do mean to make the point that entrepreneurs are much more likely to get what they want than dreamers are, because dreamers merely dream, hoping for an outcome. Entrepreneurs act upon their dreams.

So many of the stories addressed to children use magic as a means of manifestation. Fairy godmothers wave magic wands, genies grant wishes, boy wizards recite magic incantations. Children also learn about Santa Claus with his flying reindeer as the great wish fulfiller, a giant rabbit who brings colored eggs and candy, and tooth fairies who exchange baby teeth for cold, hard cash. As a child, I even learned to wish upon the first star I saw at night. I had no similar instruction in how to turn my wishes into reality by creating an action plan.

Such magical thinking does not end with childhood. When we get older, we can substitute hope in winning the lotto, hitting the jackpot, or buying into the latest biz-op as the way to get rich without doing anything beyond hoping.

What is the connection between creating abundance and being an entrepreneur? Both require a similar mindset. At the heart of both is the desire to have more. Abundance is also the direct result of a creative process. Abundance requires focused action toward your dreams rather than a passive hope that someone will leave abundance on your doorstep.