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You are here: Home / Archives for Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

Why It’s Important to grow and evolve

April 6, 2013 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Image of Guy Surfing

“Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.” ~ Auntie Mame

I ran across a friend recently whom I had not seen in over 30 years. He had aged (like all of us do) but apart from that, he had not changed a bit.

He still works at a restaurant as a short order cook (which surprised me — when I knew him, he had plans to go to med school). He still has the same interests. He still smokes. He still parties like crazy on the weekends. He even still watches the same television shows. He told me how much he loves “The Young and the Restless” and asked me if I still watch it. It took me moment to realize what he was talking about. He was referring to a soap opera we watched when we were barely out of our teens.

I don’t find lack of change to be a good thing. If you don’t change, you don’t grow — and I believe that it’s part of being human to grow, to change, to evolve. By growing and continuously learning, we discover and live up to our potential. We grow into who we are meant to be. We learn how to be better people and in so doing, motivate those around us to become better people.

By not growing, we often feel empty inside, sometimes even lost. We have the feeling deep down inside of us that there must be something more to life that what we are experiencing. We become exiles from one another and from our community, wandering to and fro like a homeless zombie.

An acquaintance once said to me:

“I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up — but I know it wasn’t this.”

We need to stop and look down into our untapped creativity and potential and then, bring it forward. But wishing, yearning, dreaming and hoping won’t do it — only concrete action will.

So how can we move from sleepwalking complacency to growth, from exile to inclusion?

  • By engaging with people, both old and new.
  • By engaging with life, not avoiding it.
  • By reading books, both fiction and non-fiction.
  • By connecting with nature (the ultimate teacher of change and growth).
  • By slowing down and appreciating the moment.
  • By taking classes and/or workshops.
  • By taking on a new hobby
  • By engaging with teachers.
  • By remembering your dreams and then taking first steps — even tiny ones — to bring those dreams closer into reality.
  • By trying or learning something completely new, even if it scares you. Trying doing something that you’re not good at.

There are many ways to get started but most importantly, you have to get started. I have found that creating a list of all the things you want to be or learn — or dreams you have ignored or put on hold — is a great place to begin. I personally did this several years ago and rediscovered photography, a dream I had put on hold.

Now you may say that not everyone wants to change or grow. That may be true — and that’s fine. But often, it’s not that we have made a conscious choice to stay the way we are, but rather we just forgot to follow our dreams. We became complacent, lazy and simply accepted our circumstances.

If you are exactly the same as you were twenty, ten or even five years ago, ask yourself, “Is this the life that I want? Am I happy with the way things are? Or do I feel a yearning to grow and evolve in a different direction?”

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Personal

Hanging Out with Entrepreneurs

May 29, 2012 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

$100 Startup book Image A week ago, I spent a fun evening with a bunch of entrepreneurs in Milwaukee. Chris Gillebeau* was in town promoting his recent book “The $100 Startup” and seeing that I’ve been a fan of Chris’ work for awhile now, I decided to head to Milwaukee to see him. Over the years I’ve purchased a couple of his guides (Art + Money and The Empire Building Kit), his previous book (Art of Non-Conformity) and have learned quite a bit from him over the years. If nothing else, his work has provided me with the motivation to continue working for myself while generating new ideas along the way.

I think it’s important for those of us who work for ourselves to continue learning and associating with like-minded individuals. When I first started out on my own, I found myself sitting at my computer all day long, rarely venturing out and interacting with others. Even though I am somewhat of an introvert, it didn’t take long before I began craving human interaction. Without regular contact with others, I found myself becoming stale and stagnant – and the ideas that had previously come so freely slowed to a trickle. Thus, I then made it a point to get out and socialize with like-minded folks whenever possible.

Hearing Chris speak the other night and talking with all of the interesting people there reinforced this for me. I arrived home that evening energized, motivated and full of new ideas that I am looking forward to implementing in my own business. While many of us consider ourselves writers first and formost, we are also business people and like it or not, some of us have to make an effort to market our work. Gathering with other business folks may give you new ideas and new perspectives in helping you get the word out about your own business or your own work.

So if you are feeling stuck, in a rut or feel that your writing business lacks momentum, try putting yourself out there with other writers and/or entrepreneurs – perhaps attend a local Meetup or join a group of entrepreneurs and/or writers. You might be pleasantly surprised.

*I am not an affiliate nor do I receive any financial kickbacks from any of Chris’s products. I just like his work and feel that it is worthwhile.*

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship Tagged With: Chris Gillebeau

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