Are Entrepreneurs Control Freaks?

Some people think entrepreneurs are control freaks. We look at this control issue to find out how important it is to successful entrepreneurs.

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We discuss entrepreneurs and control on The BIGG Success Show. Here’s a summary of that discussion.

It’s National Entrepreneur’s Day. As entrepreneurs ourselves with entrepreneurs as customers, every day is Entrepreneur’s Day to us. But it’s nice to take a day to celebrate the hardest-working, people-serving people in the world.

So today, we want to talk about a critical part of the entrepreneurial mindset.

What motivates entrepreneurs to start a business?

Most people think it’s “money”. But according to a study by Cox Business, only 8% of the respondents cited money as the reason they started their business. The #1 reason was control. Over half the participants said they started a business is to be their own boss.

[Mary-Lynn] Control is also why I became an entrepreneur. Because of the uncertainty of the radio industry, I wanted to be able to control my own destiny. I wanted to have control over the brand that I built. I wanted to have control over the content that I could talk about. I wanted to have control over whether I had to move or not. I wanted to have control over the rate at which I could grow and not be held back creatively.

Are entrepreneurs control freaks?

[George] When I was in my early 20s, I looked at a real estate investment with my dad. To do the deal, we needed to raise money before we went to the bank. We went to my dad’s chiropractor, because dad knew he invested in real estate.

He wasn’t the least bit interested. Then he told us about a property he was buying. He asked if we wanted to invest with him in his property. He said he only invested in things when he could have control.

So, was he a control freak?

Sorta of seems like it, doesn’t it?

But we vote “No”.

Research shows that most people who get rich did it with assets they control – like real estate, a franchise, or their own business.

Why is control so important to entrepreneurs?

When you have control of a business or real estate investment, you can’t be fired. (Unless you fire yourself!) This is a legal thing. It’s about entity selection – whether you choose to operate as a Sole Proprietorship, a General Partnership, a Corporation, or some other form of organization.

Control means you’re responsible. The most difficult decisions flow to you. You have to answer for everything that happens in your business.

You make the decisions. And live with the consequences. But that’s exactly what some people are looking for.

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You can’t control everything…

Control freaks struggle to accept this fact. But you have to be careful not to fool yourself. Just because you go into business for yourself doesn’t mean you can control everything.

Have you ever met anyone who was expecting to fail in their new venture? Of course not. Yet sometimes, that’s the case.

And here we are – in the middle of a pandemic which only hits once every 100 years. It’s wiped out the plans of many business owners. They can’t control that.

…but you can always control one thing

You can’t always control everything that happens to you, but you are in full control of how you respond to it.

And part of that response begins before the event ever occurs. You’re also in full control of how you plan for the foreseeable and unforeseeable.

How do you maintain control?

Nobody predicted a pandemic. But we should be prepared for events like that, you know? Sure, the probability is low. But you need to throw it into the planning mix. Figure out a Plan B: “What would you do if [fill in the blank]?”

Many business owners are facing unprecedented uncertainty right now. It seems like a restaurant can be open one minute and ordered to close the next. How do you prepare for that?

There are few things that are 100% certain. (Death and taxes come to mind.) But here’s something else to realize:

Not ever trying is dangerous too. You risk your future; you may never store up enough funds for a comfortable retirement when you’re unable to work.

So, I think we need to understand that taking action doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re risk lovers. We just need to calculated risks. And if you want that retirement to be more than just “comfortable”, you probably need to explore putting money in investments you can control. It leads to BIGG success!