Lessons in entrepreneurship - from a cat
Of the many qualities that make a successful entrepreneur, persistence is one of the most underrated. The web is full of good examples, but allow me to repeat and expand upon two metaphors I head recently:
Watch a cat slowly slinking across the yard, creeping towards a bird, inch by painstaking inch. When he gets within a few inches from his prey, the bird takes flight and slips out of his reach.
Yet does the cat stop being a cat? No, he tries again with no less energy, even if he catches the bird only once out of a hundred times. Similarly, if grass is mowed every week, it gets cut off before it reaches its full height. But does the grass stop growing?
Now a cat and a blade of grass are unusual metaphors for an entrepreneur (and not entirely flattering!), but I doubt I'm alone in feeling them hit close to home. Success may seem elusive, dangling tantalizingly, just out of reach. An entrepreneur is someone who can wake up energized each day, knowing that today may be the day when the grass grows tall and the bird is snatched.
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