Determined and Naive

In the book, Do the Kind Thing, the founder of KIND talks about his entrepreneurship journey. As you’d expect, its full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and several near-business death experiences.

He points to two qualities that he believes an entrepreneur must have in order to be successful. He says entrepreneurs must be:

Determined and Naive

Without a doubt, it was those two qualities that Raj, Danny, and I had when we were starting Spunlogic. I was so naive that I just continued putting more and more debt onto my credit cards in order to fund the company. And it was determination that pushed us through when we were devastated by the loss of a major client in our early years (more on that story.)

In general, it just never occurs to me to quit. For whatever reason, its not in my DNA. When I was younger, there was definitely an naivety that I had which allowed me to push through seemingly un-winnable situations. Today, its more a combination of determination and confidence – confidence due to success in past experiences.

For young entrepreneurs, these traits are a must. As you gain more experience, it changes to determination and confidence. But either way, you have to want it so badly that you’ll push through walls, and doubts, to achieve your dreams.