Everyone’s an Entrepreneur.

Or more accurately—everyone can be an entrepreneur. When you redefine entrepreneurship, the reasoning is actually pretty simple, too.

Ready?? The new definition of entrepreneurship is…

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OUTCOMES …

If you take responsibility for your outcomes, you are an entrepreneur. You own your journey in life … no one else does. You own the outcomes that your life projects … no one else does. You can’t make an excuse for an outcome because you own it and you're responsible for it, PERIOD!

People are faced with challenges almost every day. For entrepreneurs, they take responsibility for their outcomes and find a way to defeat the challenge they face. If you are NOT an entrepreneur, you will let that challenge win by making excuses as to why you have failed or are bound to fail.

I want all of you to go back to a time in your life when you dealt with adversity. What did you do? Did you blame someone or something as to why you were faced with the adversity? Or, did you own the challenge?

In my life, I have dealt with an enormous amount of adversity. I didn’t have a strong home life, although I know my parents did the best that they knew how to do. How did I deal with this adversity? I immersed myself in athletics and learned important principles in life that I might not have learned otherwise. Athletics helped me get into college, and helped shape the person I wanted to be in life.

In high school, I had what was normally a season-ending injury, where my elbow completely dislocated and was protruding out of my skin. Two doctors told me that I would never wrestle again. At the time, this was real adversity for me. When I look back, if I would have said well, two doctors told me I’m done, so it’s okay to let go of my goal of making the state tournament, I would never have been accepted into Miami University, and quite possibly, I never would have positioned myself to be one of the founders of Alliance.

Instead, I refused to let go of my goal and went to a third doctor. This Dr. told me there was a way in which I could wrestle again, and even wrestle that season. I went through a very aggressive rehab plan, and I was able to wrestle in the sectional tournament with my left arm taped to my chest. It wasn’t optimal, but I was able to get on the mat. Guess what? I pinned everyone in the sectional tournament within the first period to go on to districts. At districts, I pinned or technical falled my way to the finals … all with one arm taped to my chest. And then I earned a spot in the state tournament, which was a goal of mine since I was a little kid.

I was young—18. But this was an experience that I have leaned on for my entire life. I dealt with a very adverse situation and I chose to NOT let the injury or the doctors dictate my OUTCOME. I knew what I wanted to do, and I was going to make it happen. As a result, I found someone who was willing to go there with me, and despite having my arm taped to my chest, I did what I set out to do.

In life, what challenges do you face and how do you handle them. Do you blame others? Do you blame your boss? Do you blame your customers? Do you blame the lack of time you have? OR—Do you set a goal for yourself, take ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE OUTCOME you want to achieve, blast through all of those challenges, and MAKE your dreams come true!