Fathers Day Post #3: What motivates a small business owner?

This is the third Fathers Day I have been writing my blog and each Fathers Day I write something about fathering and how it somehow relates to small business. I know, it’s a  little over the top, but it works for me and I get quite a few hits on these posts so hopefully they have been meaningful to other small business owners who are also fathers, so here we go, Fathers Day post #3

What motivates a small business owner? No it’s not wealth, that is a result, but not the primary goal, although sometimes it may appear so.

Power, another result and while important not the real motivating force,  not the heart beat.

Independence, nice, also important, and certainly part of the equation but we are not there yet.

Success…now we are getting closer. Competing and winning, closer yet. Legacy….ooooh  legacy, very important  and what does that mean and how does this work into the program? How does this relate to Fathers Day.

There are certain innate requirements that every man lives for and by. This shows up very clearly in the small business owner, as the small business owner is the true warrior in the spirit of what a warrior was thousands of years ago. Protecting their family from harm, providing food and shelter with the strength and cunning of a hunter and a craftsman, a leader in the true sense of the word. A man, a father putting his own needs second, behind the needs of his family and village.

Success to a small business owner is the exhilaration and sense of accomplishment of competing and winning…and therefore ultimately being able to provide for and protect his family. A man must compete and win…that is our mission and the fruits of our labor  and our level of  success are measured by our ability to provide for and protect our families.

From this we create our legacy. How we lived our life, what we demonstrated through our actions, not our words, as a mans character and worth is measured by his actions. Our legacy is what we pass onto our children, how we lived and therefore how they may follow and also live. The moral fiber and character of the father is the legacy he leave his children. How we are remembered after we are gone. How we lived our lives. How we competed.

This I believe is inherent in what motivates us to be the man we want to be and run our small business as a small microcosm of who we are, how we compete and how we act, all resulting in our legacy, our most important gift to our children.

Do we as small business owners recognize this? Not frequently as we allow ourselves to be trapped in the daily tasks of business. But once a year on fathers day we are recognized and honored.

On his day it is worth contemplating for a moment, what it all means, what we are doing and what we are trying to accomplish. What is it all about?

This is why so many fathers are involved in small business as we are warriors. Built to compete, to succeed and to prepare a legacy worthy of passing on to our sons and daughters…How to live your lives as your fathers demonstrated.

I have watched my father live his life and have modeled mine after what I learned.

My son and daughter are watching me and are patterning  their lives from what they have experienced and learned from me.

My father, retired now,  was a small business owner working out of his home selling insurance. I began my business in the house and moved down town when it out grew my home.

It will be interesting to see what my children do. But far more important is what I learned by watching him live and work, and then what my children learned by watching me fight my battles and live my life, demonstrating my standards and character and showing them what I believe is he right way to live. All of this is legacy and how we as small business owners work and live is a huge part of what we each to our children.

Happy Fathers Day to all the small business owners who are also fathers…I wish you success in developing your legacy and in becoming the man you want to be so your children will know who you were and what of you they will carry on within in themselves and pass onto their children.

Think about it. What does your legacy to your children look like to them.