DREAM YOUR DREAM

I read The Dream, by teen multi-millionaire and internet entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a quick read and has some interesting themes in it, mostly advice for entrepreneurs. Here are a few ideas I got from it:

 

• You have to have a vision for what you want in order to make it happen
• A good idea, well executed, is worth a LOT
• Take advantage of marketplace trends to fuel speedy growth
• Don’t give up: If you have a passion, follow it
• Surround yourself with positive, caring people who want you to succeed
• Sadly, many people in America are still prejudiced
• Sometimes you need to make yourself look different than you really are (give the perception of a bigger office, more clients, older, more experienced, less ethnic) in order to make the sale
• Continue through the failures (and there will be failures—that’s a natural part of growth and success)
• You need a team of “ A” players to help you
• Family support is a rock-solid foundation from which to build
• Once you have money, others will try to find a way to take it from you
• No matter how smart you are or how much money you have or don’t have, people do stupid, whimsical things when they are 18-25 years old (like buy a Lamborghini on eBay without knowing how to drive a stick shift car!)

 

Reading the book sparked some on-going conversation about the difference between success and failure, goodness and greatness, etc. There are several other books that address this topic, notably Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, in which he postulates that if you put in 10,000 focused hours on something, you will be great at it. All that “practice” allows you to take advantage of opportunities when they come along.

 

What do you think breeds success? Practice? Opportunity? Luck?

 

I’m interested to hear your thoughts.