Honestly, I think it comes from within to a major degree. To become anything in life the drive has to come from you.
Nobody else can instill you with lasting motivation. Motivation can't be given. You have to want it with a passion so big that you become unstoppable.
If someone doesn’t have the drive or interest in achieving something positive, the likelihood of them becoming successful is virtually nil.
Regardless if you want to become your own business or take the entrepreneurial leap, you'll never succeed at anything unless you have to drive to go after it. Only you can make it happen.
When I was in college I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated. The idea of “entrepreneurship” didn’t cross my mind. I studied Sociology with a emphasis on Institutional Analysis but nothing during this time got me excited about business. I watched fellow classmates gain degrees in accounting and business and I even took some of these courses myself but to me they were dry and boring. The word entrepreneurship wasn’t discussed once. It was all numbers and theory.
It wasn’t until I started working in the "real world" a few years later as an insurance adjuster did the entrepreneurial drive kick in. It was a feeling inside that said, "I don’t want to work here in a cubicle. I have better ideas than this!" I guess that was my innate drive. I had figured out how to improve on an antiquated claims process and wanted to start my own company servicing a niche I spotted. I had no real "training" or business knowledge so I studied up on my own after work, started reading business magazines such as Inc, Fast Company, Forbes and Entrepreneur to got inspired. Eventually I took the leap, started small and forged ahead being completely self taught. I made the decision to go for it and had the internal drive to make it happen.
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. If I didn’t have interest in doing it, I would never have pursued my goal to build an run a company. The funny thing is though, the word “entrepreneur” wasn’t even “cool” then. I simply just wanted to build a business.
I think overall, everyone has something they can excel at and be passionate about. It doesn't have to be running a business or company. The key is finding out what it is and really going for it and giving it your all!
