What does it really mean to be an entrepreneur? What’s the point of having money? These are good questions, questions that I don’t have clear answers for yet, but I do have some pretty solid ideas so far.

It’s ’bout MORE than da Benjamins!

Being an entrepreneur includes so much more than just making money. One of the driving forces of entrepreneurship is creativity. And please lemme get something straight before I go further. When I say “creativity,” I’m not talking about the “Oh, look at little Johnny! He’s got a blanket tied around his neck and underwear on his head like a superhero. He’s so creative!” connotation of the word. Or “Look, at this sculpture. It’s a crucifix in a jar of urine! How creative!”

That word has developed a different connotation over the years that’s much removed from the real, original definition. So let’s take a quick look in the trusty ol’ dictionary…let’s see…ah here it is:
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cre·a·tive (kr-tv)
adj.
1. Having the ability or power to create
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The real meaning of creativity is having the ability to create. Making, building, generating, constructing, producing - those are all creative activities. They’re also entrepreneurial activities.

So if making money isn’t the basis of entrepreneurship, where does it come into play?

Money is the root of all evil…not.

Anyone who says money is evil is either misguided or lying. Money is a wonderful thing to have and it’s the fuel that runs our capitalist society. But we must see it for what it truly is, and all it ever will be: a tool. Money, and by association wealth, are simply tools. That’s it. They’re tools of creation we use as a means to obtain something we want. No different than a power drill or a 3/4″ socket wrench.

But beware of Money Worshiper Syndrome.

Just like any other tool, there are good and bad ways to utilize money. The easiest way to misuse this awesome tool is to see it as more than a tool; to see it as the end instead of the means to an end. This perspective is also naive and immature.

Many ancient civilizations used some form of statue or idol worship in their religious activities. Many truly believed that these statues contained some kind of physical manifestation of the deity they believed in. Think Ramses praying to the big sphinx statue in The Ten Commandments movie. When Moses kept laying God’s holy smackdown on Egypt, Ramses kept praying to that damn statue like it was going to get up and fight Moses itself. Ramses and the other ancients didn’t understand that their statues were just tools; material representations of something immaterial. They didn’t realize that the spiritual emotion they experienced from praying to this statue, that connected feeling to the universe, that inner peace - was something they were creating. They didn’t understand that the statue was just a tool to help them focus on connecting with the spiritual world; that this ability was actually within them all along; so they worshiped the statue instead.

This is called idolatry. If Old Testament biblical references make you antsy, chill out. I don’t mean idolatry in the moralistic sense. You’re not going to hell for worshiping statues or idols - although your life on Earth might be pretty sad and depressing if you do.

As a people, we’ve grown and matured a lot since those days, and you might think that we’ve outgrown those idolatrous tendencies, but think again. All we’ve done is replace one idol with another. Worshiping money is just another form of idolatry; no less misguided than worshiping a statue, or a 3/4″ socket wrench for that matter. They’re all amoral tools, neither good nor bad, that we can use to obtain what we desire in this world.

By itself, money can’t solve jack s%#@.

So now that we see wealth and money for what they are, useful tools, we can see them for what they are not: Problem solvers. Money will never solve any of our problems for us. We can’t get rid of our woes with money’s help either. Remember that money is a tool of creation. It can only add, not take away.

Have you ever heard about those huge lottery jackpot winners on the news and thought to yourself, “Man, if I could only have that much money, everything in my life would be great.” Well ask yourself this: What would you do, what would you create with all that money? You might say, “Well, I could do whatever I wanted, cuz that much money would solve all my problems!” OK, let’s burst that little bubble right now:

No it would not.

If you throw money at your perceived “problems,” you will only create more problems (repeat after me: ‘money is a tool of creation. money is a tool of creation’) If you throw a lot of money at your problems, you’ll create…need I go further? There is a reason why over 50% of multi-million dollar lottery winners lose ALL of their money in only a few years. Not only that, but they’re usually bankrupt and in 100 times more debt than before they got the money. They probably had a lot of money problems when they won the lottery just like everyone else. Unfortunately the only thing they have now is a lot more money problems.

Did I scare you?

Good. Now go make some big bucks and do something great with the money! Just keep this warning in mind when you’re making decisions about your job, business, or if you’re thinking about starting a business. What are you trying to make money for? If the answer is “for the sake of making money,” you might have come down with The Syndrome. Get yourself to a doctor immediately!

Tony

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