Page 46 - The UnCaptive Agent

A GUT CHECK FOR FOUNDERS 19

wants the finer things like plenty of time off, money for
a big house, the capability to travel, the private schools
and college educations for their children, and so on. But
how many of those people are up before everyone else
studying to improve their education, saving every penny
to start a business, and working late to pile up cash to
fund their eventual opportunity? Not very many, I’ll
bet! But those who are like that are driven.
While not an insurance industry example, one of
the most driven people I know is a former governor of
Oklahoma. Many people told me over the years that
she was ambitious but not driven. I knew they were
mistaken because I had spent a summer knocking on
doors (campaigning) with her in the Oklahoma heat.
It was a physically miserable experience for me, but she
was nine months pregnant at the time. In July, during
the hottest part of the summer, she gave birth to her son
and was back knocking doors with me two days later.
That’s being driven! She wanted to win and was driven
to do all she could to be successful. Are you driven?
It takes both ambition and drive to be successful as
a business founder. You should carefully assess yourself
on both points. You may be interested in starting your
business so that you can eventually work less. You’d like
to find yourself someday on easy street, perhaps. That’s
perfectly normal. But the question you must ask yourself
is the one Sean Connery’s character asked Eliot Ness
in the movie The Untouchables: “What are you prepared
to do?” I’ve seen people with ambition and no drive. I
think that must be a miserable experience. But it is also
something that will doom a business owner. As you
think about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
and view the rutted and potholed road to there, how do
you think about it? Be sure you understand what you
are prepared to do.