Believing: the way of the entrepreneur

Do you have any business ideas you don't know what do with? Mike Michalowicz's advice might be what you're looking for. On Monday at 7 p.m. in Devlin 010, the Boston College Entrepreneur Society hosted Michalowicz who spoke about the nature of entrepreneurship and his experiences as an entrepreneur.

Michalowicz, a graduate of Virginia Tech, is 36 years old and has owned three companies. He started his first company at 25 and eventually sold it for hundreds of thousands. His second company sold for over $2.5 million a couple of years ago. He started his third company - Obsidian Launch - about a year ago. According to the company's Web site, Obsidian "invests in first-time entrepreneurs and their business concepts" and works "exclusively with first-time entrepreneurs and collegiate entrepreneurs who are passionate about their businesses, launching "entrepreneurial businesses into industry leaders." Michalowicz has helped start four other businesses in the past couple of months.

The most important point in Michalowicz's lecture was understanding that "you believe what you achieve."

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right. This is the entrepreneur's secret," he said.

Many people want to be millionaires or have expensive cars - they want to live the "good life." Getting there, however, is obviously the hard part. One very important part of getting there is believing that you will eventually get there.

To prove this, Michalowicz took $50 from his wallet and offered it to anybody in the audience. After moments of silence and repeated encouragement from Michalowicz, one audience member made a move. This, Michalowicz said, illustrates the difference between those who knew and said they wanted the $50 and those who didn't say they wanted it.

"So many people have limiting beliefs. I can't do it. I don't have enough time. I'm too lazy. It can't be that easy. It's a trick. No one gives away money," he said.

All of these thoughts are products of the mind, said Michalowicz.

"Because you didn't believe you could achieve it, no action was taken and you stayed seated," he continued.

The principle is applicable not only to life in general, but also to entrepreneurship.

"I'm here to tell you that entrepreneurialism is not about the great concept, it's about you."

Many entrepreneurs are solely concerned with coming up with original, "great" ideas that will revolutionize their respective industries. This is secondary, says Michalowicz. Those who fail are not taking action.

"A smart venture capitalist is looking for you," Michalowicz said. "Is this where you are focusing your attention or is it something secondary in your life? Are you taking the actions to support your project?"

Michalowicz was very candid about his personal life and used examples from it to solidify his argument. He chronicled how he hated accounting as a college student, but now loves it.

"In college I was a 'D' student in accounting," he said. "I hated it. My girlfriend would do my homework for me. Back then I believe accounting sucked. I didn't care about it. There's no way you'd find me at an accounting lecture. Now, however, I love accounting. It's one of the best subjects out there. It's all about money. I spend as much money and time as possible on accounting; I'm exploiting it to learn more about my businesses."

In order for Michalowicz to be good at accounting, he had to believe that he was good at accounting.

"If you believe you're good at something, you act like you're good at something. If you believe you're bad at something, you behave like you're bad at it," he said.

Michalowicz referred to this notion as the "great human thermometer." Human beings always want to be consistent with what they think themselves to be. If one is a great weightlifter, he will be happy on a good day whereas on a bad day, he will come up with reasons for not performing well, while assuring himself that it was an "off day."

"We have to be very careful what we believe ourselves to be," Michalowicz said. "If you believe you're good, you'll achieve it. If you don't believe it, besides not achieving it, you'll never go for it."

Returning to the $50 example, Michalowicz said that the people in the audience didn't claim the $50 he was offering because they didn't want to be embarrassed.

In Michalowicz's view, the entrepreneurial world is not about grades and test scores, but about effort and creativity. He backed this considerably against-the-grain assertion with an anecdote regarding one of his earlier ventures - a computer forensic company.

At the time, Michalowicz was accepting resumes and one woman sent her's as if it was a "forensic report" of her life. Her grades and test scores were mediocre, but because she demonstrated her ingenuity, Michalowicz was impressed and hired her without an interview.

"She proved that she was a valuable asset to the company and we had to have her," he said.

In life, and in the business world, a lot of people are simply trying to get up the next rung on the ladder, while very few people are picking their destination and steadily heading toward it. Most people are trying to graduate, then get a job, then get a promotion, and so on.

In sum, they are running away from what they are in the present. Michalowicz believes we need to change our beliefs.

"Whatever you want to achieve, start acting that way, and people will start believing you," he said. "If you want to be the great accounting student, start acting that way. When I graduated college, I was so excited, thinking there would be no tests. There are more tests when you're out there in the real world."