Page 17 - Midas Touch

Edison’s quote summarizes why most people fail to become successful
entrepreneurs. The quote also explains why most entrepreneurs fail to
develop their Midas Touch. Simply put, most people fail to become
successful because they fail to fail enough.

Relative to the Midas Touch, the thumb represents your emotional
maturity and strength of character. Without the thumb, the other four
fingers lack the stability to handle the daily challenges, the ups and downs,
wins and losses, that all entrepreneurs face every day.

What Do You Lack?

Many people say that two things stop most new entrepreneurs:

1. The lack of capital

2. The lack of real-life business experience

From my own experience, I would add a third item:

3. The lack of emotional maturity and strength of character

Of these, I believe the third one, the lack of emotional maturity and
strength of character, is the main reason why people fail as entrepreneurs.

The world is filled with smart, well-educated, talented people who fail to
develop their God-given talents or gifts. How often does the student voted
“Most Likely to Succeed” fail to succeed? Most of us know people whose

lives are tales of woe, tragedy, or betrayal, who blame their failures on
other people or on a bad start in life. We all know people who have great
ideas about how to make millions of dollars, but are too lazy to get off the
couch. We all know people who live in the future, and fail to take action
today. There are millions of people who want to change the world, but

cannot change the conditions of their own lives. And we all know people
who lie, cheat, and steal, and yet lie again to themselves, believing they
are people of integrity. Without the emotional maturity and strength of
character represented by the thumb, most people are denied access to their
Midas Touch.

If I Had Known Then What I Know Now

When speaking to a group of “wanna-be” entrepreneurs, I often begin by
saying, “If I had known how much I did not know, I might not have