Sean Oleary

Professor Sipin
English 211C
3/18/15
Succeeding in Business
There has been a rise in start-ups since the 2008 financial crisis despite critical economic
conditions. The rise in new companies could be credited to the lack of jobs, therefore leading
people to pursue business ideas in order to make ends meet. An incursion in start-ups has been
generally good for the economy, which could explain why there is now more millionaires living
in the United States than ever before (Frank). However, as more and more individuals start
businesses, the competitive environment becomes more fierce. Success in business is heavily
weighted by internal factors that are within the entrepreneurs control.
A large part of business success depends on whether an individual has the mental strength
to overcome the necessary obstacles that will be thrown in their path. These obstacles are only
magnified during tough economic times. As reported by Forbes, The Worst Four Years Of GDP
Growth In History occurred after the financial crisis of 2008 (Young). It is a well known fact
that nearly all businesses will change their business models several times before getting it right,
which typically means one must fail several times in order to succeed. Failure will lead most
people to quit their business pursuits due to frustration. A paper in The Sport Psychologist said,
failures enhanced focus, as they were rationalized as learning experiences and a means of
providing information on how to improve identified weaknesses in training and competition
(Connaughton et la.). The ability to overcome failure is a common quality in nearly every
entrepreneur. Sometimes knowing a hundred ways to not do something can help one narrow
down the ways in which to do it. This development of mental strength and patience is completely
internal, a process by which one must undergo in practice in order to fully grasp.
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Sean Oleary
Professor Sipin
English 211C
3/18/15
Secondly, passion is a vital aspect of business success. Passion is the fuel that keeps
entrepreneurs going when they are sleep deprived and over worked. As Dale Carnegie once
mentioned, People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing (Carnegie).
Passion is what motivates entrepreneurs to care about the product or services that they are
building. They become emotionally invested and want nothing more than to deliver something
that people will love. This could be a reason why McDonalds is not known for the company that
delivers excellent service. Many of their low level employees are neither passionate or
emotionally attached to the product. On the other hand, a company such as The Container Store
is known for excellent service because they keep all of their employees passionate and
emotionally invested. This is why they were on the list of top 100 companies to work for
(Laabs). While the average retail job pays $25,000/year, The Container Store manages to pay its
employees $50,000/year (Taube). The CEO, Kip Tindell, says that the reasoning for the
companys high wages is "the 1=3 rule," and this, as Business Insider puts it means, one great
employee will be as productive as three employees who are merely good. A companys success
is not based solely on the passion of the founder or CEO. It is also equally important to keep
employees both passionate and emotionally attached, so they too can do great work. This can be
done by genuinely caring for the employee and being emotionally invested in them as well.
Contradicting, there are others on the opposite side of the argument who believe passion
could be unfavorable. As the Wall Street Journal reported, Strong Feelings Can Lead Founders
to Make Bad Choices at the Worst Times (Wasserman). At the end of the day, humans are
emotional beings and in business sometimes it is important to put emotions aside. There are

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Sean Oleary
Professor Sipin
English 211C
3/18/15
some who believe that no matter how much grit, mental strength, or passion one has, if they were
not built to be an entrepreneur, they were destined to fail in business from the start. A study at
UC Berkeley concluded that Both nature and nurture play a role in business success, but
individual characteristics (nature) are dominant (Djankov).
Overall, the research that was performed for this paper had a great impact by expanding
my knowledge of what it means to succeed in business. It showed me that success is not only
limited to the idea or business, but that it is the person who is truly responsible for the success or
failure of the business. A lot of people focus on developing the idea rather than developing
themselves. I think that those who ultimately succeed are the ones who are able to do both. I will
apply a lot of the things I have learned in my research to my own business and hopefully I can
achieve even greater success both in business and self.

Works Cited
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Sean Oleary
Professor Sipin
English 211C
3/18/15
Frank, Robert. "More Millionaires than Ever Are Living in the US." CNBC. CNBC, 10 Mar.
2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Young, J.T. "The Worst Four Years Of GDP Growth In History: Yes, We Should Be Worried."
Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 12 Apr. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Connaughton, Declan, Sheldon Hanton, and Graham Jones. "The development and maintenance
of mental toughness in the worlds best performers." The Sport Psychologist 24.2 (2010): 168193.
Carnegie, Dale. How to Win Friends and Influence People. New York: Simon and Schuster,
1981. Print.
Laabs, Jennifer Koch. "The Container Store." WORKFORCE-COSTA MESA- 80.3 (2001): 3439.
Taube, Aaron. "Why The Container Store Pays Its Retail Employees $50,000 A Year." Business
Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 16 Oct. 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Wasserman, Noam. "How an Entrepreneur's Passion Can Destroy a Startup." WSJ. The Wall
Street Journal, 25 Aug. 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Djankov, Simeon, et al. "What makes a successful entrepreneur? Evidence from Brazil." Center
for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR) in its series Working Papers with w0104 (2007).

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