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Online Entrepreneurs And Responsibility

Posted March 19, 2008 in Uncategorized 9 Comments »

As far as more than a few online entrepreneurs are concerned, someone else seems to always be at fault. They blame others for the fact that their projects haven’t turned out as well as they had initially planned, they blame others for each and one of their flops as well as for the fact that they can never seem to catch a break. Is this really the way to go?

Let’s just say that for online entrepreneurs who seem to think that they are never at fault and are always finding other people to blame, success is not exactly around the corner. I’m sorry to break it to you, but you will be the only one losing out as a result of living in denial. Sure, you can choose hide in that fantasy world of yours, but your problems will not run away and you will, at a certain point, inevitably have to face them.

Wouldn’t the time you waste by trying to find other people to blame for the things which go wrong be better spent actually working towards changing the way they stand? Of course, you can blame another person whenever a certain project doesn’t turn out as well as expected, but in the end, you have to ask yourself: what will I have to gain? Two words: absolutely nothing.

Assuming Responsibility

Let’s face it: whenever you encounter difficulties with a certain project, you are always better off assuming responsibility for your actions, understanding what you did wrong, learning your lesson and trying your best in order to be sure that you never make a certain mistake again. You will never be able to improve if you don’t admit that you were wrong in the first place.

Making Mistakes Is Part Of The Game

There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes, it’s actually an important part of the learning process as long as you assume responsibility. But not admitting them will only have the fact that you will end up repeating the same mistakes over and over again as a result. And, while making a certain mistake is perfectly natural, repeating it time after time is just plain foolish on your part and proves the fact that you have had absolutely nothing to learn.

Whenever you make a certain decision, you have to assume responsibility and understand the fact that there is always a possibility of things going wrong. It’s all a matter of making calculated risks: you have to always analyze the risk vs. reward ratio and decide if the possible benefits you could be taking advantage ask justify the risks you would be facing. If you want to be successful, taking calculated risks is a must and when taking risks, you have to understand that things may not exactly turn out the way you wanted them to.

What About You?

Are you a person who assumes responsibility for his or her actions, are you a person who is not afraid to take calculated risks and is willing to take the blame for possible consequences or are you waiting for an inevitable reality check to change your way of thinking?

Best wishes,

Alan Johnson

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Author info: This is a guest post by Alan Johnson, who has identified The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Online Entrepreneurs over at TheRatingBlog.com.


About the author: This is a guest post by Alan Johnson, be sure to grab your free copy of The Online Business Handbook over at TheRatingBlog.com.


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9 Comments
  • User Gravatar
    Zakman
    March 19th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    Hey Alan, thanks for this reminder. We think we know it, but we all have to be reminded time and again that it’s okay not to be perfect all the time.

    There’s a world of a difference between knowing that you could be making a mistake and not knowing. That knowledge will prepare you to own up to it, if it is indeed a mistake. That would be an ‘educated guess’ or a ‘calculated risk’, as you put it.

    Taking the issue away a little, who decides what’s a mistake? Post-It came about as a mistake, cause someone spilled some chemical in the P&G lab, and they found it works great as a paper sticker.

    Did Hitler make a mistake? They say God is on the side of the big battalions. If Hitler had won the war, would we still say he was a bad man? That’s thinking out of the box, of course.

    Annywyas, I’m not wroried. I’m awlays peferct. I neever make msitkakes.

  • User Gravatar
    Aaron at FullTiltBlogging.com
    March 19th, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    Great post Alan.

    My dad used to say “to succeed you only have to be right 60% of the time.” My experience has been that number is even lower–maybe only 20% or so.

    I fail often, try to accept responsibility but not dwell on it, then try something else.

    @Zackman…

    Winners are never tried for war crimes.

  • User Gravatar
    Monika Mundell
    March 19th, 2008 at 7:55 pm

    Very provocative post Alan,

    You are so right in saying that we should take responsibilities. After all, it comes with the territory. When things don’t work out I always try to learn from them and then move on.

    Even if I’m upset, I try to learn what I could have done better or different to avoid this from happening again. Admittedly this isn’t always easy as we’d like to think that we are right and the other party is wrong.

    I suppose as entrepreneurs we constantly push our boundaries cause if we don’t we fail to grow.

  • User Gravatar
    Alan Johnson
    March 20th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    Hi there and thank you for your comments, it’s great to see that you have an excellent attitude as far as the issue of responsibility is concerned :)

    Best wishes,

    Alan Johnson

  • User Gravatar
    Zakman
    March 20th, 2008 at 1:09 pm

    Oh no Alan! Your comment tells me you’re calling off further discussions on this post. Are you? You’re not a quitter, are you?

  • User Gravatar
    Alan Johnson
    March 20th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

    Zakman, I’m glad that you are interested in discussing this issue and, as far as your comment is concerned, one does indeed have to understand that actions always have consequences and that, since us humans are flawed by nature, mistakes can always be made and eliminating this variable from the equation would be just plain foolish.

    Best wishes,

    Alan Johnson

  • User Gravatar
    Sue Hewitt
    March 20th, 2008 at 6:32 pm

    This is all true about life as well as entrepreneurship. We should all take responsibility for our own lives as well as encouraging people to try and when they fail, support them and help them to learn from it.

    Sue Hewitt

  • User Gravatar
    Stefanie
    March 24th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    Great post. Sue’s right, personal responsibility is easily one of the biggest problems/issues facing society today. If we could get everyone to take a little more personal responsibility, I think the world would be a better place almost instantly.

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