Rich Kid's Campus|A Community for High School and College Entrepreneurs

I know this may be hard to think about at the moment, but for some of you it will be easy. Can you remember when you were asked, as a child, about what you wanted to be when you grow up? I think the most common answers were something like: policeman, fireman, astronaut, etc. Those were many of the role models for children as they were growing up. At least until they got older and started exploring things for themselves. The idea of a child’s ideal career evolves and changes over time.

Now, some people would also say something like this: I want to be a fireman, be successful and have lot’s of money. Note the “successful and have lot’s of money”. Inherently, even as children our subconscious separated the difference between money and success. I think it is pretty well understood that monetary wealth is not correlated with success.

For example, think of a lottery winner. It’s great that they won the money and now they are some of the richest people in the world! Well, does this now make them successful? How many times have you seen on the news, stories about lottery winners that are now filing for bankruptcy? All the time! Success is a lot more than having money.

There are many examples and definitions for what success is. I choose to measure success based on someone’s passion. Passion is what drives people and that drive is what makes them successful; even if other people don’t consider them to be. The best example I can give is of someone that is very wealthy and doesn’t need to work, they don’t need any more money, and they are not doing it for the money. They are doing it because it is their passion and they would do it with or without money. Can you think of people like this? Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, etc. How about people in your own life, that you know personally?

It’s easy for those that become successful and wealthy to get caught up in the fame of what they do. They begin to lose sight of why they started in the first place. They lose the motivation and the passion that they once had and they begin to crumble. This is what sets successful people apart from everyone else. They are not willing to trade in their values just to make a little bit of money now. They are always helping others, and never lose sight of the long-term.

It’s important to stay in touch with your values as you progress through life. In the long run the only thing that is going to matter is what’s right. What’s right for you, your family, your community, business partner’s, etc. In business, everything you do affects people, even if they are not a part of your life. In business you have the ability to do good things and bad things as well. It’s important to never lose sight of where you came from and where you are heading.

How do you measure success?