Month 3 of our new series brings me to a word I remembered from my confirmation back in 1973. They told me it was something I might get on the spot as a gift. It took a long time before I began to experience it. It’s an old word, rarely used now but it is incredibly relevant to us as entrepreneurs.
Fortitude
Meaning: Strength, Courage, Resilience, Determination, Endurance, Grit, Stamina. Each of these apply to different roles we might have to carry out as a business owner. They are qualities you need in abundance as an entrepreneur. We have to face so many obstacles to success and deal with each on while keeping a smile on our faces and an eye on the goal. So here is where Fortitude has a role in your business.
Mental and Emotional strength are vital to success. We demonstrate it every day and we sometimes forget that we need support too to reinforce the core strength. We cannot survive without the active, not passive support of the people we love. The real strength is to recognise our limitations in the face of certain things and ask for help. - The Manager
We mentioned before how fear can be an issue. In the face of fear there is nothing to be done than take your courage in your hands and do. Again at the core of the entrepreneur is the knowledge that everything we do is risky to a greater or lesser extent. It takes courage to recognise and face that risk. However that risk can be hugely mitigated by knowing your numbers so the role for this one is the ACCOUTANT
Determination: a positive emotional feeling that involves persevering towards a difficult goal in spite of obstacles. This is the unwillingness to take no for an answer, particularly evident among the best sales people
Resilience is the ability to face the obstacles time after time day after day, sometimes month after month and come back again until the obstacle is either overcome or you have found a way around the problem. The Problem Solver
Endurance always makes me think of the ship Earnest Shackleton brought on that famous journey to the South Pole in 1911. The team which included Tom Crean from west Kerry went through incredible hardship and were ultimately defeated by the elements. The example they set and their heroic behaviours is something every entrepreneur can learn from. It especially applies for me to The Marketeer
Grit: When I found this definition I realised the truth that sometimes you will rub people the wrong way, whether you want to or not in order to achieve the goals you set: Abrasive particles or granules, as of sand or other small, coarse impurities found in the air, food, water, etc. I suppose you can’t please everyone all the time. The Deliverer of Service.
Stamina. We are in this business thing for the long haul. It is a Marathon, not a sprint and so we have to have enough energy to keep going, and going and going; to do the long days, the hard graft the early mornings, the late nights. Of course it is The Business Owner
All of this is, at least at the start, wrapped up in one person and so it needs the single word to pull it all together: Fortitude