Let’s start off the New Year with the Entrepreneur’s Credo, which is an excerpt from Common Sense, written in 1776 by Thomas Paine:
I do not choose to be a common man,
It is my right to be uncommon, if I can.
I seek opportunity … not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen,
Humbled and dulled by having the
State look after me
I want to take the calculated risk:
To dream and build,
To fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life
To the guaranteed existence
The thrill of fulfillment
To the stale calm of Utopia
I will not trade freedom for beneficence,
Nor my dignity for a handout
I will never cower before any master,
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect,
Proud and unafraid;
To think and act for myself,
To enjoy the benefit of my creations,
And to face the world boldly and say:
“This, with God’s help, I have done.”
All this is what it means
To be an Entrepreneur.