Comments on: There Are No Magic Businesspeople

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:54:13 +0000

“but he seems so normal!”

This seems to sum up every millionaire I know, which isn’t many, but enough for me to understand this article.

Like mentioned above, they were all focused and driven and probably no more special than the rest of us. I love the risks that all of these guys took to get where they are. Whether becoming a Harvard drop-out, or putting all of their money into a risky investment because they believed in what they do or what they felt. The risks that the men before me have taken is what drove a friend of mine and me to have our own software business. Thanks for the great post!

Jake
NoteScribe: Premier Note Taking Software

By: Harish Pillai

Harish Pillai — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:42:50 +0000

I completely agree with John Spence’s post. I wanted to post my views on this topic, but when I saw John Spence’s views, I found thats exactly what I wanted to post. The most important part of this post is that it is purely logical and practical.

By: Were Remarkable People Ordinary? Yes - They Were. | steve-olson.com

Were Remarkable People Ordinary? Yes - They Were. | steve-olson.com — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 19:21:15 +0000

[...] Kaufman recently wrote a post titled There Are No Magic Businesspeople in which a commenter named Robert wrote that he didn’t like the post, and believed that [...]

By: Steve Olson

Steve Olson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:04:02 +0000

Robert,

Of course I cannot become one of those people. You can’t become me and I can’t become you either.

Successful people aren’t endowed by some magical external force which ensures success. Successful people are ordinary people just like everyone else who have made different choices than other people, they have developed different habits, and focused their energy on different things.

If you focus your energy on getting good grades and getting a good job, that is probably what you will get.

If you focus your energy on becoming an entrepreneur that is probably what you will get.

If you focus your energy on drinking and doing dope, well I think you know where that will lead.

If focus your time trying to get something for nothing…

I think you get the point.

Successful people do the things they need to do to get what they want and they do them habitually. There is nothing which makes them inherently different than anyone else, they just make different choices.

By: dispatches from TJICistan » Blog Archive » Be all that you can be

dispatches from TJICistan » Blog Archive » Be all that you can be — Sat, 31 May 2008 20:04:08 +0000

[...] http://personalmba.com/uncategorized/the…; [...]

By: robert

robert — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:45:41 +0000

Well, I didn’t like the post too much. I think the mentioned entrepreneurs are definitely not normal — or would you say an average people sees years ahead, has extraoridraily willingness and persistence, and of course, extraordinarily good memory/fast thinking? Perhaps, you wanted to say, that it is not necessary to treat those people in an extraordinary way–even they can make mistakes.

It would be very naive to think, that anybody could become one of those people if they have a good idea, they are systematic, etc…

By: Josh Kaufman

Josh Kaufman — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:44:28 +0000

Hang – thanks for the suggestion… just installed a little program called “ShareThis” that allows you to share the post with others. Hope you find it useful!

By: John Spence

John Spence — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:28:07 +0000

Great article — I actually know a handful of the folks you listed (was chatting with Guy Kawasaki yesterday) and you are right on target. What makes them special is FOCUS. They have studied and worked on a finite set of skills for a number of years, with great discipline and effort – until they have uncovered the unique “pattern” in that topic that other cannot see. That is the foundation of true expertise.

Also — I absolutely LOVE the Jim Rohn adapted quote: the point of business is not simply to accumulate over $1 million dollars. The real purpose is to become the type of person who is worth over $1 million dollars, and there?s nothing magical about that.

Nothing could be more true — that is real, honest-to-goodness wisdom!

Great post — thanks Josh — talk to you soon — John

By: Hang

Hang — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:02:20 +0000

Hi Josh,

I found your articles very helpful. Could you add in the feature that enables me to add certain articles of yours into websites such as Digg or Del.icio.us. Thanks.