Elon Musk's 6 keys to succeed in any business without being a millionaire

03/04/2021 15:33

• Clarín.com

• Technology

Updated 03/04/2021 3:33 PM

For Elon Musk, the road to success appears to be straightforward.

According to the founder of Tesla and Space X, the excess of CEO titles and the lack of leadership are the main reason why companies end up stagnating.

This philosophy that led him to be one of the richest men on the planet led to an interview on the BBC where he offered his six keys to becoming an undisputed leader and being successful in any business, without being a millionaire.

1 - Do not think only about money.

This is absolutely central to Elon Musk's attitude toward business.

In fact, in the aforementioned interview, he did not even know how much money he had.

In another note from 2014, Musk said that this is a very important point in making a business successful, as it puts the focus on more important issues.

"It's not that I have a lot of cash somewhere. It's just that I have a certain number of shares in Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity and the market places value on those shares."

Making money is the goal of every business, but it definitely cannot be the main motivator.

In fact, Bill Gates believes that 

ending his life with billions in the bank would be a sign of failure

for not putting it to good use.

To realize Tesla's dream, he had to overcome many setbacks.

Reuters.

2 - Follow your passions.

Musk, for example, wants to make a base on Mars and is not going to let anyone stop him.

Just because an idea sounds crazy doesn't mean it can't be done.

The idea was to get people excited about space again and persuade the US government to increase NASA's budget.

3 - Think big.

All his projects share a common thread.

They are the kind of futuristic fantasies one would find in a classic science fiction magazine.

It is about daring to believe that you can change the world, have huge ideas and seek to fill a void that nobody is filling, without fear of failure, even before trying (which is the reason why many companies and entrepreneurs think only about small problems that do not have a high probability of failure, but not of being major either).

SpaceX is another of his great achievements.

AFP

4 - Take risks.

Elon Musk has taken more risks than most.

In 2002 he had sold his shares in the first two companies he founded, an Internet city guide called Zip2 and the online payments company PayPal.

He had just turned 30 and already had almost $ 200 million

in the bank.

His plan was to reinvest half of his fortune in business and keep the other half.

But not everything turned out as I thought.

His startups faced all kinds of problems from the start.

The first three SpaceX launches had been a flop, and Tesla had all kinds of production, supply chain, and even design problems.

5 - Ignore criticism

.

There were those who branded Musk arrogant for not giving up and quitting Tesla when it was not yet profitable: in fact, it has not profited until this year.

His comparisons to Robert Downey Jr.'s wasteful Iron Man inspired by him, according to the actor, didn't help either.

The big problem is that, so far, some of their companies have not turned a profit, something that scares investors.

However, as he explained in that interview in 2014, Elon Musk sees himself as a man who

measures success based on the important problems he has solved

, not how much money he has made.

6 - Have fun.

Elon Musk is famous for being a workaholic - he boasts of working 120 hours a week because it is something that he is both fun and passionate about.

In his other big hobby, space exploration, the attitude is the same: In December, when SpaceX tested its Starship launch vehicle, which it hopes will take the first humans to Mars, Musk didn't even care when the giant rocket exploded at the same time. crashing six minutes after takeoff.

He called the test an "astonishing" success, even though it probably cost him several million dollars.

SL

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