I have long been infected with the entrepreneurial virus. I guess it’s like an STD that never goes away…

Not sure exactly where the infection originated. My grandfather and father were both similarly afflicted.

For many years any idea that popped into my head about starting a business would immediately give rise to the following question…

Will this make me wealthy?

Because if not…why bother?

I mean, that’s the capitalistic way to think, right?

It’s funny, but this little pueblo that we call Perez Zeledon…where I currently* reside…is a hotbed for entrepreneurial endeavors.

It is the veritable “Silicon Valley” of Costa Rica…

without the silicon, of course.

But for a different reason than the one up north.

I seriously doubt if there was ever a Silicon “start-up” whose founder did not ponder that same question…

Will this start-up idea make me filthy rich?

Of course, in their case “wealthy” would surely conjure up figures with more zeroes than my brain could ever envision.

Down here in the valle de El General, the motive is different.

People start businesses because, quite simply, there are no jobs to be had…period.

Actually, that’s becoming a phenomenon in the U.S. as well, which could be a topic for another post.

The entrepreneurial exploits here might be limited to a small neighborhood store (pulperias, as we call them), or a small restaurant (sodas, as we call those)…or simply selling “empanadas” door to door…

The goal is not to be “weal-thy”, but to just be well…

Get it?

I’ve never heard of an entrepreneur down here taking his or her life because his soda failed.

Lately, my mind has been probing business ideas. And I immediately caught myself falling back to the same old question…

Will this make me wealthy?

And then I asked myself…

Why does it really matter?

You see, I’m trying to approach life (and business) from a different perspective.

I prefer that the emphasis be, no, that the entire impetus be…

impact.

Wealth…or economic self-interest…shouldn’t necessarily be the focal point of my entrepreneurial imagination.

Oh for sure, we’ve all got to live, pay the bills and all that stuff…

But we don’t HAVE TO BE wealthy.

In fact, there are many ideas that could have far reaching impacts, but that would never make one wealthy.

So should those be screened out?

Of course not!

I shouldn’t play the role of the typical vulture capitalist against myself. That is, screening out any idea that doesn’t have the potential to “go public”, or “viral.”

Instead I can think of two much better standards by which to judge an idea…

1) am I truly passionate about it?

and

2) does it have the potential for impact?

If both can be answered in the positive, why not go for it?

I’m just plain sick and tired of the tendency to judge everything by dollars…by profit.

I know that sounds a little bit “fugazi,” but what the hell…

It makes me happier.

image credit: fpsurgeon via Compfight cc

*I moved to Portland, Oregon in February of this year (2015).  I feel I’ve lost a bit of the make impact the impetus mindset that inspired posts like this one. So, I’m reposting it as a gentle reminder to myself…