What do you want to achieve with your business?

Not what you tell your friends, or your accountant, or your employees, or even your significant other.

Deep down, where do you want to be? What price will you pay to get there? And how far will you settle?

There are only three types of entrepreneurs:

The survivalists battling to get through today. They tell themselves that they'll plan for the future as soon as the present settles down. Some of them mean it, but many are so addicted to the chaos and crisis management that they never escape the storm.

The pragmatists building a better tomorrow. Occasionally they're seized by flights of hyper-ambitious fantasy, but ultimately they want a lifestyle business: one that is profitable enough to look after their family and fund their financial freedom, but small enough to manage without too many headaches.

The contrarians obsessed with legacy. Their singular concern is impact at scale. They can never get big enough fast enough, and are frequently incensed by the sanguine pace of everyone else around them.

When you're all alone and no-one is watching, which one are you?

It's not easy being an authentic entrepreneur when the media is saturated with outliers. Most of us will never disrupt our industry, hammer out billion dollar deals, list on the stock exchange, or exit for a fortune.

That's OK.

What you choose is less important than the authenticity of your conviction.