Many successful entrepreneurs are driven to succeed as emotional compensation for trauma or loss. Such events may include the early death of a parent or sibling, physical abuse, bullying, being raised in a war zone, or living through a traumatic event such as a tornado, hurricane, tsunami, mass shooting, house fire, or terrorist attack. Experiences such as these may drive an individual to work tirelessly as a therapeutic means of escaping the trauma, soothing a traumatized psyche. Material rewards and a comfortable lifestyle are sometimes perceived as compensation for...

Entrepreneurs who have experienced poverty are often highly motivated to achieve financial security. They will do whatever it takes so they and their families never have to worry about where their next meal will come from, if they will have a roof over their head, or if they will be able to pay the heating bill. They want to build the biggest cushion possible between themselves and the hardships they once endured.  One notable example of this is Thomas Edison. Edison's family lived an itinerant, hardscrabble life as his...

Some people are driven by an all-consuming fury, a relentless passion to perform and succeed. This may describe you, or a person you know. Usually, this urgency and desire to be successful is fueled by one of The 7 Clicking Points or sources of discontent that ignite an unrequited internal demand to perform at high levels to overcome a core disappointment in life. Often a person’s identity or ego is under duress and wrong must be righted, injustice corrected, an emptiness filled, and deep unhappiness amended. Part 3 presents...