Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the Star Trek empire, envisioned the iPad long before it actually showed up. He saw that there was no need for commerce with a money exchange because people were recognized for their capabilities and lived from intrinsic desire to be their best and take on dangerous endeavors and, as a result, were awarded with, and simultaneously contributed to, an integral community rich with support and resources – and no need for money. Society can evolve into this model over time when we take the power away from money and put it where it belongs – within us.

As a tool, money has two metrics: either it’s positive or it’s negative. Your goal is to generate more positives than negatives. As humans, we are trained from early on to be a money manager and to think about getting an allowance to buy what is wanted – NOT what is needed! So there is a deeply ingrained belief that says ‘if I had money, I want to start a company’. And that is a big misidentification about being motivated to start a business.

To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to let go of the need to have money. Your business needs to be a confluence of your purposeful passion, a viable marketplace need and sustainability over time. When you are in that state of conscious awareness, obstacles will melt, challenges will feel like invitations and money doesn’t even register on your radar screen because it’s not important enough. Money is a by-product of providing value.

You cannot justify a business solely from a money standpoint. If you try, or actually make decisions from that perspective, you’re making decisions from your ego. That is, depending on your self-esteem, you will make your decision and that can go one of two ways: one could be deficit self-esteem and, accordingly, will lead you into an ‘I can’t’ thought path or your self-esteem could be positive and overly optimistic that day which will lead to a ‘let’s just do it’ / impulsive thought path. Either way, your ego cannot make these types of decisions that will determine the pace, standard and outcome of your life for the foreseeable future.

Altogether, your perception of money will determine how successful you feel but not necessarily how successful you are because it’s all relative.