The road to entrepreneurship with Dan Prince

BizBoard

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ILLUMISOFT

Entrepreneurs are rightly considered hot stuff. The money, the fame, the charm. It’s the combination of these qualities that people find attractive. However, no matter how much entrepreneurs demonstrate an aura of effortlessness, at the end of the day, it is the struggles that make them successful men and women they are today.

Struggle and pain is something that Dan Prince knows well. For the CEO of illumisoft, the personal reasons were what made him choose the difficult path of an entrepreneur, “Three things inspired the founding of illumisoft: 1) seeing my father run short of time in his own entrepreneurial pursuit. 2) The desire to help people in need and, 3) Trying to set a good example for my sons,” affirms Dan.

Do the right thing

Losing his father when he was in his 40s was a transformative experience for Dan. His death, combined with his own awareness of his mortality motivated Dan to start his business. “I was motivated to eat right and exercise right. I didn’t want to die before I had a chance to build and grow my own thing. I didn’t want to die before I had a chance to show my sons that they could build and grow their own things.”

The personal desire to do the right thing, to help people in need, is today embodied by the type of clientele supported by illumisoft. Today the company is currently laser-focused on providing bespoke software solutions to the healthcare industry, at a level of quality that separates them from its competitors. “We are starting to develop quite a reputation for remote patient monitoring systems (RPMS) and putting together Telehealth solutions. That really excites me because of the potential to increase the quality of healthcare for so many people. We’ve also become pretty well known for our ability to produce enterprise-grade mobile apps that help patients and parents of patients to manage their chronic diseases easily. Among the many things, this pandemic has taught us as a society is the value of a person’s life. Being centered around helping others is why we’ve focused our services toward the healthcare industry. We realized at some point several years ago, that building great solutions feels great. Delighting our clients feels great too. But, building great solutions that delight our clients, and then realizing you’ve helped literally hundreds of thousands of people around the world live happier, healthier lives feels way better than just great. It feels noble and heroic and totally worth it,” affirms Dan.

“It takes ages for an entrepreneur to build the right team. I've been lucky enough to hire people in search of their own greatness. Everybody that works with me is motivated to do their absolute best. I love that. They're not motivated out of fear or insecurity. They do their best because they want to find out what their best will produce. They do their best because they are not sure how great they are yet and they're trying to find out”

Struggle and Perseverance

Entrepreneurship is not a quality that everyone has. It requires dedication, determination, grit, and most importantly perseverance. It is a life filled with the kind of struggles that can grind a person down and completely destroy their motivation. The trick to success is to stand up again after you have failed. Good entrepreneurs know this. They know that If they give up when the going gets tough, it’s game over. It is a truth Dan understands all too well. “I quit my job in May of 2015 and in June of 2015, our client pulled the plug on the project. My income suddenly dried up. I was sure I could get my job back but at that same time that made me feel a little guilty. One of my sons was working really hard growing and struggling with his business. He wasn’t throwing in the towel. I felt obligated as a father to take advantage of this opportunity to build my own business. Those were the things that inspired me to push illumisoft into the future. I wanted to build something that inspired my sons to build their own thing and to set an example about making sure it was centered around helping others.”

The Perfect Blend

The struggle of an entrepreneur may seem glamorous to some. The pain, the failures, the pitfalls, the drive needed to succeed. Making your own money, making your own time, and being your own boss. These facts in the life of an entrepreneur can be intoxicating to others. But what often gets overlooked is that entrepreneurs don’t work in a vacuum. It is not a job for one person. From branding to picking furniture, from creating a strategy to delivering a product, it is the team that works hard and delivers the goods. It is the perfect blend of individuals that write success stories. Building the right team is however probably one of the most difficult challenges faced by an entrepreneur. Dan considers himself lucky that he has the right team. “It takes ages for an entrepreneur to build the right team. I’ve been lucky enough to hire people in search of their own greatness. Everybody that works with me is motivated to do their absolute best. I love that. They’re not motivated out of fear or insecurity. They do their best because they want to find out what their best will produce. They do their best because they are not sure how great they are yet and they’re trying to find out,” adds Dan.

The Great Secret

“Don’t think you’re going to become an entrepreneur without getting some scratches. It’s a fight to learn everything you need to know before not knowing it defeats you”, the CEO of illumisoft is absolutely right when it comes to answering the question, “What is the secret to your success?”

Entrepreneurship is not a walk in the park. Being an entrepreneur will have to give your life to the business. And it is not easy, it is a road littered with failures. But what matters is not giving up. As Dan rightfully concludes, “Understand that failure is always an opportunity for growth. Never take anything personally. Don’t get all up in your feelings. Keep going and don’t expect anything for free. Work for it. Be and do your best, all the time, every time.”