Entrepreneurs, Do Your Thing!

The message was clear. The first thing I saw when I got off the airplane in Amsterdam was a big sign directly across from our exit: “Entrepreneurs, do your thing.”

The message caught my attention for no special reason; it just stayed in my mind.

As I embarked on my journey, enjoying my trip, my mind started doing what it does best: imagining new projects and things to do.

I visited a couple of places on that trip, but Portugal was the one that stayed with me. The country is being “discovered” by Americans and tourists alike, as the Portuguese government is pushing hard to bring foreigners to live or spend time in the country.

Talking to locals and people who were living in Portugal, I discovered that they are also the country that speaks the most languages in Europe. Kids are learning English—and sometimes other languages—at school from an early age. Everybody spoke English, even when I spoke Portuguese to them!

The country is waking up, and I could imagine the future after a few days traveling from Lisbon to the westernmost corner, to the Algarve in the south, to the borders of Spain.

I couldn’t help but compare statistics and lifestyles with the USA, where people are working more and more, decreasing their sense of life balance each day. I couldn’t stop thinking about the projects I do every day in Oregon and how different it would (or will) be in Portugal. People are eager for more international influences and new ideas, and I am eager for more nature, more culture, and more opportunities to travel. It’s the perfect match!

Of course, my mind also brought up the “what if it doesn’t work?” or “what if my ideas are not well understood and accepted there?”

Then I remembered the first image I saw when I landed: “Entrepreneurs, do your thing.”

Nike was right all this time. “Just do it” is the best motivational motto of all time! Just do it. Plan, write it down, and act—do it.

Goethe, the famous German thinker, once said that we have to start, that there is genius in starting something, that there is power in putting ideas and dreams into action.

I have always been a doer, and even though I now have more responsibilities than ever before—like owning a couple of businesses, being married, having employees that I call friends and who rely on me, being older than I used to be, and feeling the fear-based influences from society and people around me—I still just want to do my thing.

That’s where the two phrases merged in my mind: Entrepreneur, Just do it!

That’s when I started writing this article.

(April 13th, 2023 - at 2:30 AM at the Amsterdam airport, while I had to wait until 10 AM to get the flight back to the US).