The big waves that life throws at us - inflation, technological leaps, shortages of skilled labour - will not get any smaller if we look away.
But we are only at their mercy if we refuse to put the board under our feet. Successful entrepreneurs surf. They accept that the sea does not stand still, learn to read the current and use the power of the water for speed instead of fighting against it.
Excuses and responsibility
"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."
The quote precisely summarises the difference between explanation and excuse. Anyone who interprets a wave as a catastrophe is looking for reasons why nothing is working at the moment. Skilled labour is scarce, the economy is paralysed, competition is aggressive.
But the world is never objective, it is always what we see in it. The moment excuses take over, we relinquish responsibility - and therefore control.
Entrepreneurship begins where excuses end. Growth has never been a question of external circumstances, but of the inner decision to recognise and exploit opportunities.
Every upswing came about in the middle of a crisis because a minority saw opportunities instead of obstacles. The question is therefore not whether the wave will come, but rather:
"What's stopping you?"
Going with the flow - or rather surfing?
Financial freedom sounds like a dream, but it is achievable for most people if they understand that time cannot be exchanged one-to-one for money.
Those who only sell hours limit their income to the number of daily hours.
Entrepreneurship removes this boundary because processes, systems and people work at the same time, while the founder steers strategically.
Investments reinforce the effect: money flows into assets, projects or investments, which in turn generate cash without the need for additional calendar space.
A clear sequence applies here. First a Profitable, focussed core business.
If this scales stably, it opens up capacity to channel capital into other business models - real estate, precious metals, digital assets or company investments.
In this way, the money continues to work while the core brand grows. After all, you can only surf a wave confidently if you keep your balance on the board.
Concentrating on the essentials
In stormy seas, the inexperienced surfer tries to catch every wave and falls in the process. Focus is the lifeline.
True commitment means, focussing energy on one project, one product, one goalinstead of distributing them over several half-hearted endeavours.
Diversification is important - but operationally only if the first branch is so strong that it can support others.
A frequently cited example is Platform strategies.
Jeff Bezos did not build Amazon by launching into fashion, streaming, cloud computing and space travel at the same time. He perfected the online book trade, transferred the processes he had learnt to other categories and only then opened up new markets. Expansion followed success, not the other way round.
If you tackle everything at the same time, you inevitably lose sight of the greatest growth potential.
Successful entrepreneurs scrutinise projects to see whether they contribute directly to the main strategic wave. If they do not, they are delegated, sold or not started.
Beliefs that slow you down - and how to break them
"A good product sells itself."
Hardly any other sentence keeps German founders down for longer.
Demand does not arise in a vacuum. It is generated - by Branding, Storytelling and Consistent marketing. Only when a market knows why it needs something do sellers come onto the scene to convert interest into sales.
This is another stumbling block: the misconception that sales only need to push inferior goods.
The opposite is the case.
An outstanding offer deserves to be presented in an outstanding way.
"You always have to sell. No matter how good the product is."
Those who internalise this truth build Sales and marketing processes not sporadically, but systematic on.
What follows is a simple chain: branding creates trust, marketing arouses desire, sales closes the deal, and premiums or bonuses anchor personal responsibility in the team. This creates a self-enforcer that converts demand into sales regardless of economic cycles.
Milestone by milestone - why evidence counts
Entrepreneurial successes are the measurable notches in the board that you can hold on to when the next wave rolls in.
The bare figures of the Dirk Kreuter cosmos show an exponential curve: millions of podcast downloads, tens of millions of video views, over 80,000 online courses sold, sales in excess of forty million euros.
These key figures are not an end in themselves. They prove that systematic sales, focussed branding and consistent commitment deliver results.
Each number is a wave that has been surfed, and each wave prepares the next one.
The invitation: Surf your wave
Waves can't be stopped, but those who master the board don't just glide over them - they use their power to move faster than any swimmer in the water.
In business language, this means: don't oppose turning points, but utilise them. Question excuses, focus on the strongest growth, invest wisely and sell consistently.
The Jetstream Membership is a network of entrepreneurs who do exactly that. Here you learn to see every new market movement as a springboard - accompanied by people who don't moan, but paddle.
Next step
If you're ready to get your surfboard up and not let the next wave pass you by, then take a look behind the scenes of our meetings in Dubai and find out how you can become part of the Jetstream network.
