What is the driving force behind Elon Musk? Elon Musk’s motivation and drive comes from the desire to save the human race from its own destruction. Elon Musk is the founder of Tesla Motors and SolarCity, managing to be extremely successful in both fields and also making changes that can change the world. For Musk, he thinks that he is not like the thousands of others in the Silicon valley- seeking to take money from customers and other businesses for own selfish desires. Musk sees his success with his companies as a way to fund his desire to save the human race. Musk’s reasoning behind this statement is that the human race is going to end up suffering and becoming extinct if we don’t change our present course of action. He wants us to know that the earth is susceptible to all kinds of things that can destroy us. These include human nature, wars, losing natural resources, asteroids, and some other unforeseen events that can be the end for our civilization. Elon Musk is always concerned and wants to get things done to improve the world and the lives of everyone on this earth. His goal is to colonize Mars in the near future, and thinks that it will become the new earth where we all can live in peace and prosperity. Musk’s view on those that work with him, is that they are in 100% on his goals and changing the history of the world, or they are not for it, and should look somewhere is to work. Musk puts himself through grueling hours of work and effort into making his impossible dreams become a reality. Some may think that he is crazy for all the projects he takes on, but by having these large goals, every time he succeeds at something, he wants more success and is determined to get us closer to our end goal of colonization. Musk’s childhood helped to shape his character and career. How is Musk able to see the world and its problems the way he does? Musk’s childhood began in South Africa, where he had struggles, difficulties and challenges which changed the course of his life. Musks parents were divorced at a young age, and he choose to live with his father Errol. He and his father did not have the best relationship, and the communication between them was very difficult. In school, Musk was bullied, and was often beaten by the other children. This lead Musk to have a desire for learning and knowledge of the world. Musk was blessed to have a photographic memory- allowing him to remember everything he saw and read. This would later help Musk in his efforts of creating companies and trying to save the world from itself. One of Musk’s favorite books was, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” This led Musk to learn about asking the right questions in life. Musk by the age of 12 was already becoming a great entrepreneur; selling a video game he created for $500. By the time he entered high school, he was very focused on solving the questions of the world, and thinking of ways to improve every aspect of energy usage and conservation, along with exploring the universe and colonizing other planets. How Musk developed in College Musk did not want to join the military for South Africa after he got out of high school, so he went to Canada to spend time with family and look for jobs. He proceeded to attend Queen’s University, where he flourished and ascended above the competition with his great skills and drive for success. As a college student, must would be driven to try new things like public speaking, trying business ideas and getting married to the woman of his dreams. One way that musk earned some money while in college was when he and a friend rented a house, and would charge $5 for people at the door to have parties. He was on his way at this point to becoming a very successful entrepreneur and businessman. Musk’s startup turned him into a millionaire Musk and his brother founded Global Link Information Network- later named Zip2, in 1995. The business had a rough start, but things started to pick up when some companies saw his drive and determination. Mohr Davidow Ventures invested in his start-up, and things started to get rolling forward as they hired more people and focused more on expanding the company. Musk was sometimes bad at planning out how long certain projects with his job would take and would usually underestimate this because those around him didn’t have the same drive to make products or put forth new and innovative ideas for the world to see. Musk took the opportunity to sell the company in 1999 after being offered $307 million by a company called Compaq. Next he turned to creating his next business called: X.com; an online financial service for users and businesses. The company was sold, giving Musk $250 million to work on his next project for success. Musk's new drive: Space Musk then entered the space industry in 2001, and created Space Exploration Technologies, otherwise known as SpaceX. Musk tried to make the cost of sending people and equipment into space a more affordable and easier task for companies all around the world. With learning how to make rockets, and get them into space for a cheaper budget, he learned that failure is just part of the process in making something great, and that he would have to keep failing until he saw great success in his company. He had the vision and knew that if he persisted, he could make the company become a great success. In other efforts to get to space, Musk turned to solar power and energy, wanting to find a way that he could change the car industry and the way people saw electric cars as slow and inefficient with their energy. On July 1, 2003, Musk and others started working with Lithium-ion batteries and thought to make electric cars a thing of the future. As cars and computers became more advanced, his cars begin to gain traction in the market, making the company millions of dollars with its new designs and innovations to the car's sensors, safety and design. “Elon Musk had built the automotive equivalent of the iPhone.” Musk and the Rive brothers focused on creating a new venture of solar, where they would take care of all the process and setting up of solar panels for the world. In just over six years, they had amazing success, and by 2014 they were valued at $7 billion. Both Tesla and SolarCity make a lot of money, because they are complimentary of each other- both working to improve the energy and efficiency of living, and working to support both businesses with the needs they provide. How to change transportation? Elon Musk came up with the new idea called the Hyperloop which can transport people at nearly 800 miles per hour. This can greatly decrease the cost of transportation and the time it takes to get from point A to point B. Along with the ideas for Hyperloop, Musk seeks on bringing a more affordable electric car to the market, and hopes that the average middle-class household can afford the car, and have one in their homes. Musk is going through all this effort in order to reach his ultimate goal of saving the human race by being the first to step foot on and colonize Mars. “The more you know about Musk, the harder it is to place him among his peers. Lastly, Elon Musk teaches us that we need to think big! We need to set goals for ourselves, and consistently make goals and plans so that we can make our dreams become a reality. He is a testament of hard work, determination, ambitious imagination and creativity, and deep desire to save the human race. He teaches us that any idea no matter strange or absurd can become a reality if the drive and determination is great enough.
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AuthorHi, I'm Josh Stoeltzing. I am a Freshman at BYU Provo, I participate in track and field, soccer, ultimate Frisbee, I play the piano, I'm LDS, and I love to explore the world and learn about new things. Archives
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