By Russell Holcombe, an EO Atlanta member and president of Holcombe Financial, Inc.

I have been doing financial planning for entrepreneurs for almost 20 years, and it has become very clear from my experiences that the confidence, risk-taking, the trial and error of success at work spill over into our personal lives in a very unhealthy way.

The real challenge is most of us are one-hit wonders. We were at the right place, right time, right idea coupled with hard work. The stars aligning twice are like winning the lottery. You have to get it right the first time because unfortunately there is not a second time for most of us.

I created principles from my experiences protecting entrepreneurial wealth:

1. Don’t forget the struggle. Struggle is something that the entrepreneur would rather leave behind, but it is the most critical component of success. Struggle forces clarity in decision-making.
2. Your great idea has a shelf life. The Sony Walkman, and the floppy disk were great ideas that were replaced by better ideas. You have to stockpile resources from the first idea to stay wealthy forever.
3. Wealth Squared. The goal of every person is to make work optional. The highest rate of return any of us will ever achieve is on our efforts. The amount of wealth required to replace the income from our business is much more than most people realize. It is not just understanding the wealth required to make it happen but also how the wealth will actually make it happen.

Entrepreneurs are very fortunate because we have the ability to control our outcome. Please respect the fragility of wealth because it can leave you as fast as it came.